Customer Reviews

B.B. King: Original Greatest Hits

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At age 80, B.B. King is universally regarded as the reigning king of the blues. What ORIGINAL GREATEST HITS does is demonstrate that King's most influential work was not limited to the forty years he spent recording for MCA. A full decade before he recorded his MCA debut in 1962, B.B. King went all the way to No. 1 with a remake of Lowell Fulson's "Three O'Clock Blues" on the RPM label.

This 40-track collection is prime B.B. King, covering such classics as "Every Day I Have the Blues," "You Upset Me, Baby," "Sweet Little Angel," and "Please Love Me" from his tenure at RPM and Kent between 1952 and 1962. His only crossover pop hit from this era came in 1964 (but recorded in 1962) when "Rock Me Baby" charted for three weeks in 1964, peaking at No. 34. The final two tracks, "Miss Martha King" and the b-side "When Your Baby Packs Up and Goes," are from his 1949 debut single on the Bullet label.

There have been a number of excellent B.B. King compilations over the past few years, but they all shortchange his early years. This collection rectifies that problem with two hours of classic blues. ESSENTIAL

I was originally going to pass this set up because there are so many greatest hits and repackaged compilations of BB King coming out in the last few years. What a mistake that would have been. This is prime, choice, early BB. This is the real deal. 40 cuts in all, with wonderful remastered sound. There is no filler here, just 40 killer cuts of BB in his prime. If you love REAL blues, don't pass this one up. This is timeless music that will never get old.

I knew the real BB existed somewhere, behind all the recent tribute type collections released under his name in recent years(I've passed on all of these, figuring I would search out his best stuff, when I found the time). Here's what my research turned up: Live at the Regal, the live Blues is King, Live at the Cook County Jail, Live in Japan and this little gem of a collection. My only quibble with this would be the missing track by track musician credits. The music itself is the real BB, standing tall, king of the blues.

This is BB King in his early years, with not only his excellent blues guitar skills but along with his younger vocal touch,that makes this cd a must for blues lovers.

If you would like an affordable survey of where B.B. King started from, your search has ended.

This collection packages 40 selections from King's Memphis roots with the RPM, Crown and Kent labels.
The sound quality is excellent and is on a par with the quality of many of the imports from Ace Records, UK.

Highly Recommended.