Signed to Motown years after his peak as an R&B star,
Milburn's association with the label turned out to be something of a non-event, producing only an obscure album and flop single. A commercial non-event, that is;
Milburn's skills were still intact, resulting in some fine if somewhat uncharacteristic performances. This compilation reissues that album (The Return of Blues Boss) and adds seven unreleased tracks.
Milburn may still have been singing blues/R&B, but he was with Motown, which meant that a fair amount of soul-pop flavor inevitably seeped through. You can hear it in the occasional female backup vocals, swinging brass arrangements, and even a brief harmonica solo by
Stevie Wonder on "Chicken Shack Boogie"; the arrangement on "I'll Make It Up to You Somehow" wouldn't have been out of place on an early
Mary Wells single. The results are pleasantly surprising, updating
Milburn's sound (which would have been quite anachronistic in the early 1960s) into the early soul era. The material is pretty strong, including both bluesy ballads and more uptempo numbers that don't totally smother his boogie-woogie roots. ~ Richie Unterberger