#0054: BB King - Live At The Regal [***]

I heard a story about a guitarist I know, though I haven't seen him for a few years.  This guy was (and as far as I know still is) a fuckoff guitarist.  Satriani, Vai, Page, Slash, Blackmore and Howe - he could play it all.  

Let's call him Jeff.  

Some fellow muso (Dave) was having a piss and a moan about Jeff having said in a rehearsal at some point in the past that during his solo, the rest of the band should sit back and come down in volume so that his notes could be heard.  

"You're the backing band", he said.  

Dave was extremely put out at the arrogance of this statement.   If Jeff had been talking about the whole song then Dave would have had a point.  As it was, Jeff was just talking sense to a band that weren't listening to each other; a band that weren't serving the song.  You need to be able to hear the solo prominently over the rest of the instruments in the same way you need to hear the words.  If the rest of the band are playing too freely it gets messy fast.  

From the top of this album you can hear that what the producers most want you listening to is the lead guitar.  It stands head and shoulders above all other voices - and with good reason.  It's full, rich and rounded.  That may be just a matter of hardware.  Why is such a fuss made of the player?  Maybe he came up with the combination of whatever it is - amp, pickups, compression and what-have-you.  

Either way, you listen to his choice of notes and the tiny little details of expression intently poured into them and you know you're in the presence of greatness.

That said, these are all 12 bar blues songs and I couldn't tell you which was which.  It's great.  The arrangements are tight and that vibrant audience noise captures the atmosphere in its tried and tested way, giving us a taste of the zeitgeist.  But I get bored after a few tracks.   

There's a flourish of 4 songs at the end of the album that gave me the variety I had been craving but it was too little too late.  Worry Worry is a slower blues number with a storming instrumental middle section and if I was doing a mix tape...

That's an idea.  I might do a ".pd.'s 1001 - best of the xxxties" series of playlists.  Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.

But yeah, Worry Worry would go on that compilation for sure.  Outstanding track.