B.B. King's Planting Later

The first time I heard Riley B. King was when I was in High School. I just picked up the Robert Johnson box set and fell hopelessly in love with it. That was until my uncle told me that there are other blues recordings you should listen to. He gave me a bunch of cassette tapes and told me to listen to those. In this pile was John Mayall, John Lee Hooker, Reverend Gary Davis, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Albert King, Jimmy Reed, Mississippi John Hurt and so many others. The one that stood out for me was B.B. King. He had a few cassettes of him. Plus there were two B.B. King live albums were in there. One was Live at the Regal and the other Live at County Cook Jail and they both looked way overplayed and beaten.

I asked him about this and he told me that the best thing about the blues is the live albums because they do a spoken word about themselves and it reveals a lot about them. I was impressed. I kept the tapes and every once in a while I would pull them out and listen to them. In High School I would give them a listen and hear what made them so good. I popped in John Mayall. I loved it and thought it was well done. Great British Blues he told me. I knew I would save that for later. I went through all the tapes. The B.B. King albums were fresh and it did sound like I was at a show where beside playing he would tell us his upbringing. They were the greatest tapes to listen to on bad days after school.

Bill Szymczyk (The Producer) with B.B. King working on recording Indianola Mississippi Seeds

One day one of those tapes broke. I felt so bad that I broke my uncles tape. He was in good humor about it. He told me that it was bound to happen and he handed me a CD version of that same tape. He also handed me a copy of another B.B. King album. He told me that this is not true blues album, but still a very good one none the less. It was called Indianola Mississippi Seeds. I liked the album it was like a simple pop album, but still expressed the blues like nothing before. I started buying blues albums when I went to the record stores. I still have a very good collection, but what draws me back in is the B.B. King albums. I like hearing the blues because they are very good and the musicians on the albums are great. Somehow I forgot about this album when I moved on to other blues albums or other types of music. The other day while cleaning out some CD's I found it. It took me a bit to remember about the album, but I decided to play it again.

I realized I loved listening to this very easy going album for a number of reasons. It was not typical blues album. It was more straight rock with some blues roots. The reason I loved it is because, the guests on the album. There is Joe Walsh, Leon Russell and some great piano playing by Carol King. It is a very good addition to anyone's collection. His mix of Blues and Rock make it a very good album to hear. Each of the nine songs have an identity all their own. The album holds up well in this time of 2019. Check it out when you can!

Even though I have two Blues album on this blog that does not mean I don't like the blues. I love the blues and trying to find great albums and talk about them is tough, but stay tuned because I will be putting some up on John Mayall, Robert Johnson, Albert King, Savoy Brown, Mississippi Fred McDowell and many others. This album is accessible because of the way B.B. King can put this genre in any other and make it sound great. It's a considered one of the Top 100 albums of all time and rightly so. A classic that should be bought and listened with great study. Enjoy!