Bye Bye Blues

by Richard S. Ginell By 1952, Les Paul was already thinking in terms of album concepts; hence this often-soulful collection of genuine blues, or songs with blues in their titles. As a result, the tempos are mostly relaxed, with Paul giving himself ample opportunity to bend notes to his heart's content and exercise his jazz instincts more than he usually does on his Capitol records. The exceptions to the down-and-out feeling are, ironically, the upbeat hit title track, which professes to blow the blues away, and the spectacular "Mammy's Boogie," a single-line boogie blues transformed by echo into an electronic shooting gallery. The 12-inch version added older tracks like "Jazz Me Blues" and "Walkin' and Whistlin' Blues," which fit the concept, and "It's a Lonesome Old Town" and "Smoke Rings," which are a stretch.