Albert King "Live Wire/Blues Power"

 

                                                                    The King himself


Albert King is one of the most un-heard of guitar players, but one of the biggest names in blues. He has a vast catalog of albums spanning from early 1954, to the post humous albums still being released today in his memory. I've had the pleasure of meeting various people who commonly associated themselves with the blues master when he was here on this earth, such as his guitar technician and luthier Dan Erlewine. Dan told me a multitude of stories about the King, everything from how he built his guitars, to how passionate of a person he was. All of this shows in his live recording "Live Wire/Blues Power" where he demonstrates his mastery over his custom flying V.



"Watermelon Man" the first song off this album. The instrumental starts out with a nice slow "50's esque" kind of swing with guitar solo's peeking there head's around every corner. Albert King shows his love of the penatonic scale in this song, with his fingers flying all over the fretboard. About half way through the song, Mr. King greets the audience to ask them how they're doing and laughs with excitement for the show to come.

The next song, and title track of the album "Blues Power" is a nice slow jam session, full of slow soulful vibrato from his voice and guitar. One reason I really like this song is Albert explains why everyone can understand the blues, with examples from babys all the way up to teenagers and older people. If you haven't listened to the blues yet, this would definately be a good first song to listen to, because it really explains how the genre is universal, and how it can be applied to everybody. Lyrically, this is one of my all time favorite songs.

The third song "Night Stomp" is another 50's style blues shuffle, very similiar to watermelon man, but a lot faster. The difference between the two, is the rythm section is driven much more hard in this song than the previous. The song will change from fast and shredding, to soft and subtle, and also with intricate stops throughout the entire song.



"Blues at Sunrise" is a slow blues jam that Albert King had played with the big names, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Every single note Albert puts forth is full of soul and vibrato. The lyrics are also pretty good as well, telling that we can all relate to about a man who can't find his woman, and thinks she may be out partying with other guys. This song proves Albert's statement in blues power is right, the blues are universal.

"Please Love Me" is a great medium tempo'd blues shuffle, with intricate bass work, and Albert showing his "texas side" with Chuck Berry style riffs similiar to his very famous song, Johnny B. Goode. King shows his very powerful voice in this song, forcing out in what sounds like a vibrato machine, every single soulful note. He adds an element of swing to the song as well with his guitar playing.




"Look Out" is the closing song on this album, and is another instrumental. Personally, the only flaw I find with this album is that this song was used to close it instead of open it. Is it a good song? Yes, but it is not a very strong. I like my music the way I like my meatballs, with such a strong bite that it leaves my mouth hurting for a couple of days. In my personal opinion, since the album is titles "Blues Power" that the song Blues Power would have been a very strong closer, since it was the best song on the album.