Post by erik on Mar 9, 2024 18:48:49 GMT -5
Legendary blues music master B.B. King is in this week's Pop Music Album Spotlight with the 1969 album that took him to a new plane of popularity with the general public and cemented his place in American music history.
COMPLETELY WELL (B.B. King; ABC/Bluesway; 1969)
While by no means the only “King” of the American blues community that started gaining traction in the years between the end of World War II and the birth of rock and roll in the mid-1950’s, legendary blues vocalist and guitarist B.B. King was arguably the most influential on many a blues guitarist that came around in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Like many black musicians of the time, B.B. was a product of the Jim Crow South, born in Indianola, Mississippi in 1925. He became well known on Memphis’ famous Beale Street, the home of that city’s burgeoning blues music scene in the 1950’s; and while gaining his foothold, he also recorded some things for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records label, befriending a recent fellow arrival from Mississippi named Elvis Presley. Elvis always considered B.B., along with his trademark Gibson electric guitar named Lucille, to be his all-time favorite blues musician; and the two remained very close friends until Elvis’ untimely death in 1977.
Up until the blues explosion of the mid-to-late 1960’s, however, much of B.B.’s chart action was among blues purists and R&B audiences, even with the mutual admiration society he had with Elvis, or admirers from across the pond like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. This changed in 1969, when he recorded what became one of the most influential blues albums of all times in the form of Completely Well. King recorded this album at the Hit Factory in New York City in just two days, on June 24th and 25th, 1969 under the aegis of burgeoning music producer Bill Szymczyk, who would later go on to work with the Eagles, among others.
Released in December 1969, Completely Well was a fairly instant hit with both Black and White audiences alike; and although it peaked no higher than #38 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart (#5 on the R&B Album Chart) in the first few weeks of 1970, it nevertheless included two songs of special note. One of them was “The Key To My Kingdom”, which he had originally recorded back in 1957, and was later featured in the 1978 cult film F.M., though not included on the soundtrack recording. The other was King’s signature song, a version of the 1951 Rick Darnell/Roy Hawkins-penned “The Thrill Is Gone”. Though King was a bit dubious of the initial sparseness of his recording, Szymczyk’s decision to add string orchestra backing, along with King’s soulful voice and, naturally, Lucille, made it a powerful recording, the first blues recording to have string backing. It became B.B.’s biggest hit, reaching #4 on the R&B singles chart and #15 on the Hot 100 in February 1970. King later won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the song, the first of fifteen Grammy wins (out of twenty-one nominations).
King passed away four months short of his 90th birthday, on May 14, 2015, in Las Vegas. By that time, however, he had achieved one accolade on top of another, including induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Also, “The Thrill Is Gone” was placed into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 as a recording of qualitative and/or historical significance.
COMPLETELY WELL (B.B. King; ABC/Bluesway; 1969)
While by no means the only “King” of the American blues community that started gaining traction in the years between the end of World War II and the birth of rock and roll in the mid-1950’s, legendary blues vocalist and guitarist B.B. King was arguably the most influential on many a blues guitarist that came around in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Like many black musicians of the time, B.B. was a product of the Jim Crow South, born in Indianola, Mississippi in 1925. He became well known on Memphis’ famous Beale Street, the home of that city’s burgeoning blues music scene in the 1950’s; and while gaining his foothold, he also recorded some things for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records label, befriending a recent fellow arrival from Mississippi named Elvis Presley. Elvis always considered B.B., along with his trademark Gibson electric guitar named Lucille, to be his all-time favorite blues musician; and the two remained very close friends until Elvis’ untimely death in 1977.
Up until the blues explosion of the mid-to-late 1960’s, however, much of B.B.’s chart action was among blues purists and R&B audiences, even with the mutual admiration society he had with Elvis, or admirers from across the pond like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. This changed in 1969, when he recorded what became one of the most influential blues albums of all times in the form of Completely Well. King recorded this album at the Hit Factory in New York City in just two days, on June 24th and 25th, 1969 under the aegis of burgeoning music producer Bill Szymczyk, who would later go on to work with the Eagles, among others.
Released in December 1969, Completely Well was a fairly instant hit with both Black and White audiences alike; and although it peaked no higher than #38 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart (#5 on the R&B Album Chart) in the first few weeks of 1970, it nevertheless included two songs of special note. One of them was “The Key To My Kingdom”, which he had originally recorded back in 1957, and was later featured in the 1978 cult film F.M., though not included on the soundtrack recording. The other was King’s signature song, a version of the 1951 Rick Darnell/Roy Hawkins-penned “The Thrill Is Gone”. Though King was a bit dubious of the initial sparseness of his recording, Szymczyk’s decision to add string orchestra backing, along with King’s soulful voice and, naturally, Lucille, made it a powerful recording, the first blues recording to have string backing. It became B.B.’s biggest hit, reaching #4 on the R&B singles chart and #15 on the Hot 100 in February 1970. King later won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the song, the first of fifteen Grammy wins (out of twenty-one nominations).
King passed away four months short of his 90th birthday, on May 14, 2015, in Las Vegas. By that time, however, he had achieved one accolade on top of another, including induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Also, “The Thrill Is Gone” was placed into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 as a recording of qualitative and/or historical significance.