Track Listing
1. Everyday I Have The Blues
2. Sweet Little Angel
3. It's My Own Fault
4. How Blue Can You Get
5. Please Love Me
6. You Upset Me Baby
7. Worry Worry
8. Woke Up This Mornin'
9. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now
10. Help The Poor
Review
The great B. B. King does his best live performance in this album. Accompanied by Lucille, his guitar, he does indeed rock the Kasbah. It is a very fun album to listen to, it isn't only because B. B. is such a master of the blues and guitar playing in general, but that he is such a congenial creature. The little interludes where King talks to the audience are almost as fun as the songs and I've always really loved singers who introduce songs with little vignettes, it just gives you a little insight into the singer's personality.
The music is also great, King is at his peak both in terms of his guitar playing but also voice-wise, he goes back and forth from falsettos to Tom Waits-like croons at the drop of a hat. This is probably one of the best blues live albums, the crowd goes wild. In my opinion it is, however, beaten by Muddy Waters at Newport. Muddy just has an even greater energy and beat than King. This album doesn't come very far behind. However, although all the songs are indeed good, none of them catches you as much as Waters' do.
The guitar playing here is also amazing, as was to be expected. The style of the music might not be that obvious. Yes, it is indeed the blues, but many elements of jazz have entered here, particularly in the backing band sounding more like swing than blues and Lucille, the guitar, sounds almost rocky at times. It's the lyrics and King which keep this album firmly in the realm of the Blues.
Stream it from Napster or buy it at Amazon UK
or USTrack Highlights
1. Everyday I Have The Blues
2. Help The Poor
3. Worry Worry
4. Please Love Me
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
Later in life B. B. started making collaborations with all kinds of crappy people, including Portuguese worse-than-average "rocker" Rui Veloso. Just look for his picture on Google Images... it's worth it.
From here:
"In 1990, Rui Veloso saw one of his dreams come true: to play together with the renowned “king of the blues”, B.B. King. On March 16 and 17, Casino Estoril was sold out, as well as the two following concerts at Oporto’s Coliseu.
[...]
In March [1995], Veloso meets B.B. King at Coliseu dos Recreios, in Lisbon. The first musical experience with this extraordinary musician gave him the necessary background to offer the audience an astonishing performance, much acclaimed by the audience and the critics. [utter bollocks]
[...]
and finally his third and again memorable meeting with B.B. King, on July, at Expo 98."
From Wiki:
According to a 2003 listing in Rolling Stone magazine, B.B. King is the greatest living guitarist, and ranked 3rd among the "100 greatest guitarists of all time" (behind late Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman).
He is mentioned in the Beatles' song "Dig It".
He has made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows, including "Sanford and Son," "The Cosby Show," "The Young and the Restless," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Sesame Street," and "Married With Children".
For much of his early career, he was usually seen playing a Gibson ES-355TD-SV guitar. This model was discontinued in 1980, being replaced by a Gibson BB King (Lucille) model, which is still available today.
B.B. King has also used other guitars, such as a Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-330, Gibson ES-335, Gibson ES-345, Gibson ES-5, and Gibson ES-175. However, he is not as closely associated with these guitars as he is with the ES-355 and his Lucille signatures, produced by Gibson.
April 2006: Playing his 10,000th show at his New York City Club, King's triumph was marked as bitter sweet, having in the previous week experienced the deaths of his son to cancer and 14 year-old grandson in a store shooting.
Each year, during the first weekend in June, a B.B. King homecoming festival is held in Indianola.
No comments:
Post a Comment