Customer Reviews

Two Steps From The Blues

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here's an album anyone looking for great music should own. Has to be as good as any soul or blues album in the 1960's. Not dance music. Slow, simmering, deep but smoothe music from the human heart, and the crisp accompaniment of Bland's backing musicians is stellar and just punctuates the performances perfectly. The arranger and producer need some credits here, too, even though Bland and his band get first dibs on kudos. This is definitive Bobby "Blue" Bland. Make it your first purchase. Cream of the crop stuff. My favorite is "Lead Me On", a recording of haunting beauty. When his voice was in his prime and good form, this is a relief for those having purchased too many albums that overpromise. This one delivers in spades (sic). You won't feeled gipped here; that won't even occur to you. For the newcomer to the blues and the connoisseur of great records alike. A treat of a great set of performances par excellence, and what songs too! A tour-de-force, to use a term we seldom use anymore, because they hardly make great records like this anymore.

In high school in Louisiana in 1961 this was our favorite album. The high scool was all white (segregation) but we all loved rhythmn and blues. Bo Didley palayed at our senior dance. Bobby Bluesboy Bland was the greatest of the singers with a voice with unbelievable range. I saw him in 1997 and his voice was still in remarkbly good shape. Two Steps from the Blues is a great album and is definitely unappreciated or should I say under appreciated because if you listen you have to love. Bill Johnson

Bobby Bland is one of my favourite singers for decades, and on its initial release this album set new standards for R&B singers. Almost every track on this CD is a classic of the genre: "I pity the fool" and "St James Infirmary" could almost be described as "classic classics" they were so definitive at the time. It was such an advance for a blues singer that one reviewer then described it as "two million steps from the blues". Bland went on to become one of the most highly regarded R&B singers of his generation, influencing the singing style of later singers like Tyrone Davis.

Bobby "Blue" Bland has been a well-known and well-loved favorite around Louisiana for more years than I can count, and I believe this is THE BEST of his many albums. This stuff gets in your blood, right down to your bones. Can you imagine lyrics that make you want to cry but vocals that just make your HEART SING??? Listen to this album a couple of times and you'll know what I mean. It's addictive, even if you aren't a real blues fan. This one should be in everyone's collection. Go, Bobby!

Put this on, loud, while you're getting ready to go out Friday nite. It's not a party album per se, but you'll feel as though Bobby were in the room with you, building your confidence for the evening's exploits.

The production is great. It was a great vinyl LP, but this is one CD where the digital technology makes the performance come to life. The drumming and horns are fantastic complements to Bobby's full-barreled, yet tastefully restrained vocal style.

I have a ton of CDs, but this one is on the top row of the rack.

These raves are all right on the mark - this is transcendent. Funny thing is, it kind of took me awhile to get it. I liked, but never loved, my lp, but a year or two after getting the cd it all clicked into place. I think sometimes exceptionally profound music takes a while to sink in. I'm sure glad I stuck with this, and trusted all the folks who said it was a classic. It's now a treasured favorite.

This is a killer album, no two ways about it. I don't even think you need to be a blues-head to dig this either. It's got some INCREDIBLE singing on it and the music just doesn't come any better. They don't make em like this anymore. This record IS as essential and historic as fans, historians and music guides would have you believe. "I'm Not Ashamed", "Don't Cry No More" "I Pity the Fool" "St. James Infirmary"...man ALL these tunes are killer! No need to isolate any of them, tho the aforementioned are indeed classics. But to pick only one, i'd have to go with "Little Boy Blue". Who could find anything negative to say about this all around GREAT album? Man, they just don't make em like this anymore.

I have been listening to this album since 1967 and still can't get enough of hearing the great songs on it. I have it on vinyl and CD.

Every track is great, particularly this version of "St. James Infirmary"

If you are a Bland fan, make this a must have for your collection.

It's good to have this re-released, remastered and above all with 14 tracks. The album proves four things. The first is that Bobby Bland used this album to deliver the full range of styles that he had developed before his stint in the armed services, but that he never got a full chance to express. It's full of glottal stops, crying declamation and pain. All of this appeared in part on his earlier recordings, but this album benefitted from the arranger Joe Scott, whose charts match Bland against a truly empathetic band for the first time over a sustained set of sessions. Integral to this is the guitar work of Wayne Bennett who nudged in behind Bland's expressive voice, ready to fill or cry as was required. Lastly the album benefits from some great material; nearly all of it is by "Malone" so it's very difficult to source accurately, but the songs are a great foil for all the component parts. There is, of course,the obligatory standard "St James Infirmary" and Brook Benton's "I'll take care of you" Different listeners have different favourites. Mine are "I've got to forget you", 2.30 of anguish and torture, "Lead me on"(nuff said!) and " I don't want no woman", where he so clearly does! If you've never heard this you're in for a treat, if you haven't heard it in a while, check out the re-mastered sound. It's great to have it back!

This is the blues,that got passed up by the white couminity.He was better than B.B.King in his day.I have seen both on stage at the same time and bobby could make you cry,drink and wish you could have said the same thing. You can fell the pain that made him so great.