Customer Reviews

Blues Legends: Albert King - Live in Sweden

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Well it is absolutely about darn time a DVD was released dealing exclusively with the single greatest and most influential Blues guitarist of all time. This DVD certainly has its limitations. It was filmed in 1980 and the wonders of technology haven't done much to improve the audio or visual quality. It is also disappointingly skimpy. Just fifty-eight minutes and that includes pieces of an interview. When I saw the track listing, I was thrilled to see "Summertime". I could hear King's haunting guitar on the standard, and my mouth began to water. Unfortunately, Albert sat this one out, and it is just his band doing a nice, but predictable Jazz version.

Imperfections aside, if you know Albert King's work, you are invariably a fan, and so this DVD is an essential buy. There's plenty of good camera work showing King's giant paws working the frets and choking the you know what out of Lucy, the Gibson Flying V guitar that Albert calls, "My honey". We hear his signature tune "Born Under a Bad Sign" (I still haven't heard a version that wasn't just a little better than decent without King's Stax Records compadres Booker T. & the MGs backing him up) and the standard "The Very Thought of You", which shows that the deep voiced Blues giant was also one heck of a soulful singer, and that though Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn could almost match his power, they never came close to his tastefulness and touch.

King definitely provides great highlights, not only with his playing, but with his always perfectly timed "Woooooooos!" and "Yeahhhhs!". Those moments are great examples of Albert King style Blues. Orgasmic bursts of joy that could instantly cure the bluest man's blues.

Usually depicted as a gruff giant, King comes across more as a lovable teddy bear in the snippets of the interview. I found him to be truly endearing as he chuckles at things he just said. The interview, though pretty skimpy as well, and also the closing number make everything worth while. He does a wonderful version of "As the Years Go Passing By". And as they pass on by, the world will never see his equal. Every year I hear of a new guy on the scene who is being hailed as the heir apparent, but there will never be another Albert King.

The picture quality is better than the sound quality, when I first heard this was coming out I couldn't wait to see it. I was somewhat disappointed by it, but it does have some good points. I thought his vocals were great, there were also a a lot of good solos. And I also thought the other guitar player with Albert was fantastic, Albert gave him plenty of room which was great. This man is quite a guitar player, but there is a better DVD of Albert out there, (Ohne Filter) which was recorded live in Germany. This was recorded about six months before Albert passed, it was his last European tour (1992). This is very hard to find, if you can find a copy you will be more than pleased. I bought a burned copy from Europe which turned out to be excellent quality.

I have been a long time fan of Albert from the late 1960s post release of his Filmore Live wire/Blues Power set; have all his CDs and been fortunate enough to see him perform live before his death. Sadly, this hacked DVD of a Swedish TV live show including an interview is a big disappointment and not the man at his best.

1. The show has been edited around (as evidenced by Albert's state of dress and level of sweat) so is not the original running order it seems.

2. The highspots are when Albert lets fly on his solos (his fingering and left handed style caught very well on camera) but his West Coast support band is at best perfunctory and a second guitarist who is sadly not in his league which waters down the intensity of the show - highspots are "Born under a Bad Sign" and the Elmore Jame song "The sky is crying" and the first interview when he covers his early days of struggle pre-Stax success.

3. Lowspots are the band's (without Albert) rendition of Summertime and the final track overlapped with a second interview, plus the overall set listing is not all of Albert's best.

While one suspects Albert's video recording legacy is not great one hopes that better examples of this great bluesman can be traced and released (rumours his CD released Montreux shows were videotaped abound and paired with his Wattstax show would be a killer DVD).

