54. B.B. King — Live At The Regal (1965)

Red and blues

1. B.B. King makes people wait a solid 30 seconds to hear his distinctive guitar, Lucille, slide in and introduce herself. That guitar sound plus King’s own wail shortly after on “Every Day I Have The Blues” are gorgeous and emotive in a way few artists can pull off.
2. Each truly great has at least one moment that sticks in your craw and doesn’t let go. That moment comes about 3:00 into “How Blue Can You Get?” here, as King wails about his lady always wanting more —“ I gave you a brand new Ford / But you said: I want a Cadillac / I bought you a ten dollar dinner / And you said: thanks for the snack / I let you live in my pent house / You said it just a shack / I gave seven children / And now you wanna give them back” The crowd goes wild when he finishes that sequence and it’s all I can do not to do the same myself. Even if I’m listening while shopping in the “pasta and sauce” aisle at Safeway as I was the first time I heard it.
3. Blues tunes are such a distinctive genre that without spending a lot more time really familiarizing myself with the genre they risk blending together. What keeps this live album feeling fresh is really King’s guitar work; it’s deep, soulful, impressive without being flashy. King’s got a killer voice as well, but it’s no Otis Redding; his guitar, on the other hand, is singular.
4. You won’t be shocked to learn I’m not the first person to attempt to listen to the entirety of this book and blog about it. I’ve noticed that many of the other blogs I’ve come across while doing this seem to die out right around this section of the book. It’s daunting! I refuse to give in to the 50 record slump, however. We’re 5% there; let’s keep going.

One Essential Song:

Listen on Spotify: