BB King - Live At The BBC

Blues with a grin on its face

From the early days of the Stones and The Yardbirds, the Brits have always had a soft spot for the blues, summed up by the warmth of greeting the great BB King receives whenever he visits these shores. Naysayers will tell you it’s a depressing and restrictive genre but, if they’re not won over by the charm and sheer entertainment of the big man with a guitar called Lucille, well, there’s no hope for them.

Bringing together three live shows, one from Hammersmith in the 70s, and visits to Glasgow and Croydon in the 90s, this is a toe-tapping, hand-clapping, celebration of one of the world’s finest musicians. Whether he’s fired up on I Love To Live The Life or sombre and reflective on Night Life, King roars his way through his sets with a vitality alien to some musicians a third of his age.

The Croydon show stands out here, for the sans-Bono reading of his U2 duet When Love Comes To Town and the seedy groove of Ain’t Nobody Home – a song once picked for a Levi’s commercial, reaffirming his populist appeal in a campaign that had previously involved T.Rex, The Clash and Marvin Gaye.

Universal | tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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