Customer Reviews

Take It Home

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

 

 

Mr. King has released hundreds of CD's. This is my favorite of them all. Mr. King's voice is in top form, powerful, relaxed, full of feeling, and perfect for these tunes. The recording features Lucille, but the horns, bass, and drums blend in extremely well. These songs, each of which has a different tempo and feel, are all mostly happy, except "I've always been lonely" and "The beginning of the End", which are slow, desparing blues, with a late night club feeling to them. The highlight of the abum is the hilarious "A Story Everybody Knows". It is a lilting, swinging tune which you can't sit still to. The song tells the story of B.B. pursuing a lady, all around the world. The musicians really keep this tune "moving down the road" in a great style. This one song is worth the price of the CD. There are only nine songs on the CD but each one is memorable for B.B's great singing and the wonderful swinging arrangements that the instrumentalists play. It is a very enjoyable set of songs to listen to, which I do, more frequently than all my other B.B. King CD's put together. It is a great introduction to anyone not familiar with Mr. King's work (I can't imagine there is anyone like that, but who knows). Five stars for fabulous music, and for the happy feeling that pervades the proceedings from beginning to end.

I waited almost two decades for them to release this CD! Take It Home was out of print for many years -- and available on vinyl, if at all. People just won't PART with it once they hear it. (I speak from experience.) This is the album that introduced "Better Not Look Down" and B.B.'s definitive recording of"Same Old Story (Same Old Song)" -- but "Take It Home" is the hidden treasure. When I listen to that song, I go Home; I go to a place that exists only in my heart, a place I'll never see again. That's what the Blues are all about, isn't it? Blues transport us both into and out of our "human condition." Blues connect us to each other -- and to our deepest inner selves. True aficiandos scoff at this CD because it's more R&B -- but hey; it functions like the Blues. It WILL take you home.

I lost this album (under suspicious circmustances) in a move and never got over it. When I saw that it was available in CD, I could scarcely contain myself! What a joy to hear thost great songs again! Every single song is just great. I can't sit still when this CD is on! B.B. King has a heart the size of a house and the love pours out of the speakers on Take It Home!

I recall back in the 80's I asked my guitar teacher to recommend some good blues guitarists to listen to, and B.B King was the one he recommends. So I went to a local record store to take a look, and "Take it home" was the only tape available at the time (I didn't have a record player at the time). I ended up purchased the tape but later on was a little bit disappointed that the tape didn't contained a lot of fast guitar solo licks by Mr. King. Anyhow, as I listened to the tape, and after awhile the music growth in me, so I find myself keep coming back to listen to it over and over again. Then in the early 90's I lost the tape in a move, and never found it again. Anyhow, recently I have been collecting vinyl LPs and I have never find this record for the 3 years I have been collecting vinyl's. Then one day this record turned up in my local used record shop and I just about wetting my pant. I'm a happy man again.

B.B. King's 1979 album "Take It Home" is a continuation of the sound of his previous album, 1978's Midnight Believer"--this isn't surprisingly since, once again, it's basically a flat-out collaboration with The Crusaders, with the production team being exactly the same as on the previous album. Apart from a couple King co-writes, Crusaders' members, along with their songwriting collaborator Will Jennings, were responsible for all of the songwriting. The continuation is welcome though, because the pairing of the Crusaders members with B.B. was clearly a smart one and, at its best, works extremely well. This album is thoroughly enjoyable, however, in a way its great failing is that it's too short. There are nine songs, & none are bad, but still, the album is often considerably flawed, & with the album running less than 32 minutes in the first place, there's less margin for error. There are some irresistible, funky tracks on here including "Happy Birthday Blues", the infectious feel-good tune "Better Not Look Down", which combines amusing spoken verses with an ultra catchy chorus, and "Tonight I'm Gonna Make You A Star", which was written by Jennings & King, and seems to be an ode to Lucille (his guitar). On the other hand, "The Beginning of the End", also written by Jennings & King, is a hard-hitting slow blues with an impassioned B.B. vocal. The funky "A Story Everybody Knows" is pretty great too, but the ends of the verses, with B.B. going into spoken word mode, are annoyingly corny. "Same Old Story (Same Old Song)" is ultra catchy, but runs itself into the ground a little with the excessive, overlong fade. The title track is a nice pop-ish feel-good tune, but it's frustratingly slight & sugary. "I've Always Been Lonely" is a rather dull ballad, & "Second-Hand Woman" is a bit grating & plodding--these 2 tracks aren't so bad that they'll compel you to instantly skip to the next track, but they fall way short of being fully satisfying. Still, the album does have some great stuff, & is never less than good background music. Thankfully, BGO Records in 2003 released a twofer in the UK which combines this album along with his previous "Midnight Believer" album on 1 CD with excellent sound quality--so, skip this CD & go for the twofer instead. Take the strong tracks from each of those two albums, & you've got yourself a heck of a great CD.

Please, if you are going to buy a BB King disc, pick Indianola Mississippi Seeds. By far, much better than this mixed bag.