Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Thrill Is Gone
2. Paying the Cost to Be the Boss
3. Don't Answer the Door, Pts. 1 & 2
4. I Like to Live the Love
5. How Blue Can You Get?
6. Why I Sing the Blues
7. Chains and Things
8. To Know You Is to Love You
9. When Love Comes to Town [7" Edit and Mix]
10. Playin' With My Friends
11. Never Make a Move Too Soon
12. Better Not Look Down
13. There Must Be a Better World Somewhere
14. Hummingbird
15. Every Day I Have the Blues [Live]
16. Sweet Little Angel [Live]

Disc 2:

1. Help the Poor
2. So Excited
3. Broken Heart
4. Ghetto Woman
5. Ain't Nobody Home
6. Darlin' You Know I Love You
7. In the Midnight Hour
8. Into the Night
9. My Lucille
10. Blues Come over Me
11. Since I Met You Baby
12. I'm Moving On
13. Let the Good Times Roll [Live]
14. Woke up This Morning (My Baby's Gone) [Live]
15. Three O'Clock Blues [Live]
16. Please Love Me [Live]
17. Caldonia [Live]
18. Rock Me Baby [Live]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #146747 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-25
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Import

Amazon.co.uk Review
This two-disc set's jewel-case comes embossed with King's gold-inked signature, presumably a seal of approval for this bountiful summation of his MCA years. Beginning with B.B.'s work for ABC in the mid-1960s (the label was later swallowed up by MCA), the compilation moves through B.B.'s cream-flared 70s output, then proceeds to sew up the 1980s. The title's promise is fulfilled within this given time-period, but King's first 15 recording years are missing, as are examples of his very successful 90s work. Massed strings add drama to "The Thrill Is Gone", "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" swaggers with crisp horn feints, "Why I Sing The Blues" is a prime example of the extended funky vamp, these 60s cuts invariably swamped with eerie guitar reverb. The 70s provided an evocative canvas for exaggerated gesture, strings and electric piano infusing the moody "Chains & Things", B.B. picking funky figures throughout "Ghetto Woman". The synthesised piano and rock-ballad melody of "Into The Night" typify his 80s flirtations with the mainstream, while 1974's collaboration with Bobby Bland set a precedent for later collaboration with U2 and Gary Moore. Tracks are chronologically jumbled, but the closing six-song run of live numbers provides a flaming finish. --Martin Longley

Customer Reviews

He really is the king of the blues!
Having been fortunate enough to attend many of BB Kings concerts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, I always wished that he would do an album such as this one.I have numerous King albums containing different songs, but this really is one single collection of his lifes work. The album has his signature on the front under the words "this is music I enjoyed playing" and I can assure you it is music you cannot fail to enjoy hearing. From track 1on disc 1 "The Thrill is gone" to track 18 on disc 2 "Rock me baby" I was enthralled by this ageless masters talents. The album features Bobby Bland, U2, Bob Cray and Gary Moore and includes a number of live recordings of his best work. I cannot commend this album highly enough, it will become a collectors item I'm sure.

Fair Summation Of His ABC/MCA Period
As this collection of previously-released material does not go back beyond 1964, and BB King's first single came out in 1949, the claim that this represents his definitive greatest hits is a little contentious.
However, although BB King featured heavily in the R&B charts throughout his highly successful early years, it is a surprising fact that, apart from two appearances at the bottom end of the US Top 100 in 1957, he had not been troubled by the hit parade before 1964.
In 1962 BB King signed with ABC and appeared thereafter on their ABC Paramount, Bluesway and ABC labels. After they were taken over by MCA, his records appeared on that label, and these recordings are all taken from these periods, the most recent being Playin' With My Friends, with Robert Cray, taken from 1993's Blues Summit album. He had released little after that at the time of this compilation's release in 1999, instead concentrating on touring and performing.
Most of the songs chosen here were A-sides of singles, although some of these are in their lengthier album format. Quite a few others are taken from live performances, thus representing some earlier material recorded for other labels as well as showcasing contemporary material in an electric live setting.
BB King achieved his greatest mainstream success during this period and the price we have to pay is that alongside genuinely thrilling and innovative pieces such as The Thrill Is Gone there are a few too many bland-outs and celebrity guest appearances from Gary Moore, Leon Russell, Bobby "Blue" Bland and Dr John, which perhaps are not needed on a "best of" from an artist of the statuure of BB King. The U2 collaboration When Love Comes To Town was a Top Ten single in the UK and so its inclusion was mandatory, and it is a great record.
Now nearing eighty years of age, BB King is the greatest living blues legend, and this is a fair summation of his ABC/MCA years, if such a mighty output can be reduced to just two discs (it can't). If you enjoy this you owe it to yourself to go on to buy at least one companion piece representing his earlier years on the RPM and Kent/Crown labels

The Best.
This is simply the best value BB King cd on the market. Brilliant!