His California Album

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His California Album
Studio album by
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Released1973
Genre Blues, soul
Label Dunhill
Producer Steve Barri
Bobby "Blue" Bland chronology
Spotlighting the Man
(1969)		His California Album
(1973)		 Dreamer
(1974)

His California Album is an album by the American musician Bobby "Blue" Bland, released in 1973. [1] [2] The album introduced Bland to a larger pop audience. [3] It peaked at No. 136 on the Billboard 200. [4] Bland supported the album with a North American tour. [5]

Contents

Production

The album was produced by Steve Barri and arranged by Michael Omartian. [6] [7] Mel Brown and Larry Carlton were among the guitar players who contributed to the recording sessions. [8] [9] "Goin' Down Slow" was written by St. Louis Jimmy Oden. [10] "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" is a cover of the Luther Ingram song. [11] "I've Got to Use My Imagination" is a version of the song made famous by Gladys Knight & the Pips. [12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All Music Guide to Soul Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [11]
The Buffalo News 90/100 [12]
Robert Christgau B [13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
The Grove Press Guide to the Blues on CD Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [15]
MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]

The Omaha World-Herald called Bland "a most persuasive vocalist" whose "style loses little of its bite". [19] The Ann Arbor News praised Bland's "exquisite, huskily expressive voice". [20] The Berkeley Daily Gazette opined that the album "is a successful merger of blues and soul with Bland's Sam Cookish strains partying on both sides." [21] Robert Christgau lamented that Bland "[put] his stamp on nothing." [13] The Los Angeles Times deemed "It's Not the Spotlight" "one of the best 'lost love' songs of the year." [22] The Herald considered His California Album to be one of the best blues albums of 1973. [7]

Joel Selvin, in a 1991 San Francisco Chronicle article, called the album "a lost classic". [23] In 2000, the Evening Standard labeled it "a masterpiece of gritty crossover soul." [24]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."This Time I'm Gone for Good" 
2."Up and Down World" 
3."It's Not the Spotlight" 
4."(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" 
5."Goin' Down Slow" 
6."The Right Place at the Right Time" 
7."Help Me Through the Day" 
8."Where Baby Went" 
9."Friday the 13th Child" 
10."I've Got to Use My Imagination" 

References

  1. ↑ The Rough Guide to Rock (3rd ed.). Rough Guides. 2003. p. 105.
  2. ↑ Komara, Edward (2004). The Blues Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 98.
  3. ↑ "Bobby 'Blue' Bland". The Daily Telegraph. June 25, 2013. p. 29.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2001). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums, 1955-2001. Record Research. p. 78.
  5. ↑ Hunt, Dennis (November 10, 1973). "Bobby Blue: Blues Singer". Los Angeles Times. p. II.6.
  6. ↑ Hoskyns, Barney (2009). Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles. Backbeat Books. p. 264.
  7. 1 2 Von Malder, Tom (December 14, 1973). "Bland 'Blues' among finest". The Herald. Vol. 25, no. 37. Wheeling. p. 4.3.
  8. ↑ Schneider, Jason (January 21, 2006). "The great Bobby Bland is coming to town". The Kitchener-Waterloo Record. p. E2.
  9. ↑ Shuster, Fred (March 22, 2004). "Sounds Familiar". Los Angeles Daily News. p. U12.
  10. ↑ Hannusch, Jeff; Dahl, Bill. "Bobby 'Blue' Bland: Storied Blues Singer Anything but Bland". Goldmine. Vol. 29, no. 22. pp. 14–18.
  11. 1 2 All Music Guide to Soul. Backbeat Books. 2003. p. 57.
  12. 1 2 Anderson, Dale (January 19, 1974). "Mini Rock Record Reviews". Pause. The Buffalo News. p. 31.
  13. 1 2 "Bobby Bland". Robert Christgau. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  14. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1998). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. I. MUZE. p. 585.
  15. ↑ Hadley, Frank-John (1993). The Grove Press Guide to the Blues on CD. The Grove Press. p. 18.
  16. ↑ MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Visible Ink Press. 1998. p. 35.
  17. ↑ The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin Books. 2006. p. 48.
  18. ↑ The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1983. p. 44.
  19. ↑ Smith, Will (October 19, 1973). "New Sounds". Omaha World-Herald. p. 9.
  20. ↑ "Record Review". The Ann Arbor News. October 21, 1973. p. 46.
  21. ↑ Tolces, Todd (November 7, 1973). "Out to lunch". Berkeley Daily Gazette. p. 15.
  22. ↑ Hilburn, Robert (December 11, 1973). "Clearing the Decks for '74 Album Flood". Los Angeles Times. p. IV.20.
  23. ↑ Selvin, Joel (September 8, 1991). "Pop CDs". Sunday Datebook. San Francisco Chronicle. p. 37.
  24. ↑ Bell, Max (March 22, 2000). "The Van has been overtaken". Evening Standard. p. 57.
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