Freddie KING - Burglar 1974

Freddie KING - Burglar 1974
RSO SO 4803

Blues

Produced in part by Mike Vernon, who worked on The Legendary Christine Perfect Album, this is an entertaining and concise package of ten songs performed by the late Freddie King and a slew of guests. Opening with Gonzalez Chandler's "Pack It Up," featuring the Gonzalez Horn Section, the youthful legend was only 40 years of age when he cut this career LP two years before his death. Though no songs went up the charts like his Top Five hit in 1961, "Hide Away," Burglar is one of those gems that journeymen can put together in their sleep. Tom Dowd produced "Sugar Sweet" at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL, featuring Jamie Oldaker on drums, Carl Radle on bass, and guitarists Eric Clapton and George Terry, which, of course, makes this album highly collectable in the Clapton circles. The sound doesn't deviate much from the rest of the disc's Mike Vernon production work; it is pure Freddy King, like on the final track, E. King's "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)," where his guitar bursts through the horns and party atmosphere, creating a fusion of the pure blues found on "Sugar Sweet" and the rock that fans of Grand Funk grooved to when he opened for that group and was immortalized in their 1973 number one hit "We're an American Band" a year after this record's release. Sylistically, Freddie King is from the same school as Buddy Guy, two men instrumental in bringing this art form to a mass audience. King stretches those sounds with great fervor on the Hayes/Porter number "I Had a Dream," containing the strength Mark Farner said the blues artist displayed in concert, which could snap a guitar neck. The voice of Freddie King is what drives J.J. Cale's "I Got the Same Old Blues," the horns and the guitar battling between verses and uniting to ooze under the guitarist's vocal expression. Rhythm guitarist Bob Tench, producer Mike Vernon, bassist DeLisle Harper, drummer Steve Ferrone, and pianist Roy Davies all co-write "Texas Flyer" with Freddie King, a prime example of the modern blues this artist was developing. With Brian Auger and Pete Wingfield contributing to the title track, Jerry Ragovoy's "She's a Burglar," this project stands as a solid representation of an important musician which is as enjoyable as it is historic.
By Joe Viglione.
**
If you have heard of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Walter Trout, Johnny Lang or Joe Kubek; Ask where does their music come from? Most probably the answer is: Freddie King; Burglar.
In this album, Freddie sets the standards of any guitar used in a blues or a rock song.
A 1972 release, shortly before his death, this album will blow your mind and ears away. No other blues album of its generation comes close; and this is nothing like Fredddie's previous releases.
I believe that Freddie King ranks in Blues the same as Miles Davis in Jazz. Too bad he died too soon.
Highly recommended.
**
Freddie King- Vocals, Guitar
Chris Mercer, Mick Eves, Steve Gregory- Tenor Sax
Bud Beadle- Baritone sax
Roy Davies- Elctric Piano, Clavinet)
Brian Auger, Dick Simms- Organ
DeLisle Harper, Carl Radle- Bass
Steve Ferrone- Drums
Pete Wingfield- Keyboards
Bob Tench , Eric Clapton , George Terry- Guitar
Misty Browning, Donnie Vie , P.P. Arnold , Patrick Arnold- Backing Vocals
**
A1. Pack It Up 4:12 
A2. My Credit Didn't Go Through 4:10 
A3. I Got the Same Old Blues 3:24 
A4. Only Getting Second Best 3:50  
A5. Texas Flyer 3:48 
B1. Pulp Wood 3:13 
B2. She's a Burglar  
B3. Sugar Sweet 3:51 
B4. I Had a Dream 5:03 
B5. Come On (Let the Good Times Roll) 3:34
**
NoPassword
*
DLink
*

Freddie KING - The!!!!Beat 1966 (Avi)

Freddie KING - The!!!!Beat 1966 (Avi)

Blues

This DVD collection presents all of Freddie King's appearances from this unique series and concludes with 3 tunes performed in Sweden in 1973.
A major influence to such greats as Eric Clapton and Jerry Garcia, blues guitarist King is featured ...    Full Descriptionhere playing on the show THE!!!!BEAT, a showcase for the strange collision of Southern blues and the mid 1960's "Mod" craze. Performing at the height of his talent, King displays his guitar genius with several amazingly rendered songs. In addition, a 1973 concert performance in Sweden is included.
** 
Freddie King probably, unjustifiably so, has the lowest profile of the blues guitar greats known as the 3 Kings (Albert, BB & Freddie). A young Freddie King was a very influential guitarist in the early 60's. Eric Clapton for instance has said he bought his famous "Bluesbreaker" Les Paul guitar after seeing Freddie on a record cover with a Les Paul. And EC later did versions of Freddie's Hideaway, Have You Ever Loved A Woman and I'm Tore Down.

Whilst I think Amazon reviewer Robert Plemmons nails it with his review dated 3 February 2007, I'll nevertheless have a bash at a review too.

These performances on The!!!!Beat TV show in 1966 catch a youngish Freddie King not far removed from his early 60's hey day. The DVD is in colour, which surprised me, being sourced from a 60's TV music show, but then, colour TV happened in the States years before elsewhere.

Freddie is in a suit with processed hair (or pompadour as Robert Plemmons probably more accurately describes it) and is of course chubby & sweating. Freddie really wails on his red Gibson 345 guitar - and remember this is still 1966 - doing fairly tight & tidy versions of many of his early hits, some of which were instrumental.

