Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 38 - Sunday Morning Favourites #4 King of the Blues

Last week we had The Queen of Gospel with Mahalia Jackson as part of our Sunday Morning Favourites and so it seems fitting this week to have The King of the Blues B.B. King. The spotlight falls upon his first Live Album that was released in 1965. An album that a number of Blues legends count as a huge inspiration.

Recorded 21st November 1964 at The Regal Theater, Chicago, this was B.B. King's first Live Album and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Blues Albums ever recorded. It was actually B.B.'s 13th album since 1956 and in the 9 years up until it's release he had become one of the premier Bluesmen in the Country having had hit singles going back to 1951 (where he had a #1 single on the US R&B Chart with 3 O'Clock Blues). His albums hadn't sold well enough to reach the charts but Live at The Regal turned that corner making it to #78 in 1965 and from that moment on only 15 albums of a further 46 failed to reach the charts (6 of them were Live albums). 

In 2005 Live at The Regal was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

Live at The Regal

ABC

Producer Johnny Pate

Released 1965

US Chart #78

 

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!