Artist: B.B. King
Title: The Ultimate Collection
Genre: Blues
Label: Universal Music Group
B.B. King Website
With his guitar strapped to his back in search of his destiny in Chicago, Riley B. King left the Mississippi cotton fields forever and became the legendary B.B. King. His story is one of the most interesting and entertaining of all the luminaries we have had the pleasure to enjoy. Since 1956, when Singin’ The Blues on Crown Records hit the shelves he has carved out his own distinctive path in music. I find it hard to believe I saw him live on his 69th birthday and he is now 80 and still going strong with his trusty guitar Lucille by his side.
There was not a single CD collection available that covered the King recorded works…until now. The Ultimate Collection encompasses 21 tracks and does a nice job of following the progression of his career from the beginning to present day.
I cannot tell you how many times I listened to this CD already. It is a great collection. There were some highlights for my listening pleasure. “Sweet Little Angel” is a live track recorded at the Regal Theater in 1964 that captures B.B. in the early stages of his career when he was on fire. The crowd is going crazy, particular the women, screaming, hooting, and hollering. “The Thrill Is Gone” is one of my all time favorites. If there is a track that clearly defines the sound of B.B. King, this is it. That distinctive stinging lead from his hollow body six string, lovingly named Lucille, is his trademark along with his from-the-belly vocal style. “Never Make A Move Too Soon” smokes right along complete with the sounds of party going on in the background. His voice is fantastic and the rhythm and beat of the track will have out of your chair in the beat of a heart. The bass on that track bobs and weaves in between King’s guitar lines with exactitude. And who can forget his duo with Bono? “When Love Comes To Town” got B.B. the crossover audience that he needed to expand his reach and push his career into the stratosphere, bringing us to present day to an entire album (Riding With The King) with another guitar god named Eric Clapton. The riches may have come in the winter of his career but they came, unlike some blues legends that preceded him who died penniless while the greedy and deceitful record labels reaped all the benefits of their work.
Article comments
1 - HW Saxton
Muzik-Man, Since your heart is in the
right place and you've got pretty decent
taste in sounds I would like to correct
a couple of things here right quick and
polite like.
First, BB had been recording for almost
seven years(since 1949)when the "Singing
The Blues" LP was released in 1956. His
hit single "Three O'Clock Blues" on RPM
Records (a subsidiary of Modern)was the
seventh single released by BB King and
his biggest hit to date upon release in
late 1951.
Second,the version of Sweet Little Angel
(a slight re-write of Robert Nighthawks-
"Sweet Black Angel")on this set is taken
from BB's "Live At The Regal" LP.This LP
is considered by many to be one if his
best efforts. It's a Top Ten/Desert Isle
/Must Have/Essential Blues LP etc type
of a disc that shows up on many greatest
Blues lists. It's well worth picking up
as you begin to expand on your B.B. King
collection.
That's about it there. I just wanted to
point those little things out. It seemed
as if you thought BB's debut was in '56.
If I misread or misunderstood you or if
it was just an ambigious statement then
please excuse me OK? Just a stickler for
fact that's all. Good post and I'm glad
you dig BB. Some of his late 60's/70's
material is really great too. Just a bit
of funk & soul sneaking in and bringing
his blues into the modern age without
any loss of integrity at all.
When I was going to college I worked for
a friends landscaping company and one of
the houses we had under contract was BB
Kings home in Las Vegas.This was back in
the late 1970's. I've met B.B. several
times but only once at his house. It's a
funny story.WTF, Maybe I'll blog it soon
since it was jarred from memory by this
review of yours.Again,good review.Later.
2 - HW Saxton
MM, Also I just wanted to mention that
BB was one of the few Blues artists who
actually did not make the Mississippi to
Chicago trip in search of fame. He had
already been an well established artist
by the time he ever performed up there
in Chicago.He was a DJ at WDIA radio in
Memphis,Tenn. when he broke on the R&B
charts. He started touring and recording
from there. He was influential as hell
in Chicago though.Especially on the West
Side scene. His influence runs deep in
the playing of Otis Rush,Buddy Guy,Magic
Sam,Jimmy Dawkins,Mighty Joe Young and
many other of the Second Generation of
electric ChiTown blues men.
