Born Under A Bad Sign (Stereo Remastered) Albert King

• 1 Born Under A Bad Sign (Stereo Remastered) 02:49
• 2 Crosscut Saw (Stereo Remastered) 02:35
• 3 Kansas City (Stereo Remastered) 02:33
• 4 Oh, Pretty Woman (Stereo Remastered) 02:50
• 5 Down Don't Bother Me (Stereo Remastered) 02:11
• 6 The Hunter (Stereo Remastered) 02:45
• 7 I Almost Lost My Mind (Stereo Remastered) 03:24
• 8 Personal Manager (Stereo Remastered) 04:31
• 9 Laundromat Blues (Stereo Remastered) 03:22
• 10 As The Years Go Passing By (Stereo Remastered) 03:47
• 11 The Very Thought Of You (Stereo Remastered) 03:50
• Total Runtime 34:37

Info for Born Under A Bad Sign (Stereo Remastered)

Ein wegweisendes R&B-Album: "Born Under A Bad Sign“ HiRes-ReMaster Edition. Das ReMastering erfolgte durch Kevin Gray, einem der profiliertesten Toningenieuren in den USA.

Bis die anspruchsvolle Gemeinde neben B.B. King und Freddie King auch Albert King als einen der drei Kings des elektrischen Blues ausrufen konnte, bedurfte es mehr als vier Jahrzehnte geduldiger Handarbeit: steinige, aber hoch motivierte Anfänge, seinen Blues auf selbst gezimmerten Klampfen zu spielen, in den 50er Jahren eine dann wirklich gute Gitarre und ein paar verheißungsvolle Songs, eine Reihe erfolgreicher Singles mit vertraglicher Erdung bei Stax Records in Memphis und endlich landete King mit "Born Under A Bad Sign" auf der Sonnenseite seines fortgeschrittenen Lebens. Das Album avancierte zu einem der einflussreichsten Aufnahmen des Schallplattenblues. Diese Musik sprach auch das weiße Publikum an und ebnete King den Weg aus den kleinen Clubs zu den größeren Live-Events. Ab Titelsong fährt er auf vertrauten Kursen des Blues, von denen er individuelle Abstecher in hektische, soulige Gefilde ("Crosscut Saw") unternimmt und sich von vollklingenden Bläsersätze tragen lässt ("Kansas City"). Immer wieder überraschen die Akteure mit neuen Klangfarben wie im summenden, brummenden "Oh, Pretty Woman", dem kratzbürstig warnenden "Down Don’t Bother Me" oder dem schwungvoll geigenden "The Hunter".

"Born ... entwickelte sich mit seinem Southern-Feeling, Kings unnachahmlichem Gitarrenspiel und Gesang zu einem Genre-Meilenstein, der jetzt klanglich verbessert und mit fünf Alternativversionen als Bonus nicht nur Bluesliebhabern ans Herz gelegt sei." (Good Times)

"Ein prägender Klassiker des spät gewürdigten Blues-Gitarristen." (Rolling Stone)

Albert King, Gitarre, Gesang
Steve Cropper, Gitarre
Booker T. Jones, Klavier
Isaac Hayes, Klavier
Joe Arnold, Bariton- und Tenorsaxophon, Flöte
Andrew Love, Tenorsaxophon
Wayne Jackson, Trompete
Donald "Duck" Dunn, Bass
Al Jackson, Jr., Schlagzeug

Aufnahmen März 1966 bis Juni 1967 in den Stax Studios in Memphis

Digitally remastered

Albert King

Bluesman Albert King was one of the premier electric guitar stylists of the post-World War II period. By playing left-handed and holding his guitar upside-down (with the strings set for a right-handed player), and by concentrating on tone and intensity more than flash, King fashioned over his long career, a sound that was both distinctive and highly influential. He was a master of the single-string solo and could bend strings to produce a particularly tormented blues sound that set his style apart from his contemporaries. A number of prominent artists,from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix to Mike Bloomfield and Stevie Ray Vaughan, borrowed heavily from King's guitar style.

King was also the first major blues guitarist to cross over into modem soul;his mid- and late 1960s recordings for the Stax label, cut with the same great session musicians who played on the recordings of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave,Eddie Floyd, and others, appealed to his established black audience while broadening his appeal with rock fans. Along with B.B. King (no relation, though at times Albert suggested otherwise) and Muddy Waters, King helped nurture a white interest in blues when the music needed it most to survive.

King was born in Mississippi and taught himself how to play on a homemade guitar. Inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson, King quit singing in a family gospel group and took up the blues. He worked around Osceola, Arkansas, with a group called the In the Groove Boys before migrating north and ending up in Gary,Indiana, in the early 1950s. For a while, King played drums behind bluesman Jimmy Reed. In 1953, King convinced Parrot label owner Al Benson to record him as a blues singer and guitarist. That year King cut "Bad Luck Blues" and "Be On Your Merry Way" for Parrot. Because King received little in the way of financial remuneration for the record, he left Parrot and eventually moved to St. Louis, where he recorded for the Bobbin and the King labels. In 1959 he had a minor hit on Bobbin with "I'm a Lonely Man." King's biggest release, "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong," made it to number 14 on the R&B charts in 1961.

King didn't become a major blues figure until after he signed with Stax Records in 1966. Working with producer-drummer Al Jackson, Jr., guitarist Steve Cropper, keyboards ace Booker T. Jones, and bass player Donald "Duck"Dunn-aka Booker T. and the MG's, King created a blues sound that was laced with Memphis soul strains. Although the blues were dominant on songs such as"Laundromat Blues" and the classic "Born Under A Bad Sign", the tunes had Memphis soul underpinnings that gave King his crossover appeal. Not only was he the first blues artist to play the legendary San Francisco rock venue the Fillmore West, but he was also on the debut bill, sharing the stage opening night in1968 with Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall. King went on to become a regular at the Fillmore; his album Live Wire/Blues Power was recorded there in 1968.King was also one of the first bluesman to record with a symphony orchestra: in1969 he performed with the St. Louis Symphony, triumphantly bringing together the blues and classical music, if only for a fleeting moment.

During the 1970s King toured extensively, often playing to rock and soul crowds. He left Stax in 1974 to record for independent labels like Tomato and Fantasy. King was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1983.He continued touring throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, playing festivals and concerts, often with B.B. King.

He died of a heart attack in 1992, just prior to starting a major European tour. (Source: Stax Records)

This album contains no booklet.