B.B. King’s Singin’ the Blues from 1956 is the place to launch a B.B. King-loving ship. With artists as prolific and skilled as King, it’s always daunting trying to figure out where to start: Do I go with a best of and get stuck with half a disc of latter period crapola? Do I invest in a larger compilation, only to later realize it’s actually an artist I’d like to investigate as thoroughly as possible? Or do I begin with the first and/or best proper album, assuming I’ll be able to figure out what to do from there?
In this case, the answer is C. Not only is Singin’ the Blues King’s first proper album (and one of the best), it’s been inexpensively paired with tomorrow’s featured disc, The Blues, on a great Flair Records 2-for-1 CD from 1991. This one disc should tell you everything you need to know about where your relationship with B.B. is headed: if you have any serious inclination towards electric blues, American music of the 1950’s, or any white-boy blues-rock band of the late-’60s or early-70’s it’s likely going somewhere good. This is powerful s**t, a reputation well deserved.
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