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Riley B. King, known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players.

This excellent 250-track anthology contains many tracks originally recorded in the Fifties and early Sixties that would be picked up on by bands all over the world and are still being performed today. The originals have a glamour all of their own, having been recorded in the country where rock and the blues had their birth.

The seventh volume in Ace's ongoing mid-price series based on B.B. King's original Crown LPs with bonus tracks. "More B.B. King" was released in 1961 and is an entertaining mix of booting R&B, blues ballads and instrumentals, drawn primarily from the Kent singles of the period. The bonus tracks comprise eight related Kent singles that have mainly escaped the reissuers net. These are quality recordings orchestrated by the great Maxwell Davis. As always, there is an eye-catching front cover, while compiler John Broven supplies the explanatory background notes.

B'z The Best XXV 1988-1998 is a compilation album by the Japanese hard rock duo B'z. It was released on June 12, 2013, simultaneously with B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012, and it is part of their 25th anniversary celebration. It reached #1 at Oricon charts and Billboard Japan Top Albums…

This excellent 250-track anthology contains many tracks originally recorded in the Fifties and early Sixties that would be picked up on by bands all over the world and are still being performed today. The originals have a glamour all of their own, having been recorded in the country where rock and the blues had their birth.

Released the week of B.B. King's 80th birthday, 80 is a star-studded duets album, the first B.B. released since 1997's Deuces Wild. It was recorded in a variety of locations in the spring of 2005 and features a variety of guest artists, ranging from the familiar (Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Bobby Bland) to the unsurprising (Billy Gibbons, Mark Knopfler, Elton John, Sheryl Crow) to the frankly bewildering (John Mayer, Daryl Hall, Gloria Estefan)…

Universal's 2012 box set Ladies & Gentlemen…Mr. B.B. King is hardly the first B.B. King box set – MCA assembled a similar four-disc set called King of the Blues in 1992, Ace had a tremendous four-CD box called The Vintage Years in 2002 that covered his pre-ABC/Paramount recordings (apparently every ten years it's time for a new B.B. box) – but it certainly is the most ambitious, arriving in two separate career-spanning incarnations…