B.B. KING
The Ultimate Collection (Geffen/Chronicles)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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In his 80th year, B.B. King is a familiar and beloved American character, a musical emissary, as Charles Sawyer points out in the notes that accompany this retrospective, in the mold of Louis Armstrong. Many who express their affection or admiration for the elder B.B. may know little of the early decades of his career, when he dominated the R&B charts and before he burst the pop chart barriers with "The Thrill Is Gone." They're likely to know less about Riley, the young Mississippi sharecropper who packed up his guitar and escaped for the bright lights of Memphis. Sawyer fills in some of those details, and the 21 tracks on the album, tracing King from his first recording of "Three O'Clock Blues" in 1951 to his recent collaborations with Eric Clapton and U2 tell the rest of the story.

Of course, the collection will inevitably leave longtime fans wishing that the track list could have been expanded or at least tweaked a bit. With 74 entries on the Billboard R&B charts between 1951 and 1985, there's a wealth of material to pine for, but this is about as good a job as could be hoped for in the space provided. For an introduction to the full span of B.B. King's career or just as a handy one stop source for some of his biggest and best, this is a great addition to your shelves.

Track List:

Three O'Clock Blues * Please Love Me * You Upset Me Baby * Sweet Sixteen, Parts One & Two * Rock Me Baby * How Blue Can You Get * Every Day I Have The Blues * Sweet Little Angel * Don't Answer The Door * Paying The Cost To Be The Boss * The Thrill Is Gone * Nobody Loves Me But My Mother * Chains And Things * Ain't Nobody Home * I Like To Live The Love * Never Make A Move Too Soon * Better Not Look Down * There Must Be A Better World Somewhere * When Love Comes To Town * Ten Long Years * I'll Survive

© 2005 - Shaun Dale