BB King on Ace Records

[Tom 1960]

Suggestions? Thanks!

[John L]

Ace has been releasing BB King's recordings from the 50s and early 60s - the period before he signed with ABC. On balance, that is my favorite BB King. You can hear his distinctive guitar playing maturing and emerging, which was already almost there in the latter 1950s. His singing voice was never better. BB King had a smooth crooning voice and falsetto at that time, which he combined with a bit of shouting, that was already in decline at the time he signed with ABC.

Ace has released this music in various forms and on various compilations. The most impressive releases (IMO) are the 11 CDs that package the original Crown LPs with a lot of bonus tracks in fantastic sound quality. The other set of note is the 4-CD set: The Vintage Years that makes a great selection and also boasts very good sound quality and speed corrections for a number of tracks. The other two that I pull out sometimes are The Best of BB King Volumes 1 & 2. Those CDs were (I believe) the first Ace BB King releases, and included horn dubs over most of the tracks. This generated a lot of criticism at the time when most of the tacks without horn dubs were not available on CD. But I actually enjoy hearing the tracks with horns sometimes.

Edited May 17, 2015 by John L

[paul secor]

Well, if you want a lot, there's:

http://www.amazon.com/VINTAGE-YEARS-B-B-KING/dp/B00005QX62/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1431862887&sr=1-7&keywords=b.b.+king+ace

Personally, I'd opt for one or two single CDs.

This is a very good one:

http://www.amazon.com/Do-Boogie-B-B-King/dp/B000026ANG/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1431862887&sr=1-10&keywords=b.b.+king+ace

As is this one:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J32ue9LhL._SY355_.jpg

Ace has reissued B.B.'s recordings many times in various collections, so you have to check closely to see that you're not duplicating what you already have.

Good listening, Tom.

[mikeweil]

I have some single CDs on Ace, and they indeed sound fantastic! I also like this one which collects instrumental tracks:

[Dan Gould]

All of them are keepers, even The Best of The Kent Singles, which were all released after B.B. left the Bihari's and they used his raised profile with ABC to issue their own singles, recorded from the late 50s to early 60s. Most, but not all of these tracks are stripped down to the original instrumentation (Kent put some out with overdubs). I like that one a lot.

[soulpope]

All of them are keepers, even The Best of The Kent Singles, which were all released after B.B. left the Bihari's and they used his raised profile with ABC to issue their own singles, recorded from the late 50s to early 60s. Most, but not all of these tracks are stripped down to the original instrumentation (Kent put some out with overdubs). I like that one a lot.

!

[Hot Ptah]

All of them are keepers, even The Best of The Kent Singles, which were all released after B.B. left the Bihari's and they used his raised profile with ABC to issue their own singles, recorded from the late 50s to early 60s. Most, but not all of these tracks are stripped down to the original instrumentation (Kent put some out with overdubs). I like that one a lot.

The B.B. King Ace CD reissues are really addictive. After you hear a few of them, you want to get them all. They are so good!

[jazzbo]

I agree with that sentiment.

[Dan Gould]

EBreggae has become my preferred source for Ace releases, and they have announced a sale on BB King recordings. Most but not all of these are from the Ace catalog:

http://www.ebreggae.com/

BB King - Best Of The Blues Guitar King 1951-1966 (Ace Records) $5.19 146707
BB King - Blues In My Heart (Ace Records) $6.89 143836
BB King - Blues In Transition 1951-1962 (2 CD) (Jasmine) $10.19 190967
BB King - Can't Kick The Blues (3 CD) (Not Now Music) $7.99 190391
BB King - Completely Well + Live In Cook County Jail (2 CD) (BGO) $11.79 156093
BB King - Easy Listening Blues (Ace Records) $6.89 143852
BB King - Electric Blues (2 CD) (Not Now Music) $5.99 185984
BB King - Guess Who (BGO) $9.89 155741
BB King - His Best: The Electric BB King (BGO) $9.89 155726
BB King - King Of The Blues (Ace Records) $6.89 143835
BB King - Midnight Believer + Take It Home (BGO) $10.99 156095
BB King - More BB King (Ace Records) $6.89 143838
BB King - My Kind Of Blues (Ace Records) $6.89 143815
BB King - Singin The Blues (Ace Records) $6.89 143823
BB King - Sings Spirituals (Ace Records) $6.89 143834
BB King - The Best Of The Early Years (Ace Records) $9.49 145007
BB King - The Best Of The Kent Singles 1958-1971 (Ace Records) $9.49 144461
BB King - The Blues (Ace Records) $6.89 143820
BB King - The Great (Ace Records) $6.89 143822
BB King - The Jungle (Ace Records/Westbound) $6.59 143970
BB King - The Modern Recordings 1950-1951 (2 CD) (Ace Records) $11.49 146757
BB King - The RPM Hits 1951-1957 (Ace Records) $9.49 146226
BB King - The Soul Of BB King (Ace Records) $6.89 143824
BB King - The Vintage Years (4 CD Box) (Ace Records) $32.99 171152
BB King - Wails (Ace Records) $6.89 143844

Service is excellent so you can buy with confidence.