BB King - Anthology (34 tracks) +Album Reviews

Excelent Sampler From the King of the Blues

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 01/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For the novice fan on a budget, this is an excellent primer from one of the giants of modern electric blues. It completely duplicates 1998's single-disc Greatest Hits and expands it with an additional 18 songs--all of them gems. This collection begins with his first single for MCA "How Blue Can You Get" from 1963 through "I'll Survive" from 1998's Blues on the Bayou. [The only other track from the Nineties is "Playin' With My Friends," a duet with Robert Cray from Blues Summit. While recent albums like Riding with the King, Making Love Is Good for You and Let the Good Times Roll show that King is still a viable artist, you can't include everything on a two-disc set that covers 35 years!]Short of buying the 4-disc box set King of the Blues, a more economical second purchase would be ACE Records excellent single-disc, 25-track The Best of the Kent Singles to give you a sampling of B.B. King's pre-1963 output. If you're looking for confirmation that B.B. King is truly the King of the Blues, these 34 tracks should be adequate proof. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"

For Collectors Only

Redgecko | USA | 08/14/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're a B. B. King collector then this compilation has 3 unique offerings that are noteworthy:1. complete version of Gambler's Blues (90 seconds longer) than found on King of the Blues (4 CD box set). Due to some unfathomable screw-up, the 90 second guitar intro was cut off of the version on the Box Set!! The whole song is on this Anthology collection (also complete version is on Classic Live performances). It is a great live intro.2. long version (7" version) of When Love Comes to Town is on this Anthology. A one minute shorter version is on the King of the Blues box set (recorded without the solo Bono verses). In my opinion, the longer version with Bono doing more singing is better.3. This Anthology has a longer (by 4 minutes) version of Stormy Monday Blues than appears on the album Blues Summit. The Anthology album notes say that theirs is the unedited version but it is actually a different version. If you listen to the part where Albert Collins takes over the vocals, it is obvious that his singing is totally different than on the Blues Summit version. Also note that Stormy Monday Blues was recorded over a 5 day period indicating that multiple takes were done."

WHY SO MANY LIVE TRACKS????

Petri | Slovakia, Middle Europe | 05/10/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First. I love B. B. King' s singing and his guitar playing even more. This is a collection of great performances. BUT, why ARE MOST OF THE TRACKS ON THE FIRST DISC< ALTHOUGH NOT STATED LIVE? Well, all of them are great, but what I expected were the studio versions except from the two numbers culled off Live at the Regal. This is an anthology, it's not entitled "Live Anthology". Plus, there is a nice CD called "How Blue can you get?", which is a live Anthology, so these selections were not necessery, although they are high quality music.

Three stars because of the inclusion of as many live tracks. The music itself is pure five stars, but be careful if you want the studio versions of B. B.'s tracks presented here. You Won't find them here and you may have somewhat strange feelings towards this CD.You can love it for what it does include but be angry too because it's not exactly what you wanted."

***1/2. Quite good, but not quite good enough

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 07/31/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This extensive anthology provides a very thorough overview of B.B. King's career after 1962. The tracks list is stronger than on the good-but-not-great "His Definitive Greatest Hits", and "The Anthology 1962-98" wisely omits completely inessental items like King's duets with U2 and Gary Moore.

The compilers lean heavily towards King's 60s and 70s material, with only a few later songs, and virtually all of his best 60s and 70s songs are here - songs like "Sneakin' Around", "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss", "Why I Sing The Blues", "Help The Poor", the crossover hit "The Thrill Is Gone", and King's version of Robert Nighthawk's "Sweet Little Angel".

But it is a great shame that King's earlier Flair sides aren't included, and the fact that 50s classics like "3 O'Clock Blues", "Woke Up This Morning", "Please Love Me", and "Crying Won't Help You" are missing means that this compilation is not all that it could have been. And there are a few minor items here as well, like the duet with Robert Cray and the bland "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere" and "To Know You Is To Love You", which drag down disc two and mainly serve to remind the listener that B.B. King's career has been winding down, creatively at least, for a long time.

You should pick up "Do The Boogie: B.B. King's Early Classics" from Virgin, and then, if you want more, get this collection as well. It's good, but not quite good enough to work as a thorough career overview by itself.

Three and a half stars."

2 disc sampler of BB from 1962 to 1998.

K. Cooper | Phila. area | 12/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a 2 Cd set with 34 tracks BB did from 1962 to 1998. I think for many fans that this will be the right amount. King is just too good and too prolific for a one disc sampler and 4 CDs is a big box and big bucks for many fans. What this set is missing is the first 13 years or so of BB's career (there were many good songs there), the last decade (still worthwhile music) and just a very light sprinkling of the 1990's. His over 50 year career is just too big even for a big 2 disc set but you will get a lot of quality music at a reasonabale price here. I like the fact that there is some live music here along with the studio cuts.

Besides being a great guitarist, King has a great voice, is a fine songwriter and an excellent interpreter of others songs and has had a great stage presence. If you have all that and a little luck, you can be successful for as long as BB King."

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