The Very Best of Albert King

Albert King

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 1999)
• Original Release Date: April 20, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00000IMS7
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,717 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The ultimate single-disc tribute to the king of the Gibson Flying V. Blues Masters: The Very Best of Albert King collects 16 of the most influential electric blues tracks ever laid to wax, spanning 1960-1975.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Overview of Albert King's Recorded Music., November 3, 2003

By	Perry Celestino (Tahmoor, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well compilation albums are always hard to assess. Everyone has their favourites or all time classics. I personally like the Rhino issues of most blues artists. The remastering is good and their liner notes are always well presented. This CD is great as an introduction or a sampling of Albert King's style of playing urban blues. He was heavily influenced by swing music, Louis Jordan, Robert Nighthawk and Tampa Red. But he couldn't play a slide. He created a style based on bending the strings to get to the notes you want and make them sing with vibrato.

This disc takes you on a tour of Albert's recording career from the beginning at King Records with "Let's Have A Natural Ball", a great Jump Blues he used to use as a warm up tune, then on to "COD" from his very rare Coun-tree sessions (these were not re-released until after his death). From here the set progresses into seven of his early Stax classics from "Born Under" a Bad Sign and "King of the Blues Guitar". Then on to the later Stax stuff with "I'll Play the Blues For You", from his most creative period. The CD ends with "Cadillac Assembly Line" which was a Stax tune, but released under the Tomato label.

This is a well presented and compiled disc. It has great live moments in the famous Filmore West classic:"Blues Power", some rare items and a good cross section of King's recorded work. This was culled from a larger set "The Ultimate Collection" which was issued just after his death. This set has two discs and a great booklet as well. It even has a cut from his last recording sessions at Fantasy Records. It would be nice to include an early Chess release such as "Wild Woman" and something from his rare out of print album (and his last) "Red House". I love "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight". This is a great disc for the blues beginner, casual fan, or as an inclusion in a blues collection. I think it covers most of King's great and innovative blues, funk, R&B and soul style. When he became popular in the 60's he was the leading exponent of using blues as a medium to instigate musical change. Afterall, blues is the roots of all American Pop Music. It is much like in the Scorsese series "The Blues" (on DVD) the film on "Godfathers and Sons" is about Hip-Hop artists doing a blues inspired modern tune. This is much like Albert did at Stax in the 1960s and it is well developed in this CD compilation. Also, what a great cover photo!!!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Blues. This is what the blues is meant to be, November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This is as good as it gets, the blues at its best. I cannot stop playing this disk, C.O.D. over and over again. My fiancee has threatened to leave me if I do not put a new disk in the CD player. I helped her pack her bags to "Don't Throw Your Love on Me so Strong." Buy this CD and "Break Up Somebody's home."

Chris Riedel and GD Mason Blues Beer Company, St. clair, Michigan

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good if you only want one disc, August 24, 2003

By	Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"The Very Best Of Albert King" does a really good job drawing from King's 60s output and his soul-influenced latter-day recordings alike, and this is a very good single-disc overview of his career.
A couple of the selections are debatable, as always when you make a compilation, but almost all of the must-have classics are here, including "Let's Have A Natural Ball", "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong", "Crosscut Saw", "Born Under A Bad Sign", "Laundromat Blues" and "I'll Play The Blues For You".
("The Hunter", "Down Don't Bother Me" and a few others are missing, though, which is a shame.)

Rhino's double-disc "The Ultimate Collection" is a lot more comprehensive, however, and contains almost every track from King's superb "Born Under A Bad Sign" LP. If you really only want one Albert King-CD in your collection, that's the one I'd go for.