B.B. King - Gold (CD)

All Music Guide

Compiling a doubledisc set ranging across the long recording career of an artist like B.B. King, who has a longevity in the business that is not only startling but aweinspiring, is a challenge indeed. Universal's Gold representation of B.B. King covers the years 1963 (14 years after he began) to 1999, so tracks from his platinum Riding with the King collaborative album with Eric Clapton are not represented. That's healthy, actually, since the latter album has been so widely heard that it's unnecessary. The material here 34 cuts in total is all stellar. Beginning with the ABC single "How Blue Can You Get?," the picture of King as a guitarslinging genius is expanded by his wondrous ability as a singer, making him a double threat. King's voice on these early tracks is simply heartstopping, whether he's growling the blues as he does on the Louis Jordan (B.B.'s inspiration) classic "Never Trust a Woman," backed by a fullon horn section, or crooning them as he does on the shimmering "Help ...the Poor" by Jessie Mae Robinson, where his guitar, backing vocalists, and the horn section turn a minorkey blues tune into something soulful and elegant. Sure, the big cuts are here, such as "Every Day I Have the Blues" and "Sweet Little Angel" from Live at the Regal, "The Thrill Is Gone" from Completely Well, and "Lucille" from 1967. But those tracks are expected to be here and don't tell the story so much as crystallize it. When listening to "Don't Answer the Door" (off the album of the same name from 1966) with the instruments muted and King just playing in his inimitable tone and moanin' the blues with ferocity, the story of the big smiling man begins to expand. When he covers Leon Russell, as he does on the funky read of "Hummingbird," or dips Carole King in the blues with his version of "Chains and Things," or even records one of his own as on "Nobody Loves Me But My Mother," where he plays only the piano and sings (all of the aforementioned originally appeared on Indianola Mississippi Seeds from 1970, by the way), the story begins to sprawl and change shape as it begins to fill in the outline. Read more Less