I CALL MYSELF ONE OF THE MOST CRAZIEST ALBERT KING FAN WORLDWIDE.
AS A COLLECTOR AND ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE ALBERT KING TRIBUTE BAND IN ARGENTINA , THE FACT TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO GET THIS NEW DVD IS A MIRACLE.
NOT JUST ABOUT THE QUALITY, WICH IS GREATE IN IMAGE AND SOUND.
IT'S A REAL TREASURE TO HEAR ALBERT SO CLOSE IN THE INTERVIEW, UNGRY WITH THA BAND IN SOME MISTAKES ON STAGE, AND SINGING "THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU" BETTER THAN OTHERS VHS TAKEN.
TO TRUE ALBERT'S FANS: DONT MISS THIS CHANCE, TO MEET A DIFERENT ALBERT THAT WE NEVER SAW IN OTHERS FILMS.

LONG LIVE ALBERT KING

GUS

I love Albert King and I got this DVD the moment I've seen it.
I'm a bit disappointed thought.
Sound quality is not very good, especially in the first songs.
This is not one of his good performances.
If you like Albert King you'll enjoy some of his solos and his
amazing voice.
To me, his best performance is the unpublished "In Session" with
Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Albert King was born in the Mississippi Delta, in the town of Indianola, back in the 1920's, and died in Memphis during 1992. This dvd shows Albert King & his "huge" backing band, in their peak. The band members are both Black & White. This is all electric blues. Albert has his on unique guitar playing style, just like Charlie Daniels has his own unique fiddle playing style. Albert can really play his "Flying V" electric guitar. As you can see in this dvd, Albert can really play that guitar to it's maximum output!!!!

This concert was filmed in Sweden, on June 9, 1980.

The band includes 2 or 3 electric guitar players, a brass horn section, drums, keyboards, bass, and the whole works. Albert King performs all the lead vocals.

The song list includes the following: These songs are not just "Delta Blues", but they also, include some "Chicago Blues", "Detroit Blues", and other "Blues".

1.Born Under a Bad Sign
2.The Sky is Crying
3.The Very Thought of You
4.Cadillac Assembly Line
5.Summertime
6.Cold Women With Warm Hearts
7.As the Years Go Passing By

At differnt points in the concert, there are interviews with Albert King. These are great interviews, this man really went through a lot, in his lifetime.

The running time is only around 58 minutes. If it was longer, I would definitely give this dvd a 5 star rating. However, this dvd is definitely well worth the price, just to get to see this great blues legend & his fantastic band perform. Thanks!!!!

This is one really good DVD from one of the all time GREAT Blues legends. Albert King ROCKS out the Blues. Long live the BLUES!!

As a Albert King fan, I found this DVD lacking. The video is poor, the song selection not great, the audio bad.

Well I have been an Albert King fan since he released "King Of The Blues Guitar" when I was in college. Any material about him has always been of interest to me, for one thing, it is so scarce!! This DVD is in the new Blues Legends series and after seeing the excellent Freddie King release last year (even though the last set taped in Sweden had been released before) I had to see Albert in action again.

Note for overseas customers: Most of the music DVDs sold buy Amazon which have a disclaimer re: Region 1; "This DVD will not probably not play outside the US", is not true. All my DVD's play perfectly in Australia (Region 4). They are obviously Region 0! You can also get an all region player!

This set was taped in Sweden in June, 1980 and it has a younger (around 56-who knows his real age!)Albert performing with a seven piece band including a horn section (which is his best work!). He is playing his custom Flying-V "Lucy" with a normal Gibson headstock (eg., 335)and interestingly, no pick-up covers! The sound is fat and seems like the tone he achieved in the early 1980s when he started using his custom phaser (for the uninitiated: an effect that came out in the 1970s-post wah-wah (Hendrix). The sound is great but may be too much for the casual listener. It is much like his tone on the CD "Blues At Sunrise". The set he plays includes a great intro- very aggressive and great bending with his custom riffs. He then goes into "Born Under A Bad Sign" his signature tune from 1966's album of the same name. Then they put on a curious interview, why??? Why wasn't this at the end??? As a bonus? The DVD then continues with his old version (pre: "I'm In A Phone Booth" LP)of "The Sky Is Crying". It is great and even has the mixed up introduction as he always did even on records too-"and...it's stayed in people's minds..my mind, etc, the real honesty of the blues. He then does "The Very Thought of You" to showcase his vocal ability, but he should have done "I'll Play the Blues for You", "Cockroach" or "Crosscut Saw"!! There is then the highlight: "Cadillac Assembly Line". This is one of his best recorded video performances. The weak spot is that he bullies the band so much to be quiet that you can hardly hear them!!(He always did that!). The show goes on with a curious jazz version of "Summertime"-while Albert rests(??!!!) and he comes back with a strong version of "Cold Women With Warm Hearts". His guitar playing is excellent on this one. The finale "As The Years Go Passing By" is somewhat spoiled by the interviews spliced in with the song. Although, the close up look at Lucy is good! This should have been at the end of the show! His best playing is at the end of the tune-it is the highlight and only 2 minutes long!!!!

