Singin' The Blues

WHAT NYMITH SAYS

Blues records appear to have been even less of a thing than rock and roll records as of 1956. B.B. King seemingly got the deal by being commercially successful. Here was a guy with a string of charting singles ('You Upset Me Baby' reaching #1 on the Rhythm and Blues Chart of the time), writing blues with a commercial sheen. So Crown collected these singles and got an album out, creatively titled Singin' the Blues. The songs are bright, brassy and smart enough to include one solid melodic hook every time while King's persona sits halfway between "suffering bluesman" and "lounge lizard."

There's little point discussing these songs individually. With the exception of the slow-moving love dirge 'You Know I Love You' they are all similar, roughly three minutes a piece, King's singing and guitar playing backed by horns, bass and drums. 'Woke Up This Morning' has a little more pop than the others and 'Ten Long Years' is a little bit sadder than average. That's as far as I can go. The effect is simple and continuously pleasant. For sheer consistency - knowing exactly what works and what doesn't - B.B. King had all the rockers beat, with no embarrassments to his name. As with most albums of no diversity, the first three tracks are the best. It takes a champion number of listens before the entire record becomes clear and distinct, and I haven't quite made it to that point.

The overall sound is what is worth all the praise. King's guitar works on an entirely different level to that of any of the rockabilly crowd. When I hear him play, I'm in the 60s. When King wasn't singing, he was singing with his guitar and that carefully controlled tone is the future of the electric guitar as an effects-driven instrument. It's a shockingly vibrant sound for the mid-50s, explaining in the first 25 seconds of 'Please Love Me' why the blues had such an impact on the future of rock. You can't ignore a sound like that.

Also of note is King's voice. As blues singers go, he had one of the most pleasant around. High, thin and convincingly pained while being smooth enough to count for gentlemanly entertainment. When he starts telling you about what his girlfriend's been putting him through, it's reasonably convincing (though it's clear he's having much too good a time recording for it to be genuine) and his warm tone fits the happier tunes quite well. Aggression is not in the cards - he yelps, wails and sings "what can a poor boy do?"

In short: remarkably fun, cleaned-up blues with no track overstaying its welcome. Its near-perfect consistency makes it highly recommendable.

WHAT TICHARU SAYS

The first blues album picked up by The Cold Coffee Music Library will certainly turn your ear. The sound is aggressive, hard edged, even grungy. BB King grabs your attention saying THIS IS THE BLUES and THIS IS AN ELECTRIC GUITAR! Wow! So what's wrong with the record and why doesn't Ticharu like it?

I'm just assuming from the sound of this that these sessions took place in different studios with different musicians and different engineers. It just sounds to me like a bunch of singles that were never meant to be on the same record. From one session to the next the quality wavers. Even the sound of the guitar varies and Woke Up This Morning has no guitar work at all (great song by the way) so I start over analysing, perhaps listening too close.

There are a few outstanding tracks, in fact the first four tracks are quite strong with some real grit. Ten Long Years is another track that pulls it all together. But for me, tracks like Three O'Clock Blues and You Know I love You sound laboured and I'm pained to sit through them. I'm sure that's just the recording quality itself. It's a very harsh record at points. The singles that make up the last few tracks have a much smoother sound.

It's an interesting record. I'm waiting for the BB King sound to develop and for a BB King full length album that was all recorded in the same place by the same people.