Robert Cray Band - Who's Been Talkin'

This is Guitar Gus' first post here as an author -- SHOW SOME LOVE.

Robert Cray (born August 1 1953 Columbus, Georgia,  USA) is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.

Cray started playing guitar in his early teens. He attended Denbigh High School in Newport News, Viginia and wanted to become an architect, but around the same time that he began to study architectural design he formed the band Steakface, which played covers by Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, and others.
By the age of twenty, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. In the late 1970s he lived in Eugene, Oregon, where he formed the Robert Cray Band and collaborated with Curtis Salgado in the Cray-Hawks. In the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House, Cray was the uncredited bassist in the house party band Otis Day and the Knights.
After several years of regional success, Cray was signed to Mercury Records in 1982. Two albums on HighTone Records in the mid-80's, Bad Influence and False Accusations, were moderately successful in the United States and in Europe, where he was building a reputation as a live artist. His fourth album release, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single 'Smokin' Gun' gave him wider appeal and name recognition. (Wikipedia)

I first heard Robert Cray back in 1986 with the release of his 'Bad Influence' album. It was playing in my local record shop (long extinct) and I immediately liked his distinctive voice/guitar mix along with some strong songwriting. Later that year I got to see him (and chat) on his UK mini-tour - And yes I bought the T-shirt too !
It turned out that 'Bad Influence' was not his first recording. He had cut the album, Who's Been Talkin', back in 1979 for the Tomato Records label. Unfortunately after its initial release in 1980, Tomato went out of business and the record got lost in obscurity.
Fortunately Charly Records in the UK managed to get to the masters and released a digital remaster in 1986. It contains more straight-ahead blues material than his later albums.
So here is my CD copy of his first released album (tracks 1 to 10). I have supplemented this with an extra 7 cuts (tracks 11 to 17) that I dubbed from rare 12" vinyl singles and are unavailable anywhere else - 4 live performances and 3 studio recordings - making this unique - Enjoy
   

Albert King - New Orleans Heat

Not your normal Albert King album with the fiery guitar licks and all that, there are plenty of those albums to choose from. Here Albert came down to New Orleans and received the full Sea-Saint Toussaint / Quezergue treatment with horns and back-up singers and such. The music focuses on King as a singer and sets him up with some Chitlins Circuit type vehicles that he has some fun with.

Albert King - New Orleans Heat

Tomato Records 1978

1. Get Out Of My Life Woman
2. Born Under A Bad Sign
3. The Feeling
4. We All Wanna Boogie
5. The Very Thought Of You
6. I Got The Blues
7. I Get Evil
8. Angel Of Mercy
9. Flat Tire

*The players on New Orleans Heat (Note: the horn section is unlisted but it almost certainly would have included Gary Brown and Clyde Kerr):

Albert King – vocal, electric guitar
Leo Nocentelli – electric guitar
Allen R. Toussaint – acoustic piano, 88 RMI Echoplex
Wardell Quezergue – electric piano
Robert Dabon – electric piano, RMI
George Porter, Jr. – bass
Charles Williams, June Gardner, Leroy Breaux – drums
Kenneth Williams - percussion 

Now I ain't saying this is Albert's best album or anything silly like that but it is some good fun. The session was also the last recording of the great New Orleans drummer Charles 'Hungry" Williams who became The Man when Earl Palmer went to L.A. This is my LP rip from my perfect copy.