Artist: King, Freddie
Label: Shout Factory
Release: 2006
Length: 68.36
Rating: 4/5
Freddie King was always regarded as a man of extraordinary character, and you could hear it right there in the music of the blues guitar giant. King’s extroverted playing style gave the blues a touch of modernity, and more than anyone before him, it helped bring the music closer to white audiences. He worked hard to make the blues more relevant, even at a time when the genre had pretty much run the full arc of its unexpected rise and fall, both in commercial visibility and in standing with the music press. With the arrival of the ’70s, the blues found it harder and harder to keep pace with the phalanxes of heavily armored rock bands, whose main source of inspiration, creative power, and primal excitement about music had once been the blues itself. Musical evolution, of course, went its own way. The blues greats, Freddie King among them, each tackled the new situation in their own fashion, and one of the more popular sonic adaptations of the day was surely a selective borrowing of an increasingly reliable formula that, besides the traditional components of the blues (vocals, guitar, bass and drums), also brings in the sound of the Hammond organ.
Live At The Electric Ballroom is the product of two different recording sessions from the first half of the ’70s. The first comes in the form of a radio show hosted by the then hugely popular Jon Dillon, who, besides four short interviews, also managed to get two rare acoustic gems down on tape. They’re a pair of completely spontaneous recordings, and to this day they remain the only known “unplugged” recordings of Freddie King. Hugely entertaining moments that will probably only irritate those obsessed with sterile cleanliness and filigree delivery! The second part of Live At The Electric Ballroom offers a cross-section of King’s performance at the club of the same name in Atlanta in 1974, which the guitarist kicked off with a fiery Big Legged Woman. “Big Legged Woman” is a teasing number full of impulsive clashes of opinion and passion between voice and guitar. Somewhere in between you can catch, for a short while, the velvety sound of the Hammond, whose reserve poses no threat to the rowdiness of the aforementioned duo, but still fills out the background of the song nicely. Big Legged Woman gets things going bluntly with a spray of red-hot blues manifestos, and they keep showing off Freddie King’s immense stage power all the way to the end of the album. King’s performance is moving in every respect, whether we’re dealing with the unpredictable nature of Key To The Highway or the melancholic wandering through the phenomenal Ain’t Nobody’s Business. King comes across as a guitarist with an incredible touch and a sense of feel, and as for the raw power, soulfulness and at the same time venomous expressiveness of his voice, I wouldn’t even waste words on it here.
Live At The Electric Ballroom stands as a timeless monument to the guitarist’s genius, caught between the vitality and impulsiveness of a performer at the peak of his creative powers. King has no interest in studying music theory; he graciously leaves that honor to his embittered musical colleagues. Freddie makes up for what he “missed” with a sensual approach that echoes straight from the heart, and every move he makes, whether it’s turning to acoustic blues with James’s take on the barbed Dust My Broom or delivering gargantuan stage energy, he keeps the performance at a high level of energy throughout with barely noticeable effort. Partly because of its not exactly enviable sound quality, Live At The Electric Ballroom will appeal mainly to the more orthodox blues fans, but with a bit more success it could also win over genre-agnostic listeners who aren’t afraid of an unbridled musical language.
Lineup
Freddie King: vocals, guitar
Sam (last name unknown): rhythm guitar
Benny Turner: bass
Alvin Hemphill: organ
Lewis Stephens: piano
Mike Kennedy: drums
Production
Richard Chalk & Tom Loughborough
Tracklist
1. Introduction
2. That’s Alright
3. Interview
4. Dust My Broom
5. Interview
6. Big Legged Woman
7. Woman Across The River
8. Key To The Highway
9. Let The Good Times Roll
10. Ain’t Nobody’s Business
11. Sweet Home Chicago
12. Dust My Broom
13. Hide Away
14. Interview
