B.B. King - Ace Records Reissue series

[allblues]

I got a new question for the B.B. experts:

I just finished "The B.B. King Reader" and learned that B.B. returned to the Bihari brothers in 1965 for one six song session, and that B.B. was saving his own material for his ABC albums so he didn't record any of his own compositions. "Ain't Nobody's Business" appeared on an Ace box set, I believe. But what I am left wondering is, how were these six songs released? On AMG there are several albums released around this time, but none show "Ain't Nobody's Business" on them which leaves me wondering if they used these six songs for the singles market, or what.

Can anyone shed light as to how I might obtain these final Modern recordings by B.B.?

Thanks!

Dan, according to my research and please correct me if I'm wrong, the six songs were:

Ain't Nobody's Business

Blues Stay Away from Me

Eyesight to the Blind

Five Long Years

Make Me Blue

A Woman Don't Care

Ain't Nobody's Business was released as a single (Kent 447), on the LP "The Jungle" (Kent 521/5021) and was reissued both on "The Vintage Years" box set and more recently on "Original Greatest Hits" (Virgin 11654).

Blues Stay Away from Me was released as a single (Kent 458), on the LP "Rock Me Baby" (Kent 512/5012), and was also reissued on "The Vintage Years" and "Original Greatest Hits."

Eyesight to the Blind with overdubbed horns was released as a single (Kent 441) and reissued on "The Best of the Kent Singles" (Ace 760). The version without horns was issued on "The Jungle" LP and reissued on "B.B. King" aka "The Soul of B.B. King" (Ace 986).

Five Long Years was on Kent single 445 and on "The Jungle" and was reissued on both "The Best of the Kent Singles" and "The Vintage Years."

Make Me Blue was first released in Japan and is on "The Vintage Years."

A Woman Don't Care with overdubbed horns is on "B.B. King" aka "The Soul of B.B. King" and without horns on "The Great B.B. King (Ace 1049). The version with horns is mono while the one with horns is in stereo.

Four of these songs were covers, but B.B. is credited with writing both Make Me Blue and A Woman Don't Care. Perhaps these were songs that he had no intention of recording for ABC? Since the Biharis didn't release either one, maybe they agreed that the songs lacked commercial potential.

[allblues]

'BB King sings Spirituals' is being reissued by Ace next month

BB King sing Sprituals

It states that this is the 11th and last issue in this series so it looks like 'Twist with BB' is

not being reissued.

I received "B.B. King sings Spirituals" this week, and in John Broven's notes, he confirms that this is the last volume in the Crown reissue series because "Twist with B.B. King" consisted of material from the other Crown albums.

[jazzbo]

I got it in the mail too.. . like it more than I thought I would from the few songs I'd heard before.

Sad to see this series come to an end. Hope they have an encore planned of some kind. . . .

[Dan Gould]

I got a new question for the B.B. experts:

I just finished "The B.B. King Reader" and learned that B.B. returned to the Bihari brothers in 1965 for one six song session, and that B.B. was saving his own material for his ABC albums so he didn't record any of his own compositions. "Ain't Nobody's Business" appeared on an Ace box set, I believe. But what I am left wondering is, how were these six songs released? On AMG there are several albums released around this time, but none show "Ain't Nobody's Business" on them which leaves me wondering if they used these six songs for the singles market, or what.

Can anyone shed light as to how I might obtain these final Modern recordings by B.B.?

Thanks!

Dan, according to my research and please correct me if I'm wrong, the six songs were:

Ain't Nobody's Business

Blues Stay Away from Me

Eyesight to the Blind

Five Long Years

Make Me Blue

A Woman Don't Care

Ain't Nobody's Business was released as a single (Kent 447), on the LP "The Jungle" (Kent 521/5021) and was reissued both on "The Vintage Years" box set and more recently on "Original Greatest Hits" (Virgin 11654).

Blues Stay Away from Me was released as a single (Kent 458), on the LP "Rock Me Baby" (Kent 512/5012), and was also reissued on "The Vintage Years" and "Original Greatest Hits."

Eyesight to the Blind with overdubbed horns was released as a single (Kent 441) and reissued on "The Best of the Kent Singles" (Ace 760). The version without horns was issued on "The Jungle" LP and reissued on "B.B. King" aka "The Soul of B.B. King" (Ace 986).

Five Long Years was on Kent single 445 and on "The Jungle" and was reissued on both "The Best of the Kent Singles" and "The Vintage Years."

