Assembeled and remastered at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles by Ed Michel and Baker Bigsby.
There's no shortage of albums in this world entitled either THE BEST OF B.B. KING or some variation thereof. Fortunately, the inestimably influential blues guitarist has a colossal and consistently impressive discography that warrants a couple of dozen best-of compilations.
At 10 tracks, EMI's 2006 collection is a basic primer on King, featuring a full roster of the legendary performer's straightforward, soulful vocals and smooth, perfectly phrased fret work. There's no "The Thrill Is Gone" or "Caldonia" here, but King's take on "Everyday (I Have the Blues)" and the smooth swing of "Why I Sing the Blues" more than compensate. The lack of liner notes and recording information will frustrate some listeners, but it won't detract from the excellent music on offer.
This solid three-CD boxed set overview of B.B. King's post-1960s career contains favorites like "The Thrill Is Gone" and "How Blue Can You Get?" as well Stevie Wonder's "To Know You Is to Love You," the latter an example of the master guitarist's impeccable taste in choosing songs to suit his style. King's late-1960s resurgence as an influence on young white musicians like Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield led to many crossover collaborations with rock artists (including Clapton and, eventually, U2), illustrated here by the inclusion of Leon Russell's "Hummingbird." The string arrangements on King's version, together with those on "Ghetto Woman" and the aforementioned "Thrill Is Gone," also show the attempts the bluesman made to enhance his commercial appeal. But ultimately King's music is best appreciated unadorned, as shown on the final live CD, which features stinging performances of "Night Life" and "Gambler's Blues."
A basic 10-track budget line anthology, THE BEST OF B.B. KING contains none of B.B. King's six Top 40 hits from the 1960s and '70s, but it does contain some of the electric blues guitarist and singer's better known songs. Highlights include "You Don't Know," "Everyday I Have the Blues," "Ain't That Just Like A Woman," "When My Heart Beats Like A Hammer," and "You Upset Me Baby."
True, this 1973 vintage best-of album covers a ridiculously slim wedge of time in the blues king's long career. Yet this period was quite significant, for it marks the crest of B.B. King's initial entry into the pop music mass market -- and this album surfs succinctly, if not comprehensively, over the high points of his turn-of-the-decade winning streak. There's a potent slice of King's triumphant Live at Cook County -- one of his sassiest "How Blue Can You Get?" on records -- the huge hit "The Thrill Is Gone" extracts from his surprisingly pleasing early excursions into pop/rock territory on In London and Indianola Mississippi Seeds, and plenty of flavorful electric blues ("Sweet Sixteen," "Why I Sing the Blues") at full length. There are some quirks -- "Caldonia" is shortened because one of the unnamed participants on the session demanded the cut, and the "compatible stereo/quad" sound on the LP has some details drastically mixed down when it's played back in ordinary stereo. Most curious of all is the last track, where King plunks out "Nobody Loves Me but My Mother" on a tack piano and then his closing words are converted into a weird, gradually slowed-down, echotized electronic blur that settles into a creepy locked-end groove. ~ Richard S. Ginell
For much of the 1950s, B.B. King cut sides for the Bihari Brothers' RPM and Kent labels, and the diversity of the material, from spirituals to hard, horn-driven R&B, is pretty impressive. This brief set (at ten songs, it falls just short of 30 minutes in length) collects RPM and Kent singles on the jump blues side of things, including 1954's "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer," 1956's "Sweet Little Angel," and a 1955 cover of Lowell Fulson's "Everyday I Have the Blues." Each of these features King backed by a large band complete with a horn section, and there is plenty of his trademark sharp and brittle guitar runs on display. King wouldn't record his signature song, a masterful cover of Roy Hawkins' "The Thrill Is Gone," for a least another decade ("Thrill" was initially released in 1969), so calling this compilation The Best of B.B. King is probably a stretch, and since there are several other collections of King's Bihari material on the market, there is no compelling reason to seek out this package. EMI released this same set with the same running order and title but with different cover art in 1994. ~ Steve Leggett
The Best of B.B. King is a budget-priced, ten-track selection of early recordings, and while there are some essential items missing, it still functions as a good, affordable sampler, featuring such hits as "Everyday (I Have the Blues)," "Three O'Clock Blues, " "Why I Sing the Blues, " "You Upset Me Baby" and "Sweet Little Angel." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
THE BEST OF B.B. KING is a fine assembly of B.B.'s late '60s-early '70s recordings. With attention divided equally between his soul, "jazz," and blues songs, this nine-track set is a perfect introduction to the mid-career works of the guitarist-singer. From certified blues classics like "The Thrill Is Gone" and "Why I Sing The Blues" to sweet Memphis-style soul numbers like "Ain't Nobody Home," this compilation surveys King's songwriting as well as his interpretive abilities. He turns the Louis Jordan staple "Caldonia" into a Chicago-meets-Basin St. blues jam and his gospel-tinged version of Leon Russell's "Hummingbird"--which features Joe Walsh and Leon himself--further stretches the all-encompassing grasp of the jazz-blues-R&B legend, who is forever titled "The King Of The Blues." minimize