Dreamer

Personnel: Bobby "Blue" Bland (vocals); Ben Benay, Larry Carlton, Dean Parks (guitar); Sid Sharp Strings (strings); Paul Hubinon, Jim Horn, Tony Terran, Ernie Watts, Lew McCreary, John Kelson, Peter Christlieb (horns); Michael Omartian (piano, organ, Clavinet, synthesizer); Wilton Felder (bass); Ed Greene (drums); Ginger Blake, Julia Tillman, Maxine Willard (background vocals).
Engineers: Phil Kaye, Howard Gale, Roger Nichols.
Bobby Bland entered the '70s with the blues in his heart and two women on each arm. Having established himself as one the nation's top bluesmen decades before as a gritty crooner with a disarming effect on the ladies, Bland fully embraced his amorous side on DREAMER. There is a noted hedonistic edge to his blues here and a more relaxed sense of passion. Gone are the dark nights and the uptown sophistication. They are replaced with sultry grooves that seem to bubble with the excess and indulgence so often associated with the '70s. The album's strongest tracks ("Ain't no Love in the Heart of the City," "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog [The Way You Treated Me]," and "Yolanda") revolve around love gone wrong, each featuring a dynamic performance from Bland. However, no matter how much heartbreak Bobby Bland conveys on DREAMER, there is the sense that the next girl is not far behind.