B.B. King - Live in Cook County Jail

One of the greatest concert recordings of all time. How could it be less, with B.B. King performing some of his best material before a literally captive audience in an Illinois prison? "Worry, Worry" and "How Blue Can You Get" take on deeper meanings here, although King works the latter's camp lyrics as if he were in a juke joint. His mix of down-home humility and commanding stagecraft is instantly appealing. And his guitar barks, sings, and squeals with such authority that this is a bravura performance from the first bent, soul-searing note. A true desert-island disc. --Ted Drozdowski Amazon.com essential recording

oh 2 b a con in this nick @ this gig.

great fun.takes you into the hall ,the booing of the sheriff and judge sets the tone for a fun gig.foot tapping and air guitar. August 19, 2007

BB in Action

B. B. King is more than a talented musician and songwriter, he is a phenomenal entertainer as well. He works a crowd like few others with his obvious love for people and his devotion to giving his best. This album captures BB as he is best, live and in action. He does not need light shows or other props to sell his work, he just plays and sings with a style and an infectious joy that few entertainers can match. One of his best albums. November 8, 2006

Arguably B.B. King's Best

Fans often call B.B. King the king of the blues guitar, but if B.B. were only a brilliant guitarist he wouldn't be a household name for decades. B.B. King is also a powerful singer, a terrific interpreter of others' material, an effective bandleader and - most importantly - a thoroughly professional entertainer. You can experience all B.B. King's sides on the "Cook County Jail" CD.

Virtually every cut on the CD is a powerhouse. Although the Cook County Jail setting might lead one to expect that B.B. King would play up the outlaw aspects of the blues (the way that Johnny Cash did with his prison LPs), B.B. takes the opposite approach. He delivers a well-rehearsed and utterly professional show. It must have seemed a revelation to rock fans, as most blues-rock concerts at the time were notoriously sloppy affairs. But it's what we expect from B.B. King. He may define himself as a bluesman, but B.B. applied many lessons learned from tight jazz combos.

For the uninitiated, the strong performances of B.B. King's best-known hits "Sweet Sixteen" and the "Thrill is Gone" will be the selling points, but every track has its delights. For me, the strongest moment comes with "How Blue Can You Get?" Here, we clearly get to experience how B.B. King is able to feed off the energy of a responsive audience, to the point where the inmates are practically bandmembers. When we hear their laughter and applause, we know that B.B. King has won over one of the most difficult audiences to please. Every solo on the CD is well-constructed, and at no time does B.B. allow himself to become self-indulgent.

The CD's short running time is the only deficit. While appropriate for an early 1970s LP, this is one short concert by modern CD standards. It would be nice to see this CD reissued with material cut from the original release (as is the usual trend for live album reissues), but there is no denying this is one of the very few live albums worth revisiting again and again. It belongs in the collection of anyone who truly loves post-war blues. January 14, 2006

Best of BB King

This CD captures the very essence of what makes Blues Boy King the King of the Blues. The power of BB's music thunders througout the CD. This album has the best rendition of "The Thrill is Gone" I have ever heard, and I've heard just about all the versions he has done over the years. You can almost see him crooning to the microphone with his eyes closed, and Lucille gives this song so much more with her solo at the end. If anything buy this CD for the "The Thrill is Gone"; as soon as you get it turn it up, sit down and close your eyes... September 18, 2005

Eh

I don't get it.
I had high hopes for this CD. Every review I've read, including the editorial review here at Amazon, has been jubilant, and "Live In Cook County Jail" is certainly not a bad record, but it's not great either, and at times it's barely even good.

I have an awful lot of blues albums, and I like to think that I know good blues when I hear it, but I just can't figure out what it is that people find so appealing about this recording.
Sure, King does a very good rendition of his trademark "The Thrill Is Gone" and plays excellent guitar on a great reading of "How Blue Can You Get", but "Every Day I Have The Blues" is marred by bland vocals and horrible drumming (easily the most annoying ever heard on a blues record!).

As for the rest of the seven songs, "Worry, Worry" trails off into long, sometimes tedious improvisations and is badly mixed. The first half of the medley "3 O'Clock Blues / Darlin' You Know I Love You" is pretty good, but "Darlin' You Know I Love You" is more jazz ballad than blues, and while I enjoy a good jazz ballad, I don't expect to find them on blues records. Besides, this one is not really that good either.

King does a good job with "Sweet Sixteen", but the album winds down with a closing number, "Please Accept My Love", which doesn't feel like it belongs on a blues album...there's more pop than blues to it.
All in all, there is some good and some bad on this album, and quite a lot in between. King's playing on "How Blue Can You Get" and "The Thrill Is Gone" rivals anything he's ever done, but those two songs by themselves are not enough to make this a great album. September 1, 2004

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