Full track listing from 1966 is below, and you'll see that Funny Bone, San-Ho-Zay and Hideaway are performed on The!!!!Beat twice:

Funny Bone
Have You Ever Loved A Woman
San-Ho-Zay
I'm Tore Down
Hideaway
I Love The Woman
Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
See See Baby
Sitting On The Boatdock
Shuffle
She Put The Whammy On Me
San-Ho-Zay
Funny Bone
Hideaway

There is also a later show from Sweden in 1973 tacked on, which is similar to the Freddie King Live in Europe DVD performances from Montreux & elsewhere. These later European performances are longer looser jams and Freddie appears to be a bit tired or disinterested and seems to be going through the motions before a reticent Scandinavian crowd.

Track listing from Sweden, 1973:

Have You Ever Loved A Woman
Blues Band Shuffle
Big Leg Woman

But in 1966 on The!!!!Beat, Freddie is young, energetic & enthusiastic. He's also backed by some attractive young go-go dancers. The!!!!Beat's irrepressible Texan MC appears to have genuine affection for Freddie & his playing. The MC announces that (a young) Clarence Gatemouth Brown is the leader of The!!!!Beat backing band !

I have the other Freddie DVD's, Live at the Sugarbowl in 1972, Live in Dallas in 1973, and Live in Europe, and Freddie fans and blues guitar fans must also buy those titles; but The!!!!Beat is the best of the lot and if you could have only one Freddie DVD, this is the one which catches him most accurately.
By  Peter E. Hefford.
**
NoPassword
*
DLinks
*
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
*

Freddie KING - Live In Nancy 1975

Freddie KING - Live In Nancy 1975
Label:    Esoldun INA
Recorded at Nancy (France), 1975

Blues

Born Billy Myles, 3 September 1934, Gilmer, Texas, USA, d. 28 December 1976, Dallas, Texas. Freddie (aka Freddy) was one of the triumvirate of Kings (the others being BornBorn and Albert) who ruled the blues throughout the 60s. He was the possessor of a light, laid-back, but not unemotional voice and a facile fast-fingered guitar technique that made him the hero of many young disciples. He learned to play guitar at an early age, being influenced by his mother, Ella Mae King, and her brother Leon. Although forever associated with Texas and admitting a debt to such artists as T-Bone Walker he moved north to Chicago in his mid-teens. In 1950, he became influenced by local blues guitarists Eddie Taylor and Robert Lockwood. King absorbed elements from each of their styles, before encompassing the more strident approaches of Magic Sam and Otis Rush. Here, he began to sit in with various groups and slowly built up the reputation that was to make him a star.

After teaming up with Jimmy Lee Robinson to form the Every Hour Blues Boys he worked and recorded with Little Sonny Cooper's band, Earlee Payton's Blues Cats and Smokey Smothers. These last recordings were made in Cincinnati, Ohio, in August 1960 for Sydney Nathan's King/Federal organization, and on the same day, King recorded six titles under his own name, including the influential instrumental hit "Hideaway". He formed his own band and began touring, bolstering his success with further hits, many of them guitar showpieces, some trivialized by titles such as "The Bossa Nova Watusi Twist", but others showing off his "crying" vocal delivery. Many, such as "(I'm) Tore Down", "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" and particularly "The Welfare (Turns Its Back On You)", became classics of the (then) modern blues. He continued to record for King Federal up until 1966, his career on record being masterminded by pianist Sonny Thompson. He left King Federal in 1966 and took up a short tenure (1968-69) on the Atlantic Records subsidiary label Cotillion.

Ironically, the subsequent white blues-boom provided a new found impetus. Eric Clapton was a declared King aficionado, while Chicken Shack's Stan Webb indicated his debt by including three of his mentor's compositions on his group's debut album. The albums that followed failed to capture the artist at his best. This was not a particularly successful move, although the work he did on that label has increased in value with the passage of time. The same could be said for his next musical liaison, which saw him working with Leon Russell on his Shelter Records label. Much of his work for Russell was over-produced, but King made many outstanding recordings during this period and a re-evaluation of that work is overdue. There was no denying the excitement it generated, particularly on Getting Ready, which was recorded at the famous Chess Records studio. This excellent set included the original version of the much-covered "Going Down". Live recordings made during his last few years indicate that King was still a force to be reckoned with as he continued his good-natured guitar battles with allcomers, and usually left them far behind.
Burglar featured a duet with Eric Clapton on "Sugar Sweet",
but the potential of this new relationship was tragically cut short in December 1976
when King died of heart failure at the early age of 43.
His last stage appearance had taken place three days earlier in his home town of Dallas.
**
Freddy King- Guitar, Vocals,
Benny Turner- Bass,
Calep Emphrey- Drums,
Mark Pollack- Guitar,
Alvin Hemphill- Organ,
Lewis Stephens- Piano.
**
CD 1:
01. Messin' With The Kid  5:30
02. That's All Right  7:45
03. Going Down  3:15
04. Stormy Monday Blues  8:00
05. Sen-Sa-Shun - Looking Good - Boogie Chillun  9:20
06. Sweet Little Angel  11:30

CD 2:
07. Got My Mojo Working   8.02
08. Sweet Home Chicago   6.00
09. Wee Baby Blues   5.03
10. The Danger Zone   3.04
11. Feeling Alright   6.36
12. You're the One - Final   9.00
*
NoPassword
*
DLink
*