Make Me Blue was first released in Japan and is on "The Vintage Years."

A Woman Don't Care with overdubbed horns is on "B.B. King" aka "The Soul of B.B. King" and without horns on "The Great B.B. King (Ace 1049). The version with horns is mono while the one with horns is in stereo.

Four of these songs were covers, but B.B. is credited with writing both Make Me Blue and A Woman Don't Care. Perhaps these were songs that he had no intention of recording for ABC? Since the Biharis didn't release either one, maybe they agreed that the songs lacked commercial potential.

Thanks a lot for the info.

As far as Twist goes, I thought Steve Gray identified that the LP had a handful of tunes not on other Crown LPs and not reissued elsewhere in the series?

[allblues]

As far as Twist goes, I thought Steve Gray identified that the LP had a handful of tunes not on other Crown LPs and not reissued elsewhere in the series?

In an attempt to capitalize on the twist craze in 1962, the Biharis pulled together ten songs from "Singin' the Blues," "B.B. King Wails," and "More B.B. King," and gave new titles to four songs.

From Singin' the Blues (Crown 5020):

Please Love Me (RPM 386)

Woke Up This Morning (My Baby She Was Gone) (RPM 380)

You Upset Me Baby (RPM 416)

from B.B. King Wails (Crown 5115):

Come By Here (Kent 319)

I've Got Papers On You Baby (Kent 100 - retitled Do What I Say)

Treat Me Right (Kent 101 - retitled Oh Baby)

and from More B.B. King (Crown 5230):

(Ain't That) Just Like A Woman (Kent 441 - retitled Rockin' Twist)

Bad Case of Love (Kent 362)

Bad Luck Soul (Kent 353)

Blues for Me (retitled Groovin' Twist)

Wonder how many copies were bought by a twist-hungry public?

[Steve Gray]

As far as Twist goes, I thought Steve Gray identified that the LP had a handful of tunes not on other Crown LPs and not reissued elsewhere in the series?

Apologies. Looks like I was confused by the retitling of the tunes.

I did think they might issue it with some alternative takes but no luck.

[Dan Gould]

Well, rather than springing for the Vintage box, which would be about 98% duplicative of what I already have, I ended up finding some mint Kent 45s to cover some of the tunes from that '65 session.

In searching the shop's database, I found one that I decided to spring for, as I could find no such title in the Ace catalog: Its Kent 470, "Bad Breaks"/"Growing Old". I know that "Growing Old" appeared on King of the Blues, but after my experience with Twisting with B.B. King, can anyone reassure me that "Bad Breaks" is not one of those old tunes that were re-named?

Thanks!

[Stereojack]

BB King’s recordings for the Biharis have always been a nightmare for discographers. The 1987 edition took several giant steps in sorting out the mess, but in consulting the book now, I can see that there was still a considerable amount of guesswork involved. Adding the nearly 20 years of LP and CD released by Ace since the book's publication only complicates matters worse. Anyway, I think it is valuable to mention what they have to say.

Many years ago I had heard rumors of "under the table" sessions that BB made for the Biharis after signing with ABC, but L&S make no mention of a 1965 session for the Biharis, but they do show four of the titles cited by allblues as coming from 1961/62, at the end of his stint with them. The last two are not listed at all.

Ain't Nobody's Business 1961/62

Blues Stay Away from Me 1961/62

Eyesight to the Blind 1961/62

Five Long Years 1961/62

Make Me Blue

A Woman Don't Care

The fact that the basic track for “A Woman Don’t Care” is mono implies that this may be an earlier recording.

As for “Bad Breaks”, L&S attribute it to a 1953 session, first issued in the 1960’s on the single Kent 470, and on the LP “Boss of the Blues” (Kent 529 / United 7750).

[Dan Gould]

Thanks Jack. For what its worth, the B.B. King Reader has it as a given that B.B. recorded once more for the Biharis in 1965, and specifically mentions that he didn't want to record new material and share composer credits. Since the Ace reissues, and the book, came after the discography, maybe they found new info to confirm the '65 session?

But regardless, I'm glad that "Bad Breaks" is in fact new and unissued on CD. I was also glad to discover that in a couple of cases, the 45s that I bought had "issued" tunes on the Crown series which turned out to be different performances, confirmed in the Crown liners. Best example is "You're Gonna Miss Me" which on the 45 is taken at a much brighter tempo than the Crown LP take. This leaves me with my next question, probably best answered by studying all of the reissue liners to see if there are any clues: Leaving aside attempts to "spruce up" old recordings with ill-advised over-dubs, are there any other worthy singles that are different from the Crown reissued takes?

