B.B. (Bluesy Bluesy) King has long been one of those artists who I've heard lots about, but if you asked me to I couldn't name his 'signature' song, or even any of his songs. For all I know this album doesn't contain his best tracks, but it's a good album nonetheless. B.B. King has a good rapport with the audience, which goes a long way to giving live albums extra points. He teases and caresses Lucille as though she were his wife, and the music is beautiful.
I've never been a huge fan of live albums, despite there being some crackers on here so far. I always feel as though the energy is let down by the recording. Give me a studio version of a song anyday! Sadly this album is no exception. It didn't help that half the songs were missing, and the ones that were there were titled incorrectly but I don't think I'd have enjoyed it even if it was all correct. There were some good songs, but sadly the rest did nothing for me.
If the first Elvis album in the list is the one to play during the party, this second offering is the album to play when you've walked your date home for the night and gone in for a cup of coffee. It begins with the upbeat 'Make Me Know It' and immediately slows down with Elvis's cover of 'Fever', which is a surprising highlight. I can only presume the criteria for songs on this album were 'ones you can dance in the kitchen too'. It's probably not 'cool' to admit it, but this was far better than his self-titled debut in the sense that it was more structured and less all over the place.
Overall: 7/10
Favourite Track: The Girl of My Best Friend
Reading the reviews of this album, it's been said that Billie Holiday's voice was torn to shreds by the time she recorded these dozen songs; but because I've not heard much of her before, I don't really have anything to compare her with. Still, she does unfortunately, sound a little like Macy Gray on this album. Fortunately, she gets over this by providing an emotional depth to the songs (a couple of which appear on the two Sinatra albums I've already listened to). The fragility of her voice is somewhat complimented by the context of the songs; for forty minutes Holiday mourned tragedy, love lost and generally felt a little blue- which is fair enough, being a heroin junkie and all (she's like a female Renton). It's a shame she wasn't at her peak when this album was recorded, because it'd make what is a fine album even better. Eleanora Fagan, I'm glad I heard you and you're far better than Macy Gray!
There's a book you may or may not have heard of called '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'. Here is my attempt to do just that. Follow my progress from Frank Sinatra to Arcade Fire as I write my thoughts and feelings about each album.
All errors in this blog are mine, and mine only (unless they're not).
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