VIA PRESS RELEASE | Bear Family Records® is proud to announce the July 11th re-release of the second soul/blues album Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland recorded in Los Angeles during 1973/’74: His California Album, another milestone in soul/blues history on high-quality 180 gram vinyl.
Bland is quite justly regarded as one of the greatest US blues, soul, and R&B singers of all time. Producer Steve Barri—also responsible for Dreamer (BAF18029) the following year—brought guitarists Larry Carlton, Mel Brown, and Dean Parks, among others, into the studio to create this flawless album. Stand-out tracks include “This Time I’m Gone For Good,” “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right,” and “Help Me Through The Day,” all classics of the genre. This first reissue on 180-gram vinyl has been carefully remastered, and the original cover art has been reproduced.
When Bear Family released Dreamer by Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland (1930–2013) on vinyl for the first time since its original release, they had no idea of the demand for that record. In 1973/’74, Steve Barri produced two albums in Los Angeles with perhaps the greatest soul/blues singer of all time, which both met with a mixed reception at the time. After more than 50 years, however, Dreamer and its predecessor, His California Album, sound cool and timeless, and have become fantastic classics. The chant of the church combined with deep blues in Bland’s interpretation is incredibly moving, and the melancholy in his voice sounds so emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, and at times cool and soft.
Bland could be tough, but he also possessed the crooner qualities of Nat ‘King’ Cole, for example. With both LPs on ABC Dunhill and the subsequent records with B.B. King, he reached a wider audience. His California Album is the perfect synthesis of black soul and blues from the South and the coolness and laid-back attitude of Los Angeles.
