Consumer Guide Album

Bobby Bland: Dreamer [ABC/Dunhill, 1974]
On their second try, producer Steve Barri and arranger Michael Omartian pull out the pop stops, and while the result isn't too long on conviction it does have its own ersatz character. Refabricated intros worthy of Three Dog Night, prefabricated songs worthy of Bobby Bland, and a woman named Yolanda who leaves Bobby "in this wilderness with no money down"--the wilderness being Charlestown, South Carolina, and Yolanda's Pygmalion being the same guy who wrote "My Maria" and "Shambala." B+