Bobby Bland’s first LP with Malaco Records provided him with his biggest hit of recent decades, the title track Members Only, written by Larry Addison. Bland, a model for company loyalty in the record business, has been with the Mississippi-based Malaco label ever since; before that, he stayed with Duke Records from 1953 until 1973, when Duke was sold to ABC (subsequently MCA) and Bland recorded for ABC and MCA for another 11 years. The Malaco debut marked a return to a Southern soul-blues setting for Bland, who had been recording primarily in California during the ABC/MCA era. The Members Only LP, produced by Malaco partners Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephenson, included songs from the Malaco stable of songwriters as well as covers of In the Ghetto, Geater Davis Sweet Woman’s Love, and Little Willie John’s I Need Your Love So Bad.
