When I started listening to the blues in the mid
’80s, my go-to source for the music was a
catalog from a Massachusetts company called
Roundup Records. I ordered a free catalog and
was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of blues
recordings that were suddenly available to me. I
ordered as many as budgetarily possible, often
focusing on compilations because I was able to
be exposed a wider variety of blues artists and.I
wanted to hear as much as I possibly could. I
purchased many collections from the U.K. label
Ace, which helped introduce me to the early
recordings of B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and
Elmore James.
One of my favorite collections, which I have
purchased in multiple formats since first
ordering a cassette back in 1988, was Blues
Around Midnight. As the title indicates, this is
a set of blues after-hours, focusing on the
mellow side of the blues, and it’s most
excellent for late-night listening, It’s a mix
of guitar and piano blues with some excellent
vocalists and a few songs that I’ve never heard
anywhere else. The music was collected from
several labels --- Kent, Modern, Crown, and RPM
--- spanning about a 20-year period from early ’50s to
early ’70s.
The list of performers includes B.B. King
(“You’re Breaking My Heart” and “Down Now”), the
wonderfully soulful vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon
(“I Need Somebody” and “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good
To You”), and Lowell Fulson, who gets the
driving title track and “Shattered Dreams.” The
great Jimmy “T99” Nelson also gets a pair of
selections, including his signature tune, “T99
Blues (My Sweet Little Honeydripper)” and
“Second-Hand Fool,” and the criminally
underrated Larry Davis introduces the album with
a stunning take on King’s “Three O’Clock In The
Morning” and the powerful “Something About You.”
Other artists you might recognize are T-Bone
Walker (“Love Will Lead You Right”), Ray Charles
(“I’m Wonderin’ and Wonderin’”), and Johnny
Copeland (“Old Man Blues”). Johnny Moore’s Three
Blazers, with Frankie Ervin singing lead,
perform the novelty classic “Dragnet Blues,” and
Saunders King sings the ballad “Quit Hangin’
Around Me.” A couple of ladies even get into the
act, with Vivianne Green ably handling the smoky
“A Picture Of You” and Mari Jones singing
“Crazy With The Blues” and “It Just Wasn’t
True.”
I still play Blues Around Midnight at least
three or four times a month just to sit back and
relax, and have been doing so in one format or
another for over 30 years. It is perfect for
late-night listening, and chances are pretty good
that most blues fans will find themselves doing
the same thing.
Ace originally released this album as an LP,
then as a cassette, adding a pair of tracks.
Flair Records reissued it in the early ’90s, and
though it’s out of print now it can easily be
found online in one format or another. Blues
Around Midnight should be required listening for
fans of mellow blues.
--- Graham Clarke