Freddie King Texas

Similar to his first Shelter outing (Getting Ready), but with more of a rock feel. That's due as much to the material as the production. Besides covering tunes by Jimmy Rogers, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James, King tackles compositions by Leon Russell and, more unexpectedly, Bill Withers, Isaac Hayes-David Porter, and John Fogerty (whose "Lodi" is reworked into "Lowdown in Lodi"). King's own pen remained virtually in retirement, as he wrote only one of the album's tracks.

After having lived in semi-obscurity ever since his deal with King/Federal fell through in the mid-1960s, the Blues Boom that was spreading across America and the UK in the late '60s gave Freddie King the opportunity to revive his career. He did so by signing on to Atlantic Record's subsidiary Cotillion.
Having been known mostly for his ferocious instrumental workouts ("Hide Away", "Just Pickin'", "San-Ho-Zay", "The Stumble"), soul genius and sax player King Curtis, who would produce the blues man's entire Cotillion output - decided to put an emphasis on King's vocal prowess as well. 'Freddie King Is a Blues Master' is therefore divided in a vocal and an instrumental side…

After having lived in semi-obscurity ever since his deal with King/Federal fell through in the mid-1960s, the Blues Boom that was spreading across America and the UK in the late '60s gave Freddie King the opportunity to revive his career. He did so by signing on to Atlantic Record's subsidiary Cotillion.
Having been known mostly for his ferocious instrumental workouts ("Hide Away", "Just Pickin'", "San-Ho-Zay", "The Stumble"), soul genius and sax player King Curtis, who would produce the blues man's entire Cotillion output - decided to put an emphasis on King's vocal prowess as well. 'Freddie King Is a Blues Master' is therefore divided in a vocal and an instrumental side…

Interesting little hodgepodge of various Freddie King recordings between 1974 and 1976. Freddie was one of the all time Blues greats. Even Eric Clapton was quoted as saying "Until I met Freddie, I just played the guitar. Freddie taught me how to make love to it." And with such great players like Eric Clapton, George Terry, Jamie Oldecker, & Carl Raddle, and the song "Sugar Sweet", produced by the late great Tom Dowd, this album is a must have to any Blues music library.

After having lived in semi-obscurity ever since his deal with King/Federal fell through in the mid-1960s, the Blues Boom that was spreading across America and the UK in the late '60s gave Freddie King the opportunity to revive his career. He did so by signing on to Atlantic Record's subsidiary Cotillion.
Having been known mostly for his ferocious instrumental workouts ("Hide Away", "Just Pickin'", "San-Ho-Zay", "The Stumble"), soul genius and sax player King Curtis, who would produce the blues man's entire Cotillion output - decided to put an emphasis on King's vocal prowess as well. 'Freddie King Is a Blues Master' is therefore divided in a vocal and an instrumental side…

Similar to his first Shelter outing (Getting Ready), but with more of a rock feel. That's due as much to the material as the production. Besides covering tunes by Jimmy Rogers, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James, King tackles compositions by Leon Russell and, more unexpectedly, Bill Withers, Isaac Hayes-David Porter, and John Fogerty (whose "Lodi" is reworked into "Lowdown in Lodi"). King's own pen remained virtually in retirement, as he wrote only one of the album's tracks.

Produced in part by Mike Vernon, who worked on The Legendary Christine Perfect Album, this is an entertaining and concise package of ten songs performed by the late Freddie King and a slew of guests. Opening with Gonzalez Chandler's "Pack It Up," featuring the Gonzalez Horn Section, the youthful legend was only 40 years of age when he cut this career LP two years before his death. Though no songs went up the charts like his Top Five hit in 1961, "Hide Away," Burglar is one of those gems that journeymen can put together in their sleep. Tom Dowd produced "Sugar Sweet" at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL, featuring Jamie Oldaker on drums, Carl Radle on bass, and guitarists Eric Clapton and George Terry, which, of course, makes this album highly collectable in the Clapton circles. The sound doesn't deviate much from the rest of the disc's Mike Vernon production work; it is pure Freddy King, like on the final track, E. King's "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)," where his guitar bursts through the horns and party atmosphere, creating a fusion of the pure blues found on "Sugar Sweet" and the rock that fans of Grand Funk grooved to when he opened for that group and was immortalized in their 1973 number one hit "We're an American Band" a year after this record's release.

It's a live performance where you can fully enjoy Freddie's forcible blues guitar, a guitar that plays around.
From the intersection of tension and thrilling vocals and guitar, to the funky up-tempo numbers, it's bold and bold!

This Atlanta concert wasn't issued in recorded form for two decades. Archival releases of this sort tend to be for collectors only, but this is a cut above the standard. The sound is very good, the band is pretty tight, and Freddie King solos with fire and sings with conviction, sticking mostly to covers of warhorses like "Dust My Broom," "Key to the Highway," and "Sweet Home Chicago." It's a better deal, in fact, than his studio albums for Shelter in the early '70s, boasting a no-frills small-combo approach that is far more suitable. As a neat bonus, it also contains two solo acoustic performances recorded at a Dallas radio station in the 1970s.