The B 52s Live at The Roxy

B.B. King is not only a timeless singer and guitarist, he's also a natural-born entertainer, and on Live at the Regal the listener is treated to an exhibition of all three of his talents. Over percolating horn hits and rolling shuffles, King treats an enthusiastic audience (at some points, they shriek after he delivers each line) to a collection of some of his greatest hits…

B.B. King - Live At The Royal Albert Hall
Stereo FLAC @ 24/48: 714 MB | Multichannel FLAC @ 24/48: 2,11 GB | Recovery Info
Label: Shout! Factory | Country/Year: Europe 2011| Genre: Blues | Hoster: FP/FF

He may be 85 these days, but B.B. King is still B.B. King, and any time he sings or delivers those signature clean, jazzy, and warm guitar lines, it's an extra gift from a musician who has given us listeners and fans so much for so long. This warm, celebratory, and good-natured live set was recorded on June 28, 2011 at London's Royal Albert Hall and features King in chatty good humor and a whole host of guests, including guitarist Derek Trucks, singer Susan Tedeschi, the Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood, Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash…

There are both good and bad points to this CD. Of the latter, the Phillip Morris "Super Band" is confined to background work with - other than a few spots for Plas Johnson's tenor - no soloists being heard from. As an ensemble, the all-star orchestra performs well, but is essentially anonymous. Also, despite the backing, B.B. King does not attempt to play jazz, a wasted opportunity. But, switching to the good points, Live at the Apollo is an excellent example of a strong B.B. King live performance. Somehow he always makes his combination of blues and familiar hits sound fresh. With a liberal amount of space set aside for his guitar solos, B.B. is in top form throughout the well-paced set, which is far superior to most of his overproduced studio sessions for MCA. Even if the big band is mostly irrelevant, this CD is recommended for B.B. King's singing and playing.

I found this great clip of music legends B.B. King and James Brown performing in concert together in 1985 at the Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. I taped the concert years back when it first aired on HBO, but lost it awhile ago. And I would always miss it whenever the channel aired it again. So I was ecstatic when I recently found that someone had uploaded the entire show on youtube. The video contains amazing performances from both artists.

18-Song collection spans nearly 30 years, touches on nine of Wilson's solo albums and includes two previously unreleased tracks.