Customer Reviews

Blues at Sunset (Live at Wattstax & Montreux)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well Albert Nelson King stands as one of the most innovative Blues players ever. He was great at Talking Blues (hear him at the beginning of this CD!) and took the Blues Bend to new levels. This set recorded at the famous Wattstax Concert features extended sets from two of his previously released concerts: Wattstax (a 2-CD set only sporadically available) and at Montreaux, at which "Stormy Monday" had been previously released on a now out of print Stax LP with Little Milton and Chico Hamilton.

This CD is a great introduction to King's live style and the differences in his tone and dynamics. I personally love his Wattstax set the best. He never sounded like this before. He has an unknown backing band which I curiously think includes Micheal Toles and Willie "Too Tall" Hall (who played in the Blue Brothers Band) from his last period at Stax Records. He has no horns but still has a fat sound.

The set is great with "Matchbox" showcasing his great Talking Blues abilities "I'm here to hold up the Blues end!". The highlight of this for me is the old King Reords tune "Got to Be Some Changes Made". This is worth the price of the whole CD. It is perhaps the best live track Albert ever did! This blows away even Hendrix on "Red House". The other great track here is "Angel Of Mercy" which features the whole tune (it was editied in the original Wattstax release!). Most people wouldn't realize that this is the only time a Blues artist played at a stadium (L.A. Col.), well, B.B. played in Zaire at the Ali-Foreman fight!! This was in the US. King also once played with the Memphis Symphony too!

The second part of this CD contains the REST of the Montreaux set released as "Blues At Sunrise". It also has the whole version of Stormy Monday which was partly perviously released. A highlight of this set is his version of "Breaking Up Somebody's Home". Great playing! This was a great band with a horn section and Don Kinsey on the second guitar "that's my grandson!!!" He said that also of Little Jimmy King when I saw him in Australia in 1990.

This is a must have live blues CD. Get it with "Live Wire, Blues Power", "Blues At Sunrise" and "Albert Live". All of these performances have different tone, dynamics, phrasing and soul. A great overview of the adaptability and range of wonderful Blues Music.

A long time ago a friend whose music taste I trust told me he had just seen an incredible performance at the Fillmore in NY by " a blues guy named Albert King." I bought all the available albums and didn't get it. This live recording captures what I have been hoping for. There is no more powerful performance than Albert's " I'LL Play the Blues For You". "Killing FLoor" does it too.

I would give it five stars but it is too short.

One of the best live recordings of Albert King. Even without the usual horn section on the Wattatax set, it lacks nothing. The rest of the Montreaux set not included on the "Blues At Sunrise" CD are found here and are, again, some of Albert Kings best.

This 1973 live album brings together five sides from a 1972 concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with four sides from Albert King's 1973 performance at the Montreux Blues and Jazz Festival.

King is in fine form on both sets; the opening "Match Box Blues" is slightly truncated, but we get the full version during the Montreux performance, and virtually everything else is excellent. Tight, focused performances of songs like "Got To Be Some Changes Made", and "Breaking Up Somebody's Home", and the sizzling instrumental "Watermelon Man" are among the highlights, and the Velvet Bulldozer himself plays some truly inspired lead guitar on several of these tracks.

Nobody should attempt to cover Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor", really, not even Albert King, and a couple more up-tempo numbers, and maybe a good pianist to replace the wussy-sounding organ, would have made this a slighty stronger and more varied set.
But it's hard to fault what is here, really. Overall this album is not quite as strong as the 1968 "San Francisco Trilogy" ("Live Wire/Blues Power", "Wednesday Night in San Francisco", and "Thursday Night in San Francisco"), but that particular set is quite extraordinary, and "Blues at Sunset" is well worth picking up in its own right. This particular rendition of "Got To Be Some Changes Made" is probably the finest I've ever heard, and King picks up the twelve-minute "Stormy Monday" with a couple of truly scorching solos. Mmm...solos!

The rest of the Montreux performance is available on the "Blues at Sunrise" CD, by the way, and that one is even better. Why they didn't release the complete concert on the same album is anybody's guess; it was about an hour and a quarter and would have made a terrific double live LP.
But hey, you can just pick up this one and "Blues at Sunrise", too, and you'll have the L.A. sides as well, and everybody wins, right? ;-)

This is an awesome album. It has complete versions of songs that were previously unavailable. Albert's finest work (in my opinion) has always been live as he has more of an opportunity to not only interact with the audience, but's not held back by the constraints of the studio. If you love the Blues, this album is for you!

Blues at Sunrise: Live at Montreux has always been my favorite Albert King album, with Live Wire/Blues Power running a close second. Fans of "Wire" got an extra little taste of that era with Wednesday Night in San Francisco and Thursday Night in San Francisco. In similar fashion, "Blues At Sunset" completes the "Blues At Sunrise" set and adds Wattstax performances as well.

There are Albert King live albums featuring poorly recorded hot performances, as well as competently recorded versions of less-than-stellar shows. All of the CDs I've listed here offer the best of both worlds, and if you enjoy this particular style of blues, you can't go wrong with any of them.

i can't add much more that hasn't been written by other reviewers, all i can say is albert king, blues, live recordings - you do the math, it adds up to one incredible disc. groove on!

I've considered Albert King the finest electric blues guitar player ever for thirty-five years now. The Matchbox Blues from Montruex has his finest break ever captured by a recording. This break is worth many multiples times the price of the CD and is a must-study for anyone who plays electric guitar. I cannot create words forceful enough to convey my love of this break.

This cd is one of the best works of the great bluesman albert king. All the tracks are master pieces........!!!!!!!!!!buy it................and........right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A fantastic live recording of Albert King at a classic time in his caree