Sad Street
Studio album by
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Released1995
StudioMuscle Shoals Sound Studios
GenreR&B, blues
LabelMalaco[1]
ProducerWolf Stephenson, Tommy Couch[2]
Bobby "Blue" Bland chronology
Turn on Your Love Light: The Duke Recordings Vol. 2
(1994)		 Sad Street
(1995)		 That Did It!: The Duke Recordings Vol. 3
(1996)

Sad Street is an album by the American R&B musician Bobby "Blue" Bland.[3] It was released in 1995.[4]

The album was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the "Best Contemporary Blues Album" category.[5] It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart.[6]

Production

The album was recorded with the Muscle Shoals house band; string arrangements were done in Miami, Florida.[7][8] The title song was written by George Jackson, with many others provided by the songwriting partnership of Sam Mosley and Robert Johnson.[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
The Commercial Appeal[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[12]
MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide[2]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]

The Commercial Appeal opined that "Bland gets deep into the blues," writing that "'Double Trouble' deals with the age-old blues dilemma of dealing with a troublesome wife and girlfriend."[11] The Tampa Tribune thought that the album "perfectly captures his wistful romanticism and raspy-smooth vocals."[14]

Texas Monthly concluded that Malaco's "synthesizer-and-strings approach has kept him contemporary without making him sound foolish."[4] The San Antonio Express-News noted that "Sad Street find Bland still working a smooth, sophisticated, but unmistakably blues-driven, groove."[15]

AllMusic wrote that "Malaco's well-oiled, violin-enriched studio sound fit Bland's laid-back contemporary approach just fine (even if his voice admittedly wasn't what it used to be)."[10] MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide agreed that Bland's voice was "a ravaged hulk by this point."[2] The Sunday Times deemed it a "gritty" album that proved Bland's "Southern blues credentials."[16]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Double Trouble" 
2."Sad Street" 
3."God Bless the Child That's Got His Own" 
4."Tonight's the Night (It's Gonna Be Alright)" 
5."My Heart's Been Broken Again" 
6."I've Got a Twenty Room House" 
7."Mind Your Own Business" 
8."I Wanna Tell You About the Blues" 
9."I Had a Dream Last Night" 
10."Let's Have Some Fun" 

References

  1. ↑ "Sounding Off". Ebony. 51 (4): 23. Feb 1996.
  2. 1 2 3 MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1998. p. 56.
  3. ↑ D'Addono, Beth (May 3, 1996). "Smooth blues from Bobby Bland". Delaware County Daily Times. News.
  4. 1 2 Morthland, John (Aug 1997). "Royal blue". Texas Monthly. 25 (8): 58.
  5. ↑ "Bobby "Blue" Bland". GRAMMY.com. November 19, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Bobby "Blue" Bland". Billboard.
  7. ↑ Farley, Charles (February 7, 2011). "Soul of the Man: Bobby "Blue" Bland". Univ. Press of Mississippi – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Reilly, Terry (February 9, 1996). "(Red, Hot & Blue)". The Sunday Age. News. p. 8.
  9. ↑ Kelley, Michael (April 9, 1996). "LONG TIME COMING, BEALE NOTE TO GO TO BLAND". The Commercial Appeal. p. C1.
  10. 1 2 "Sad Street - Bobby "Blue" Bland | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  11. 1 2 Nager, Larry (November 11, 1995). "Recordings". The Commercial Appeal. p. C2.
  12. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 666.
  13. ↑ (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 82.
  14. ↑ Dunn, Michael (January 14, 1996). "From Beale Street to 'Sad Street'". The Tampa Tribune. FLORIDA/METRO. p. 6.
  15. ↑ Beal Jr., Jim (January 31, 1997). "Blues we can still use - Bobby Bland shows no signs of slowing down". San Antonio Express-News. p. 12H.
  16. ↑ Sexton, Paul (6 Mar 2011). "Squalling the blues". The Sunday Times. Culture. p. 30.
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