Track Listing

1. He Don't Play Nothin' But the Blues
2. Busted Up
3. Politician
4. Worried Life Blues
5. Misdirected Life Blues
6. Moth to a Flame
7. Trying to Do the Right Thing [For Anne]
8. Say What's on Your Mind
9. Plunge
10. Mystic Mile

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #93648 in Music
• Released on: 1993-09-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Robben Ford & the Blue Line is an electric blues trio, but it's a trio whose leader and guitarist played with Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell, whose drummer Tom Brechtlein played with Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter, and whose bassist Roscoe Beck played with Leonard Cohen. In other words, this is a blues band with serious jazz and singer-songwriter ambitions. Not surprisingly, these former instrumental sidemen are a lot better at infecting the blues with harmonically sophisticated solos and tricky rhythms than they are at singing or songwriting on their album, Mystic Mile. Songs like "Busted Up" or "Moth to a Flame," both penned by Ford, don't offer much in the way of a lyric, melody, or vocal, but they do build a serious groove around a challenging syncopated figure, and Ford's guitar comes roaring out of the rhythm with solos that don't merely vamp on the chord changes but take those changes into new harmonic territory. Thus it's not surprising that the album's one instrumental, the uptempo blues workout "The Plunge," and the two cover songs, the Cream's "Politician" and B.B. King's "Worried Life Blues," are the highlights. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

mystic blues
The Mystic Mile exhibits Robben Ford's precision at playing smooth sophisticated blues. Ford sound is very elegant, modern and unique. This cd may be one of his best, demonstrating his song writing abilities as well as skill with the guitar. Most of the songs are written by Ford and they work cohesively to give the whole cd a somewhat "mystic" sound. The title cut, which wraps up the cd of 10 tracks,is perhaps the most mystical. It creates a vision of a mystic who is watching us, with a "strange sense of humor." Of the cover songs Politician written in '68, by Jack Bruce and Peter Brown is still true and relevant song today of political people trying to work both sides.

If you like a more sophisticated blues with strong guitar work, this is a cd for you.

Solid Effort
Robben Ford is one of the more underrated guitarists out there. "Mystic Mile" shows the band's versatility. Although I prefer "A Handful of Blues", I recomend this CD for the just the first track alone. "He Don't Play Nothin' But the Blues" is as good a rock song as there is, and Ford's playing and strong vocals ring through.

He Don't Play Nuthin' but the Blues
I love this CD. Well, except for a few tracks that Ford didn't sing or write, that is. Sorry Roscoe. Maybe it's a good thing Robben dumped you later on!

Ford's guitar bites and scratches doing songs like Big Black Car and Misdirected, and sweetly laments when doing songs like Mystic Mile or Do the Right Thing (Anne's song). Blue Line actually is a great band, but Ford's voice is better suited to the material presented here. I like his voice better than Beck's anyways.

Give this one some cycles in your player and you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Peace Out