I have to give this 5 stars, just based on the rarity of the material! The amount of material on video of Albert King is sooooo hard to get:
He released the 1 hour set with Iowa PBS called Maintenance Shop Blues which is good, but his guitar is subdued and very phaser driven (as in the In Session CD). But there are a lot of good tunes including "Kansas City". It is now out of print (Check Amazon Auctions and Z-shops). He did a great job, probably his best on video, with B.B. King's HBO special: "A Blues Session" where he sings "The Sky Is Crying" with SRV and Paul Butterfield. He goes back in this one to a proper Flying-V guitar. too. Then there is the sporadically available "Jamming With The Blues Greats" with John Mayall where he does "Stormy Monday, Bad Sign, and You So Mean To Me" This session has great tone. sound and camera work. He also has on this one and also on Maintainence Shop, his bass player Frank Dunbar who played with King from the late 1970s until the middle 1980s (Long time for an Albert King band musician!!). The final release is from Japan (first on Laser Disc!) It is "Albert King" The Godfather of the Blues". It is Albert in the last year of his life, but he is in great form (with a mediocre band except "Dave" Jefferson, drums) He is playing his final Lucy- a pink Flying-V, the one he had when I saw him in Australia in 1990! This DVD should be stocked by Amazon! You can get it through the Z-shop however!!

You can't go by this DVD. It is Albert in good form. He plays forcefully and well. The DVD is a bit disjointed but if you are a blues guitarist or fan, who cares. What else could/should be released?
(1) Why has no one released the Filmore sessions he did on Public TV in the early 1970s!! I remember him doing "Oh Pretty Woman"! (2) The Canadian TV Show he did with SRV in which the CD in 1999 came from???! (3) His entire set from Wattstax which was released as on CD "Blues At Sunset"! (4)His set from the Ann Arbor Blues Festival??!

Anyway, get this DVD and see a taste of Albert King in his younger, pre-spectacles and pre-super grumpy phase. This is a treat of Albert fans!

...not in the same class as some of some new productions (such as some of Santana recent video) but of its time it is excellent. There are a good collection of absolute classic blues tracks (Born Under a Bad sign, the Sky is Crying, etc.). Some nice interview moments, and the interviewer really let Albert talk. It was quite touching he seemed to be quite vulnerable, while also being layed back (smoking his pipe) and strong/masculine. He was very modest & understated -- but make no mistake, this former bulldozer driver's contribution to music is immense; this is where Eric Clapton & Cream (& thence Eddie Van Halen, etc.), Gary Moore & Stevie Ray Vaughn come for their inspiration and their licks!

The only odd moment is when the band play and jam over Summertime -- perhap while Albert took a break?

I am still scratching my head after watching Albert play though ... his V-shaped guitar, Lucy, strung normally but played left handed (I heard he also tune down a tone & a half to C#!). I don't expect that I will try that but it certainly works for him. His howling, soulful bends are very ...satisfying. Perhaps some of his feel is due to the fact that he played drums before guitar (like several other notable guitarists, such as Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson & Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl).