''The Blues'' is the second album by

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

artist

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

, released in 1958 by the Bihari brothers on their budget Crown label. The album collects 12 tracks that King recorded between 1951 and 1958 for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

. As common practice with the record label, Crown released ''The Blues'' off the strength of the single "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer", a Top 10 R&B chart single in 1958, to help sell a collection of less-popular songs. King's signature style of single-note riffs and powerful string bends is present on the album, however it is also commanded by horn-driven performances

Critical reception

Since its inception, ''The Blues'' has received positive reviews, as seen with

Mark Deming Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's review stating King was "already near the top of his class". ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' also commented that the collection of tracks showcased the studio band peak form, spotlighting the tracks "Ruby Lee", "Past Day" and "Boogie Woogie Woman". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' gave the album four out of four stars, saying that it was "A good low-price R&B set", "The vocals by King are in the old rhythm and blues tradition", and that it was "Potent stuff for the racks".

Track listing

The original Crown LP and many reissues do not list the songwriters, producers, nor running times. Details are taken the AllMusic review and may differ from other sources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blues B.B. King Album B.B. King albums 1958 albums