A younger audience would probably be familiar with the guitar virtues of B.B. King on account of two collaborations from contemporary artists such as U2 ( with When Love Comes To Town from U2’s1988 album, ‘Rattle And Hum’), and Eric Clapton (on the 2000 album, ‘Riding With The King’), but there’s a lot more to B.B. King’s legend than that…

The first time this writer heard the album ‘Live At The Regal’, it was at one of the vinyl listening sessions that occurred periodically at a closed door venue at Mumbai’s Bandra in 2018, and found it reason enough to return home and immediately place an order for the album on the US. website of Amazon.

For the uninitiated, B.B. King was born Riley B. King and picked up his nick name while working as a disc jockey in Memphis in the ‘40s, after being specifically identified as a "Blues Boy".

This live album, recorded on 21^st November, 1964, is an outstanding example of how strong a performer B.B. King was as he always sounded fresh with a set list combining originals and covers (the opening track is a rendition of Memphis Slim’s Every Day I Have The Blues, whereas John Lee Hooker’s It's My Own Fault is track three on Side A). With liberal space provided for his guitar solos, B.B. remains in top form throughout the well-paced set, which was originally released on ABC Records, a label that was eventually sold to MCA Records in 1979, the latter label overproducing most of B.B.’s studio recordings thereafter. B.B. King and his band had been playing well over 300 dates a year since the mid-‘50s and, by the time they rolled into the Regal Theater in Chicago to play the show that was recorded for this album, B.B.’s singing and guitar work was immaculate, and his engagement with the audience entertaining.

Other outstanding tracks include the delicate phrasing of B.B’s original Sweet Little Angel along with its obvious sexual innuendo (I love the way she spreads her wings), and his ode to a broken romance, You Upset Me Baby. However, this writer’s favourite is, paradoxically, the emotionally rich Help The Poor, written by Charlie Singleton, a writer who eventually gained international success for penning the lyrics of the now perennial Strangers In The Night, a song that began as an instrumental called Beddy Bye, composed by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert.

‘Live At The Regal’ has been described by former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor – who this writer saw perform live in 2014 – as “B.B. King in his prime”, and most other guitarists who also accept its importance in their respective lives are the likes of Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, and Mark Knopfler, among those guitarists, who use the album for warming themselves before performing.

Released in: 1965

Recorded: 21^st November, 1964

Duration: 34:46 minutes

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Parag Kamani

Parag Kamani has been part of the media and entertainment industry across 35 years, having worked for licensors such as Warner Music and EMI/Virgin in music, as well as Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures in the field of films. Parag continues pursuing his passion as a profession.