3 - Keith
I use the ALL MUSIC GUIDE (http://www.allmusic.com/) a reference tool. This site always seems to get me in hot water! Look up BB and his discography. I also read B.B.'s biography and was well aware of his radio station gig however he did not hit the big time until he made it to the windy city and word started to spread like wildfire. None of old blues players like BB were considered to be reknowed until they made it in Chicago, its as simple as that. I know that much about the history of the blues. Here is the track list from the Crown 1956 release with song you speak of listed:
1. Three O'Clock Blues
2. You Know I Love You
3. Woke up This Morning (My Baby's Gone)
4. You Upset Me Baby
5. Please Love Me
6. Blind Love King
7. Every Day I Have the Blues
8. Ten Long Years
9. Did You Ever Love a Woman
10. Sweet Little Angel
11. That Ain't the Way to Do It
12. Crying Won't Help You
13. Bad Luck
4 - HW Saxton
"A.M.G" - This site runs the gamut from
the most knowledgeable to some of the
most ill informed writers posing as some
sort of music critic. I'm very familiar
with it and it holds a lot of good info
but also a lot of just plain nonsense as
well unfortunately like everything else
on the net.
The track listing of "Singing The Blues"
is composed of pre-56 singles of BB's
done for the Modern/ RPM /Crown label
combine. These were compiled to form an
album. Since the practice of doing an LP
straight out was not very common at the
time, this was a very standard practice.
Bo Diddley's first LP and Howling Wolf's
first LP for example, were done the same
way.That is,compiling their earlier 45's
up to their latest release as a complete
LP.
Keith, Many bluesmen were already highly
established stars in their own right WAY
before they had ever "made it" in the
Chicago scene,sorry to say.I'm not sure
just where you got this mis-information
from.AMG again? This is very applicable
to many of the Texas and WestCoast cats
like T-Bone Walker,Gatemouth Brown and
Johnny "Guitar" Watson for example who
were already stars in their own right
before ever being accepted in Chicago.
Despite all you have read ChiTown wasn't
the mega center of the Blues universe up
and above all others.There were huge and
thriving blues scenes in L.A,Houston,NYC
and Memphis etc.as well as localized but
still thriving scenes in many others.In
an amongst them Dallas,TX, Jackson,Miss,
Nashville,Baton Rouge/Crowley,La. and so
on. This isn't meant to marginalize the
Chicago scene whatsoever. Many of these
great records that have come to be known
as sterling examples of Chicago's blues
were actually recorded in various other
places around the country and bought up
by and released on various labels,large
and small,in Chi Town w/USA,United,Cobra
Chief,Profile,Atomic H,Vee Jay,Parrot,
Blue Lake and of course Chess amongst
them.
I've read enough about BB to know that
his sucess certainly was already there
before he'd ever been "accepted" by the
Chi.Blues scene. He was already revered
and dug by many there by the time he had
played there and he had a huge influence
there (and everywhere else too) mainly
on the younger cats as opposed to say,
Muddy,Wolf,Elmore and all the rest of
those guys whose sound was mainly rooted
in the Delta and was well formed by the
time they heard BB. Not to say that they
didn't dig him though, he just did not
influence their music that much. Later.
5 - Jarmo Puhakka
Hello!
I was wonderin´ if you experts could help me a bit: I have a "rare" album (Crown CLP 5111)where B.B. King performs with members of Count Basie band...anybody have any info about this?
I´m willing to sell this record.
I would appreciate if you could help me out.
regards
Jarmo
Finland
6 - Matthew Piper
Hi there. I don't know if you can help me. I've just turned 20 years old and i love playing the blues but no-one of my age seems to appreciate this style of music which i believe is the most influential music out there. I'm trying to find Mr King's address so that I could write him a letter and see what he thinks I should do. Do you think i have to go to America to play for interested people. I live in Bournemouth at the moment. I can imagine that you get loads of e-mails like this but i just want to make everybody know about the king of the blues. If you have any information that you could send me i would appreciate it more than anything. my address is 26 Vale Road, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset, BH14 9AU. Thankyou for any help you might be able to give and if you know Mr King you are very lucky and wish him a happy 80th year. thanks. Matt Piper.