I haven't purchased a BB King record in years. I got tired of the sanitised sound, the "let's invite pop stars" thing and generally the lack of anything new or genuine in these releases. When I want to hear some hot BB King I listen to his 60s stuff like Live at the Regal. But when I read that T-Bone Burnett was producing this new album One Kind Favor, I thought I'd give it a chance. I don't regret it one bit!
One Kind Favor is undoubtedly BB's best album in the last 20 years or more. OK, so I just said I haven't listened to any of his recent releases. So let's just say that listening to this record feels like finding a BB I thought was lost forever.
First of all, the arrangements are superb. You can't quite say they sound dirty, that's not exactly the BB King franchise, but they don't have that mechanical cleanness that has marred his recent stuff, this crispy, radio-friendly thing that I find utterly boring. This record has guts. The double-bass sounds muted and a little imprecise, the drums are not too forward (despite the two drummers credited on each track), the horns aren't all-pervasive, they support the song rather than drown it. In other words, well-thought arrangements that aren't clinical.
And BB's having fun, and you can hear it. Sure he doesn't have the virtuosity of his 30s. But his guitar playing is from the heart on this record, he's not just playing on automatic. And his voice is still there, more gruff than way back, but warm and fat as ever. The choice of repertoire is good as well, with hard-hitting pieces not commonly associated with BB like How Many More Years, more soulful stuff like the superb Sitting on Top of the World and more generally covers from the jazzier side of blues.
This is a keeper. BB's still got it and that makes me glad.
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