There’s a lovely neat idea at the heart of “Two Shades Of Blue”. It doesn’t just show off how tasteful and sophisticated Robben Ford remains after all these years. It feels split between two sides of his musical personality: the songs on one hand, and the instrumentals on the other. That balance suits a player whose career has always wandered happily between blues, jazz, rock and fusion, and this set leans into that duality in a way that feels natural rather than forced.
“Make My Own Weather” starts exactly as it means to go on: funky, bluesy and more than a little playful. Full of horns — get your mind out of the gutter — it swaggers out of the traps with real purpose, while the organ work is absolute class. Even the keys that sit back in the mix feel crucial. Nothing is overplayed, nothing is there for the sake of it, and that’s one of the things that makes Ford so good in the first place.
Given that he’s worked with George Harrison, it’s no great leap to hear him take on Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”. But the clever bit is that he never sounds like he’s simply bowing before the original. He wants to do it his own way, and he does. That matters.
There’s a similar sense of restraint on the mellow “Perfect Illusion”. For someone so renowned as a guitarist, there’s actually not that much guitar all over it, which tells you plenty. Ford is far too classy to force the issue. “Black Night” meanwhile leans into more familiar blues themes, all loneliness and longing, but some feelings never get old when they’re played with this much feel.
Then the record seems to pivot. The title track is an absolute beauty, and it makes the point of the whole album perfectly. This is where the second shade really comes into focus. The words matter on the earlier songs, sure, but here the playing says everything. It doesn’t need lyrics to convey its feeling because the guitar does all the talking.
From there, the instrumental side of the record really opens out. “Fire Flute” feels like floating on a summer breeze somewhere on the sun-kissed Med, all grace and ease, while the jazz phrasing is utterly sensational. “The Light Fandango” keeps that run going, with the band sounding phenomenal, and by the time “Feeling’s Mutual” arrives, the jazz is dialled right up and you’d best be good to keep pace.
That, really, is the beauty of “Two Shades Of Blue”. One side gives you songs full of groove, soul and character. The other gives Ford and his band the room to stretch out and let the music breathe. Put together, it sounds like a man still finding new ways to say what he needs to say. At this stage of his career, that’s some trick.
RATING 8/10
