Search - B.B. King :: The Vintage Years

The Vintage Years
B.B. King
The Vintage Years
Genres: Blues, Pop, R&B
 
  •  Track Listings (24) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (28) - Disc #2
  •  Track Listings (28) - Disc #3
  •  Track Listings (26) - Disc #4

106 tracks digitally re-mastered from the original acetates for the best sound ever! Compiled by John Broven, this brings together King's seminal recordings of the 50s & 60s for the Modern group. There are no less than...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: B.B. King
Title: The Vintage Years
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Ace (U.K.)
Release Date: 7/8/2002
Album Type: Box set, Import
Genres: Blues, Pop, R&B
Styles: Regional Blues, Memphis Blues, Electric Blues, Modern Blues, Singer-Songwriters
Number of Discs: 4
SwapaCD Credits: 4
UPC: 029667000826

Synopsis

Album Description
106 tracks digitally re-mastered from the original acetates for the best sound ever! Compiled by John Broven, this brings together King's seminal recordings of the 50s & 60s for the Modern group. There are no less than 27 chart recordings, including four #1 R&B hits, seventeen top 10 R&B hits, & four top 100 hits. This Vintage Years box was put together with great care, and was not a rush job. Managing Director Roger Armstrong spent many months analyzing the Ace archive of over 2,000 B.B. King tapes to select the best (and correct) masters. Duncan Cowell at Sound Mastering Ltd did the crucial post-production work. The sound is sparkling. Never before has the original studio 'room' ambience of classic numbers such as "3 O'Clock Blues" and "Please Love Me" been heard with such clarity and zest. The individual CDs here can be summarized as follows: CD1, "The Great B.B." contains many of the big hits readily associated with B.B. that he still plays to this day. CD2, "Memphis Blues'n'Boogie" is a look at the rare recordings of the early 1950s engineered by Sam Phillips in Memphis, followed by those directed by Bill Harvey in Houston. Session-by-session, you can see B.B. finding his own style. CD3, "Take A Swing With Me" covers the mid-late 1950s when B.B. was touring constantly, and Maxwell Davis became the music director. By this time, the blues market had started to dip, leading B.B. to record in a variety of styles from R&B, rock'n'roll, pop and doo wop to jazz and gospel. CD4, "King Of The Blues" is where B.B. establishes his blues mastery as his association with Modern Records draws to an end. The set consists of four jewel cased CDs and a 74-page book housed in a beautiful 12" x 6" x 1-1/2" box. Ace Records/UK. 2002.

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CD Reviews

Very impressive. And too much for most listeners
Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 08/01/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)

"This handsomely packaged 4-disc box set brings together the vast majority of B.B. King's 50s and 60s recordings for the various labels in the Modern family.



King's many excellent 50s singles are often overlooked by compilers, which means that those who "only" own, say "The Anthology" or MCA/Chess's "Greatest Hits" will find that 95% of this material is new to them.

The large 76-page booklet is thoroughly researched and well-written, and each individual CD focuses on a theme of sort: Disc one concentrates on hits like "Sweet Little Angel", "Sweet Sixteen", "How Blue Can You Get" "3 O'Clock Blues", "Did You Ever Love A Woman" etc, and it is the best and most varied, with numerous highlights and only a couple of clunkers (two boring, saccharine ballads).

The disc titled "Memphis Blues 'n' Boogie" is probably the least exciting...the material is consistent but unvaried with very few real highlights. The third disc is devoted to King's more or less succesful forays into soul, gospel, doo wop, and rock & roll, and the final one, "King Of The Blues", focuses on King's urbane 60s recordings.



Serious B.B. King fans will want to add this set to their collection right away, but more casual fans will probably find that five hours of B.B. King is just too much. You can get the best of these 106 recordings on "Do The Boogie: B.B. King's Early 50s Classics" and the twofer CD reissue of his first to LPs, "Singing' The Blues/The Blues", and most people will be happy with that, especially since much of King's output in the 50s and 60s (and 70s, 80s, and 90s output for that matter) was more consistent than varied."
How blue can YOU get?
Woodrow | Brooklyn, NY United States | 12/19/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like the other review said, this might be too much for some but if you managed to find this page than you must be a fan of BB King.



I picked this box set up a few years ago but didn't listen to it too much at first. But I figured it would probably be out of print eventually and I would regret not picking it up. Just last week I listened to the entire thing, and now I can't stop playing it. The discs are divided really well. You get one disc of the more popular stuff, one of the early Memphis recordings, etc. It's incredible how consistant the entire box is. BB's guitar playing is great throughout and his singing is superb. The bands are always very tight. Great arrangements that will keep your foot patting the entire time.



So go ahead and indulge yourself. There are other single CD collections from this era. But I garuntee you once you dig in you're gonna want more. You deserve it so get the whole thing and turn it up!"