[Stereojack]

In rereading my last post, I see that I failed to mention the name of the 1987 book to which I was referring. It is "Blues Records 1943-1970" by Mike Leadbitter & Neil Slaven. Although published before the onslaught of CD reissues, it is still an invaluable work.

[Guest]

Many years ago I had heard rumors of "under the table" sessions that BB made for the Biharis after signing with ABC, but L&S make no mention of a 1965 session for the Biharis, but they do show four of the titles cited by allblues as coming from 1961/62, at the end of his stint with them. The last two are not listed at all.

Ain't Nobody's Business 1961/62

Blues Stay Away from Me 1961/62

Eyesight to the Blind 1961/62

Five Long Years 1961/62

Make Me Blue

A Woman Don't Care

The fact that the basic track for “A Woman Don’t Care” is mono implies that this may be an earlier recording.

As for “Bad Breaks”, L&S attribute it to a 1953 session, first issued in the 1960’s on the single Kent 470, and on the LP “Boss of the Blues” (Kent 529 / United 7750).

As stereojack said, L&S do a great deal of guesswork in "Blues Records," and not all of it is accurate according to the Ace research. Some of the recordings L&S attribute to 1961/62 were part of this guesswork, including these four titles.

"Bad Breaks" is the overdubbed version of "Bad Luck" which was originally recorded on November 19, 1955 and released in 1956 as RPM 468. Overdubs were done on August 20, 1967 for release as Kent 470.

[Dan Gould]

"Bad Breaks" is the overdubbed version of "Bad Luck" which was originally recorded on November 19, 1955 and released in 1956 as RPM 468. Overdubs were done on August 20, 1967 for release as Kent 470.

Looking through a list of 45s, I saw "Bad Luck" and wondered if this was in fact renamed. Either way, its cool, since I don't have the Vintage Years box anyway.

[Dan Gould]

I got a new question for the B.B. experts:

I just finished "The B.B. King Reader" and learned that B.B. returned to the Bihari brothers in 1965 for one six song session, and that B.B. was saving his own material for his ABC albums so he didn't record any of his own compositions. "Ain't Nobody's Business" appeared on an Ace box set, I believe. But what I am left wondering is, how were these six songs released? On AMG there are several albums released around this time, but none show "Ain't Nobody's Business" on them which leaves me wondering if they used these six songs for the singles market, or what.

Can anyone shed light as to how I might obtain these final Modern recordings by B.B.?

Thanks!

Dan, according to my research and please correct me if I'm wrong, the six songs were:

Ain't Nobody's Business

Blues Stay Away from Me

Eyesight to the Blind

Five Long Years

Make Me Blue

A Woman Don't Care

Ain't Nobody's Business was released as a single (Kent 447), on the LP "The Jungle" (Kent 521/5021) and was reissued both on "The Vintage Years" box set and more recently on "Original Greatest Hits" (Virgin 11654).

Blues Stay Away from Me was released as a single (Kent 458), on the LP "Rock Me Baby" (Kent 512/5012), and was also reissued on "The Vintage Years" and "Original Greatest Hits."

Eyesight to the Blind with overdubbed horns was released as a single (Kent 441) and reissued on "The Best of the Kent Singles" (Ace 760). The version without horns was issued on "The Jungle" LP and reissued on "B.B. King" aka "The Soul of B.B. King" (Ace 986).

Five Long Years was on Kent single 445 and on "The Jungle" and was reissued on both "The Best of the Kent Singles" and "The Vintage Years."

Make Me Blue was first released in Japan and is on "The Vintage Years."

A Woman Don't Care with overdubbed horns is on "B.B. King" aka "The Soul of B.B. King" and without horns on "The Great B.B. King (Ace 1049). The version with horns is mono while the one with horns is in stereo.

Foolishly, I did not consult my copy of The Jungle til yesterday. Turns out that "Blues Stay Away From Me" was also issued on that album (I don't know if it was also on Rock Me Baby but its definitely on The Jungle with the truncated title of "Blues Stay Away".)

I say foolishly, because I had sprung for a batch of mint 45s of "Blues Stay Away" as well as "The Worst Thing In My Life" which the Ace people identified as only being reissued in Japan and both are in fact on The Jungle so if I'd only cross-checked I'd have saved some cash.