B.B. King & Eric Clapton - Riding with the King (Deluxe Edition) (2020.FLAC)

  

Riding with the King is a blues album by Eric Clapton and B.B. King that was released in 2000. It was their first collaborative album and won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.

The potential for a collaboration between B.B. King and Eric Clapton is enormous, of course, and the real questions concern how it is organized and executed. This first recorded pairing between the 74-year-old King and the 55-year-old Clapton was put together in the most obvious way: Clapton arranged the session using many of his regular musicians, picked the songs, and co-produced with his partner Simon Climie. That ought to mean that King would be a virtual guest star rather than earning a co-billing, but because of Clapton's respect for his elder, it nearly works the other way around. The set list includes lots of King specialties -- "Ten Long Years," "Three O'Clock Blues," "Days of Old," "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer" -- as well as standards like "Hold on I'm Coming" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," with some specially written and appropriate recent material thrown in, so King has reason to be comfortable without being complacent. The real danger is that Clapton will defer too much; though he can be inspired by a competing guitarist such as Duane Allman, he has sometimes tended to lean too heavily on accompanists such as Albert Lee and Mark Knopfler when working with them in concert. That danger is partially realized; as its title indicates, Riding With the King is more about King than it is about Clapton. But the two players turn out to have sufficiently complementary, if distinct, styles so that Clapton's supportive role fills out and surrounds King's stinging single-string playing. (It's also worth noting that there are usually another two or three guitarists on each track.) The result is an effective, if never really stunning, work. 

•     B.B. King – guitar, co-lead vocals
•     Eric Clapton – guitar, co-lead vocals (tracks 1, 3–9, 11, 12)
•     Doyle Bramhall II – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9–12), background vocals (tracks 4, 7)
•     Andy Fairweather Low – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9–12)
•     Jimmie Vaughan – guitar (track 6)
•     Joe Sample – acoustic piano (1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11), Wurlitzer piano (tracks 1, 2, 11)
•     Tim Carmon – organ (tracks 1–7, 9–12)
•     Paul Waller – programming
•     Nathan East – bass
•     Steve Gadd – drums
•     Arif Mardin – string arrangements
•     Susannah Melvoin – background vocals (tracks 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12)
•     Wendy Melvoin – background vocals (tracks 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12)

01. Riding with the King (04:23)

02. Ten Long Years (04:41)

03. Key to the Highway (03:40)

04. Marry You (04:59)

05. Three O'Clock Blues (08:37)

06. Help the Poor (05:06)

07. I Wanna Be (04:46)

08. Worried Life Blues (04:26)

09. Days of Old (03:00)

10. When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer (07:10)

11. Hold on I'm Coming (06:20)

12. Come Rain or Come Shine (04:12)

13. Rollin' and Tumblin' (04:32)

14. Let Me Love You (05:07)

VA - The Old Grey Whistle Test - 40th Anniversary Album [3 CD, 2011/FLAC]

 

This anniversary release is a three CD collection featuring classic rock acts from the Old Grey Whistle Test era including the likes of Elton John, Eric Clapton, The Who, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin, as well as a number of American new wave artists such as Blondie, The Ramones and Talking Heads. The bonus tracks were recorded live on the Old Grey Whistle Test and cover the shows entire 16 years and as such have a more diverse feel with artists from Alice Cooper and John Lennon to Magazine and Simple Minds. The album is packaged in a deluxe reverse board digipak.

The Old Grey Whistle Test (usually abbreviated to Whistle Test or OGWT) is an influential BBC2 television music show that ran from 1971 to 1987. It took over the BBC2 late night slot from "Disco Two", which had been running since January 1970, while continuing to feature non-chart music. It was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers. According to presenter Bob Harris, the programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys—doormen in grey suits. The songs they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.

Kaipa - The Decca Years 1975-1978 [5 CD, 2005/FLAC]

 

In their early years, Kaipa was one of Sweden's best Symphonic Prog bands. Roine Stolt from The Flower Kings was a member of Kaipa. Their albums contain mostly instrumental music, drawing its influences from classic progressive Rock bands (Camel, Yes, Genesis), Classical music (Bach), and also Swedish Folk music. The Decca Years is a compilation of the three first albums from Kaipa, released under the Decca label during the years of 1975 to 1978. It also includes a demo which was previously unreleased, and a previously unreleased live set.

VA - Acoustic Disc: 100% Handmade Music Vol. 1-6 [1993-2002]

 

100% Handmade Music chronicles the eclectic new acoustic music genre, a blend of bluegrass, jazz, folk, blues, country, and whatever other traditional forms the musicians cross paths with, all tied together by virtuosic musicianship.

Battleground Korea - Sounds and Songs of America's Forgotten War (4 CD, 2018/FLAC)

 

After its epic Next Stop Is Vietnam collection, Germany's Bear Family Records and producer Hugo A. Keesing quickly came up with their next collection of war music.

Battleground Korea: Songs And Sounds Of America's Forgotten War  with its four CDs offering a genre-spanning gathering of 121 tracks about or inspired by the war, ranging from the likes of blues and R&B stalwarts John Lee Hooker, Fats Domino. Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Lightnin' Hopkins to country artists such as Ernest Tubb, Gene Autry, Merle Travis and Jimmie Osborne, whose 1953 song 'The Korean Story,' which Keesing calls 'a three-minute summary of the war,' is below.