Charles Sawyer, in his 'B B King - The Authorized Biography', has this to say about this album, released in 1967 :
"This album is my own favorite. More than the Regal performance, recorded in a cavernous theater, this performance, taped in a Chicago nightclub, catches B.B. at the height of his powers as a performer. All B.B.'s studio cuts miss one thing which is pivotal in his live performances: the unique voice of his instrument. The rich, sonorous sound of his sustained notes and the harsh edge of his attack seem to disappear before studio microphones. This recording has them both, full-blown, and the intimate atmosphere of a nightclub is thick in every groove. B.B.'s guitar solos are among his very best, marred only slightly by the use of reverb in places ( an uncharacteristic choice for him )."
I agree with this view but see both albums as essential to any Blues collection - The '...plus' in the title refers to the added single 45 release ( A & B sides - Sweet Sixteen Parts 1 & 2 ) taken from the same gig and not included on the original release. Enjoy
10 comments:
Get it here :
https://mega.co.nz/#!2QF3mZSI!EWKK5gklKZz1WxVj9MnIjxj11olKYFrU6KkAPfd5cs4
Or here:
http://www44.zippyshare.com/v/95164706/file.html
And just for all the BB fanatics (like me) here is that single of 'Sweet Sixteen' spliced together in one file from my 4cd boxset 'B B King - King Of The Blues' that concentrates on his later recordings - And might be persuaded to post - Get it here :
https://mega.co.nz/#!vQVwBTyK!KOGQaUG7PVu5YvwI9ultVAGGp8Ih4639rxvXFJ5bQPs
Or here:
http://www18.zippyshare.com/v/29964188/file.html
What a Beauty ! Thank you very much, GuitarGus ...
Wow, I don't have this one, thanks!
I enjoyed the other live set a lot. So thanks for more, Gus!
Far too little BB in my collection :-)
Thanks, Mr. King Cake and Gus, for both of these. Eerily I downloaded the complete Crown recordings set last night and was listening to King when I discovered both your posts. I have both of the live recordings but am downloading them again rather than searching through my chaotic music collection to find them.
In 1976, I was a lucky young man in my junior year of college which featured a B. B. King concert in our small gym. The acoustics weren't great but King and his band were fantastic.. Later that same year I saw Muddy Waters at Paul's Mall in Boston which was a small club, the type of venue in which Gus wishes he had an opportunity to see B. B. King. What I remember best about both men were their consummate professionalism, the tightness of their bands, and their great dignity in the way they comported themselves while singing and playing. The latter stuck in my mind because I had seen Miles Davis the year before and great as he was we watched his back for most of the night, three sets, in the Jazz Workshop, Pall's Mall sister club. He had a great wardrobe but I only have a dim memory of what the front looked like because we had momentary glimpses at best. Waters and King were much more accessible to us in the audience and they exuded class while being down to earth, a marked contrast to Davis' aloofness. In King's case, he played under somewhat ludicrous conditions given that they set up the stage beneath our basketball nets, banners featuring the school's basketball team's mascot hung overhead, and we sat on exercise mats to watch him. Of course, Muddy Waters' cheekbones appeared to be etched in stone and King had much more mobility on stage than he has had in the last decade or so. We were lucky enough to be close enough to see the wonderful facial expressions he made when playing Lucille. Both Waters and King were simply regal, no pun intended. It was a different time, the blues revival was waning, and the concerts were eminently affordable even for my college work-study wages. Sadly in 1978 both the Jazz Workshop and Pall's Mall closed. They were adjacent to one another on the same street as and very close to the site of the Marathon bombing. Alas, my days of affordable concerts ended about the same time I began raising a family.
I believe this just pushed The Regal to the side on my list - I love that they chose less common songs - editing is a little rough but I can live with that - the guitar dynamics put this one over the top.
I agree KC but like you I didn't have this until I read the quote I posted above from the biography (way back !) ... But the Regal album gets mentioned everywhere
( and rightly so) So where are the critics when you need them - Thankfully blogs like this spread the word to those that matter !
Cheers
BB tearing it up - thanks Gus. And great splice job in Sweet 16. I first saw BB on a double bill with Bobby Bland in the early 80s. Great show from both artists. Come to think of it, it might have been my intro to live blues. -john
To my mind, BETTER than "Live At The Regal"! Superb-thanks for alerting us!
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