johnny winter rock and roll hoochie koo
what did Pug say?
what did Pug say?
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rock and roll;
- Thread starter blackpug6
- Start date
This is a killer thread. The three unrelated (I think) Kings were incredible bluesmen. The best imo was Albert. His 1966 album with the Stax house band Booker T and the MGs, Born Under a Bad Sign, is a paramount moment in blues history. From the Steven Thomas Erlewine review:
“Albert King recorded a lot in the early '60s, including some classic sides, but they never quite hit the mark. They never gained a large audience, nor did they really capture the ferocity of his single-string leads. Then he signed with Stax in 1966 and recorded a number of sessions with the house band, Booker T. & the MG's, and everything just clicked. The MG's gave King supple Southern support, providing an excellent contrast to his tightly wound lead guitar, allowing to him to unleash a torrent of blistering guitar runs that were profoundly influential, not just in blues, but in rock & roll (witness Eric Clapton's unabashed copying of King throughout Cream's Disraeli Gears). Initially, these sessions were just released as singles, but they were soon compiled as King's Stax debut, Born Under a Bad Sign. Certainly, the concentration of singles gives the album a consistency -- these were songs devised to get attention -- but, years later, it's astounding how strong this catalog of songs is: "Born Under a Bad Sign," "Crosscut Saw," "Oh Pretty Woman," "The Hunter," "Personal Manager," and "Laundromat Blues" form the very foundation of Albert King's musical identity and legacy. Few blues albums are this on a cut-by-cut level; the songs are exceptional and the performances are rich, from King's dynamic playing to the Southern funk of the MG's. It was immediately influential at the time and, over the years, it has only grown in stature as one of the very greatest electric blues albums of all time.”
It is also interesting that he is left handed and played with the guitar upside down with the high E on top and the low E on bottom. This gave his playing a completely different sound as he was bending the high strings down as opposed to up. Blues fans should own Born Under a Bad Sign, imo.
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Albert King was a big influence on Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert invited the young SRV to jam with him at Antone’s in Austin. (I’ve been there and heard SRV’s former bass player jam there.)
When Albert was 60 and SRV was 29, they got together and did an album called “In Session” which was videotaped for public TV. Here’s a clip:
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That is terrific and a great bit of blues history.
i had to put Freddy King in there. That was my song, sitting on the balcony on my apartment in Abu Dhabi, on my iPad, smoking a Cohiba, waiting out the five and a half months or so until I could go home again.
I used to have to go to the Gulf countries too. The Emirates were better than some of the others, but I hated them all.
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