Live in Kansas City Review

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(More customer reviews)B.B. King's live recordings generally are much more satisfying than his studio releases, and he's overdue for a concert disc. Despite the recent photo on the cover, however, this isn't it. "Live in Kansas City" -- recorded in 1972 -- catches King in roughly the same period as "Live at the Regal" and "Live at Cook County Jail."
What distinguishes this CD from those, though, is the exceptional recording quality, especially impressive given that it's a nightclub performance captured 30 years ago. The mix is spot-on and instrument voicings are clear on up-tempo numbers (like the Introduction and King's Shuffle) as well as the numerous slow blues tracks.
The selections, in fact, are mostly slow 12-bar tunes, which give King the opportunity to stretch out in his playing. Here you'll find beautiful fluid runs that for the most part have been missing in the last 10 years or so, as well as the jazz-influenced phrasing and extraordinary use of dynamics that make his playing instantly recognizable. The introduction to Sweet Little Angel is nothing short of inspirational.
Other comments: As you might expect from an import CD, some room exists for improvement. Track 8 has been mis-titled; it's actually "All Over Again." And the fade out/fade in between songs breaks the live mood a bit. But those are minor complaints. This is a very good CD that captures one of the most influential artists in his prime.

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Nine track live set from the reigning king of the blues. Includes his 1970 smash 'The Thrill Is Gone'. Recorded in 1972 in Kansas City. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

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Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was lucky to attend the festival in Dallas this summer. While the songs selected for the DVD aren't always the ones I would have picked (Buddy Guy blew everyone else away, but he is conspicuously absent except for the ensemble numbers), this is nontheless sure to be a great DVD. Clapton was brilliant as usual, Santana was fantastic and ZZ Top were their usual eccentric selves.
John Mayer, Jonny Lang and Robert Randolph were all excellent newcomers in the mostly over-50 lineup. Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-a-whirl band served as a fantastic houseband, backing up the many blues legends on hand.
Some disappointing omissions ... Robert Randolph's "I Need More Love" ,a surprising show-stealer on the second day of the festival is not listed. Same with John Mayer's "Come Back To Bed". Styx put on a surprisingly good set of cover tunes, from the Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" to BB King's "The Thrill Is Gone". Also, Eric Clapton's set on the third day included a nice selection of songs from his new album of Robert Johnson covers that are omitted here.
That said, I still pre-ordered my copy as soon as I saw it announced. They could have made it a four disc set with more material and doubled the price and I still would have bought it.

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In June 2004, some of the greatest living guitar players and their bands gathered at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, for a three-day festival to benefit the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. It was the ultimate concert for any music lover, featuring one legend after the other: Eric Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, Eric Johnson, James Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Walsh, John Mayer, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Santana, ZZ Top, and many more. This 2-DVD set beautifully documents the event and contains over 4 hours of content. Planned extras include in-depth artist interviews, a mini-documentary, photo gallery, alternate angle, and more. Royalties from the DVD sales will benefit the Crossroads Center.

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Live at the Regal Review

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(More customer reviews)As has been noted, this is one of the essential albums, one of the records that everyone is supposed to have like John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, like Robert Johnson, like the music Billie Holiday made with Lester Young for Columbia, like Louis's Hot 5s and Hot 7s, like Elvis's Sun Sessions.
Beyond that, this is something that has become increasingly rare, a live blues recording where the music is played for blues people, African American working class and middle class blues people in an urban center. This all about singing and swinging and jiving and talking to the audience and the audience talking back.
When I was in Mississippi in the mid 1960s doing civil rights work, I met Blues People who loved BB King who didn't know that he played the guitar. The expression always was and still is 'BLUES SINGER," not blues guitarist. He sang the blues the way they needed to listen to and in a Blues People venue the folks will talk back to him too.
My favorite, classic moment of the blues dialog here is in "It's my own fault baby" where Riley sings "I gave you seven children, and now you want to give 'em back." All the sistas in the audience scream. Gruffer sounds came from the men.
What is essential to blues performance for BLUES PEOPLE is the constant dialog between the singer and the audience that is the heart of the native blues experience. The dialog isn't about the impeccable guitar playing on this record, or the totally righteous playing of the band, or even the fine voice of Riley B. King here, but it is about what the words the lyrics speak to the lives of the audience, and what the audience responds to the singer. That's the center of blues, not heavy guitar licks that the post-folk-post rock blues fan thinks is the essence of heavy blues.
It's a shame the audience for the blues has almost disappeared, that blues stars no longer play in big "Chitlin' Circuit" theaters like the Regal, the Apollo, the Howard, the old non hippie Fillmore, or that you can't see Riley or Bobby Blue Bland in smoky little night clubs in the ghetto.
Perhaps, I am showing my age here, because time has to roll on. I am sure that night at the Regal there was someone who could remember when the sistas and their men would be shouting back at things Bessie Smith, or Big Maceo and Tampa Read, Lonnie Johnson, or Memphis Minnie had sung to them from that same stage without the electric instruments.
The real Black blues when it was based among us, was about singing, about commentary. For even the greatest guitarists like Riley, Lonnie Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Lee Hooker, Guitar Slim, the guitar playing and the band were just ways to emphasize how the to talk to audience. This brings to mind that great Betty Carter Album, "The Audience and Betty Carter." This is the Blues People and Riley King talking to each other. That's priceless, get it, and listen to it.

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Japanese only SACD pressing. Universal. 2011.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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