Search - B.B. King :: Blues on the Bayou

April B. from COLORADO SPGS, CO
Reviewed on 2/8/2011...

I love this CD.

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

BB King. Some things just keep getting better

Frank Kinser | Chattanooga, TN | 07/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some styles of music are universal and B. B. King's music is indeed universal. It doesn't what matter kind of music you like, you can't help but find youself tapping your feet and groovin' to these tunes. Blues on the Bayou is a really laid back, toe tappin', sittin' up all night jammin' with the boys kind of album. When I listen to this album I can just imagine myself sitting in a smokey blues bar listening to the "king" do his magic with Lucille. The truely great musicians keep on getting better and transcend time with their work. B. B. said this was a "back to basics" jam "...with my conviction that this current band is my best ever." I would have to agree."

Terrific blues for a sunday afternoon

O. Buxton | Highgate, UK | 08/13/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"B.B. King has been playing the blues for six hundred or so years and has released six million or so albums. The battle for listeners who are trying to introduce themselves to his work is to decide upon which album to make a first acquaintance. "Blues on the Bayou" may not be the greatest, most earth-turning disc the King of the Blues has ever cut, but it sure sounds the best and, after all, if you expect a six-hundred year old dog to teach you some new tricks, it's your problem, not his. On the other hand, if your love of the blues extends to a couple of Gary Moore compilations and a Jeff Healey live album, "Blues on the Bayou" ought to be some sort of conversion on the road to Damascus for you (if it isn't, you're missing something: most likely, the point). It is 1998, the King is in his dotage, but he's got a crack band behind him, a seriously funky cat on a soupy, soupy hammond and a production budget to die for, so everything is tight as a drum and crystal clear. His famous Gibson, Lucille, sounds the money, too - but then, she ALWAYS sounds the money. Even in his prime B.B. never cut up the stage with the guitar heroics of some of his contemporaries, always being much happier to float a high E up there, or honk around a bit further down the fretboard all in the most conversational kind of way. It's an avuncular style which hasn't changed, and it suits him more and more as he gets on - he gives his band plenty of room to set up a nice groove. His chatty vocals set the whole thing off. Just like his guitar playing, B.B. singing is of the blues, but he never sounds unhappy, as if just having a bunch of the guys kicking up a righteous shuffle is enough to chase them ol' blues away. After listening to 45 minutes of this, it's hard to argue with that."