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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the Shelter Years is exactly that, September 13, 2002
This is a hard CD to review. On the one hand, if this was all I knew of Freddie King, I'd say it was very good. On the other hand, if you know of his recordings for King/Federal, this definitely pales in comparison. The songs are largely covers, which is strange as King showed himself, in his earlier recordings, capable of writing blues classics all on his own. Some kind of hilarious cover-tune nadir is reached when they take John Fogerty's country tune, "Lodi," and turn it into a fast shuffle. Freddie insists on singing, "Stuck in Lowdown again," instead of Lodi, thus accounting for the song title "Lowdown in Lodi." Another minus: the instrumentation and recording reeks of the 1970s; no reverb, flat drum sounds and (shudder) strings a' la' B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone" on some songs. Leon Russell made sure his keyboards were right up there in the mix, too; not so much that they overwhelm Freddie King's guitar and vocals, but he's definitely trying to prove he's there. Another drawback is the 70's funk touches on some tunes, which make it sound like Freddie's trying to encroach on Albert King's 70's territory. The problem is that the musicians here aren't terribly funky. Albert had Stax's house band when he went toward the funky blues, where Freddie here has to contend with guys who sound like they would be more at home on a J.J. Cale record. Overall it's really shocking how much this resembles an Eric Clapton record from the 1970s. If you were to find someone who had never heard of Freddie King, and play this album and any one of Clapton's mid-70's albums back to back, they might be forgiven for thinking it was all the same guy. But...Freddie King performs magnificently. His vocals are in top form and his guitar playing is stellar. I feel like a curmudgeon for even pointing out the flaws in this, simply because none of the blame for the flaws lands on Freddie. He does what he does best, which is sing and play guitar like an angel. So, let's sum up: this is not as vital or as essential as Freddie King's recordings for King/Federal records, not by a long shot. But if you prefer your blues on the rock & roll side, are fond of mid-70's Eric Clapton, or are curious to hear how Freddie King evolved/devolved (according to your opinion) during his Shelter Records period, this would be a good choice, because it would be a lot easier to get through this than the original three albums that this is drawn from. This may well be the best of the Shelter Records years, but don't confuse it for the best of Freddie King. That title goes to CD's like "Let's Hide Away And Dance Away," and "Freddie King Sings," both of which you should get before you invest in this. But, again, Freddie King is in top form vocally and instrumentally here, so it's a very hard call. Anyone who is a Freddie King fan, but hesitates to invest in his flawed later work would probably find this CD to be all they would need of his music from the 70's. And those who fell in love with Freddie during his nonstop tours with rock stars in the 1970s will dig this deeply. I would still recommend the King/Federal work over this, but "The Best Of The Shelter Years" still has its strong points.
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