B.B. King
The Ultimate Collection
(Geffen)
First Appeared in The Music Box, April 2005, Volume 12, #4
Written by John Metzger
The very notion of trying to distill B.B. King’s illustrious, 54-year career
into a single disc collection — even one that pushes the medium to its 80-minute
capacity — is, at first glance, an insurmountable task. After all, the legendary
guitarist landed over 70 tunes on Billboard’s R&B charts, a sum that
amounts to more than three times the number of tracks on The Ultimate
Collection. Nevertheless, this latest repackaging of his astounding
catalogue offers a rather remarkable overview of his career, even if it isn’t
comprehensive enough to be called definitive. Presented in chronological order
(well, almost), the compilation shifts from the slow burn of King’s first hit Three O’Clock Blues to the fiery re-interpretation of Ten Long Years
that appeared on Riding with the King, his recent collaborative effort
with Eric Clapton. His early recordings, which were fueled by his youthful
energy, are intriguing from a developmental standpoint, while the later material
is positive proof that he hasn’t lost his edge despite the uneven flow and
glossy production of his latter-day outings. Even so, it’s the selections that
span the period of 1959 through 1973 that truly sparkle. With his passionate
vocals and emotive axe slinging, he takes the simplicity of Roy Hawkins’ The
Thrill Is Gone, Jane Feather’s How Blue Can You Get?, Jerry Ragavoy’s
Ain’t Nobody Home, and his own Sweet Sixteen, Parts One & Two and
transforms them into pure magic. Though King will celebrate his 80th
birthday in September 2005, he still manages to perform over 150 concerts each
year — a testament to the very survival skills that first gave him the gumption
to ask Sonny Boy Williamson for an opportunity to perform on radio station WKEM
all those years ago. Indeed, there may be plenty of other equally worthwhile
moments within B.B. King’s recorded canon, but The Ultimate Collection
does its job in providing a solid introduction to a bona-fide master of the
blues. 
Of Further Interest...
Eric Clapton - From the Cradle
Big Mama Thornton - Vanguard Visionaries
Muddy Waters - Live at ChicagoFest (DVD Review)
The Ultimate Collection is available
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2005 The Music Box