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Riding with the King (1578866111)
Description
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| It sounds like the beginning of a story: "So, Slowhand and the King of the Blues were riding in a car ..." If this is a musical journey, it's the kind that rolls down long, empty stretches of country highway at 80 miles an hour, with the top down and the stereo blasting. Clapton and King may be more city than country, but this collection has the relaxed, laid-back feel that only comes from a pair of veterans doing what they do best. What they do here is cover 12 classic blues songs, many of them staples of King's repertoire, so the title of this album makes sense. Whether it's the rollicking rock & roll of the title track, or the acoustic shuffle of "Key to the Highway," or the sweet notes of "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer," a real sense of pleasure comes through on this album, the kind of pleasure one gets from jamming late at night with a good friend. --Genevieve Williams Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
Putting two superstars together on an album doesn't always work, but it does in this case. This was a good idea and the two obviously interacted well throughout. All of the songs are great blues tunes, but I especially liked "Key to the Highway" with the two alternating on the lyrics. My only criticism is that this album is a tad overproduced for my taste in blues.
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Author: Guest
Both performances by King and Clapton and musical choices make this an excellent purchase.
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Author: Guest
For some reason, I waited a few years to get this. Do NOT ask me why. This is a stellar album from two absolute masters. Both are absolutely playing their butts off here with gorgeous tone,especially B.B. and Lucille( does blues guitar tone get any better than that?). And both men have never sounded finer vocally(Clapton especially. Everybody knows what he can do with a Strat, but he is absolutely underrated as a vocalist).There's not a bad track on here, but real standouts are the absolutely KILLER title track, B.B.'s classics 3 O'Clock Blues, Days of Old and Help the Poor, and the beyond-cool cover of the Sam and Dave classic, Hold On I'm Coming. B.B. and Slowhand had wanted for years to do an album together, but for decades were unable to. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the best things in life are worth waiting for. B.B. has never to my knowledge failed to turn in a great performance on anything, but this is the best Eric has sounded in years. Clapton has a tendency to drift into adult contemporary waters, and sometimes sounds like he's phoning it in in recent years, but put him on stage or in the studio with someone he respects and admires, and he never fails to show that he's still got the passion and the fire. Stuff like this is why myself and many other guitar players picked up the axe in the first place. If you're a blues guitar fanatic, you NEED this. Better yet, buy a copy of this and give it to the 14 year old budding guitar player in your life. They might not appreciate it now, but in time, they will.
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Author: Guest
For years Clapton and BB King wanted to make a CD together. It took them 30 years but they finally did it, and it was worth the wait.
Several songs are covers of songs they have done before on previous albums. Those would include, Ten Long Years, Key to the Highway, Three O"Clock Blues and Worried Life Blues.
They also do covers of the old Sam and Dave song, Hold on I'm Coming and the class Come Rain or Come Shine.
Key to the Highway and Worried Life Blues are done on acoustic guitars, I enjoy hearing them done that way. BB King also writes some new songs for the CD. Unfortunately Clapton writes nothing new.
This is a blues fans dream, possibly two of the best blues guitarists ever on the same album and it wont disappoint you.
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Author: Guest
'Riding with the King', the much anticipated collaborative album by B.B. King and Eric Clapton, was bashed badly by critics upon its release in 2000. The thing is, that with a pairing like Clapton and King, it's easy to set your expectations too high, and thus it's easy to be disappointed. I'm not sure exactly what these reviewers expected - some epiphany, maybe, some kind of masterpiece that will change music forever. That's not what it is. What 'Riding with the King' is, in truth, is a perfect, repeat, perfect blues album, and one of the best electric blues albums ever recorded. And even if it's not quite as soulful as some of King's early recordings - I said IF, mind you - it's certainly the best he's recorded in decades, and it's clearly the best recording the Slowhand had pulled in many, many years as well. 'Riding with the King' is one of the most exquisite displays of blues guitar I've heard, showing not only virtuoso abilities but also soul and sensitivity from both generations of master axemen, and it's an album that never for a moment ceases to amaze and astound.
The song selection holds very few surprises - there are a couple of blues standards, played by either Clapton or King or both many times over the years; a couple of King classics; and two new songs composed by one of the album's two supporting rhythm guitarists, Doyle Bramhall II. Bramhall's songs, I Wanna Be and Marry You, are both jumpy, funky blues-rock pieces with a strong wah-wah riff; the others are for the most part classic blues tunes, be it the standard Key to the Highway or King's Ten Long Years, and King pours out his soul as he always did into the raw, primal twelve-bar blues. Worthy of special notice are the beautiful Help the Poor, which was recorded by King many years before; as well as the two songs closing the repertoire - Issac Hayes' classic Hold On I'm Coming and the old Ray Charles favorite Come Rain or Come Shine; both these songs draw more from the realms of soul and gospel than from that of blues, and the duo's treatment of them is beyond spectacular. In the aftermath it's the delivery and not the songs that make the album, and nobody delivers like these two. With help from an excellent backup band that includes Bramahll, Andy Fairweather Low, Joe Sample and Steve Gadd, and with a top-notch, flawless production, Riding with the King may not be classic raw blues - but it's the definitive blues experience for the 21st century.
Riding with the King is an essentiality for blues lovers - even if devout classic and acoustic blues lovers may find if overproduced and over-polished - and for fans of either of these spectacular players, and is a treasure for any other music lover too. It's a beautiful, soulful, powerful, sweeping listening experience, with catchy riffs and rhythms and astoundingly beautiful guitar playing, and it's perfect traveling music. A highly recommended experience - buy it now.
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