#305: B.B. King - Live at the Regal (1965)

Zack: Wow wow wow wow wow! I was excited to listen to B.B. King, but I was not aware of just how amazing my morning was about to become. My only real exposure to B.B. King before this was his work with Clapton on Riding with the King, which I listened to once like 5 years ago. I don’t remember it too well, but it definitely doesn’t hold a candle to Live at the Regal. If I’m being honest, Regal blew away pretty much all of the blues I’ve listened to before (a list that includes Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Muddy Waters, so I’m at least marginally credible in this assessment). From start to finish it was just a masterpiece. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to be in the crowd that day, listening to him blast through all the other delicately arranged sounds with both his voice and guitar. I'm just glad something this good was immortalized so we could all appreciate it. We have another 95 albums to listen to before the next time I need to really think about this, but I can already say I’ve filled in a slot for my favorite album.

Favorite Tracks: Please Love Me; You Upset Me Baby; You Done Lost Your Good Thing

Emily: Live at the Regal was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. That means someday, when all vinyl has lost its grooves, when all CDs are scratched up beyond repair, when that new wave of cassettes comes crashing into a pile of plastic and blob of recording type, when your hard drive explodes and Spotify goes bankrupt and Pandora retreats into her box, we'll still have Live at the Regal. This is an album that has been deemed worth saving above so many others, and honestly, now that I've listened to it I agree with that assessment 100%. Live at the Regal embodies blues in a way that few other albums do because it captures a live show by a master of the genre. Blues music that is recorded in the studio just doesn't have the same feel of the musicians interacting with the audience, feeding off of their energy in tune with their own emotions and musicianship. That's the feeling you get from Live at the Regal, like you were in that club with a drink in your hand and your toes tapping along with B.B. King. Only a few people actually got to be there that day, but the feeling that you were lives on forever in the recording.

Favorite Tracks: How Blue Can You Get?; Worry, Worry; Please Love Me