Live Wire / Blues Power

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Live Wire / Blues Power album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK // LIVE

Total Tracks: 6   Total Length: 38:13

eMusic Review 0

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Ron Wynn

eMusic Contributor

04.22.11
Albert King, Live Wire / Blues Power
2001 | Label: Fantasy / Stax

Stax did a superb job of fitting Albert King's jagged, fluid approach into their musical formula. Exhibit A is this powerhouse live session recorded at the Fillmore East. While he sounds a bit subdued and restricted covering "Watermelon Man," King gets ample space on the cuts "Blues Power" and "Blues At Sunrise" to execute the whirling note montages, intervals and careening lines that comprise the foundation vocabulary of the modern rock-blues movement. The disc also spotlights his consistently underrated singing.

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Albert King, Live and Funky...

tanta07

Albert King's live albums never got as funky, lean and mean as this one. His guitar is blistering and unrelenting throughout. Check this out if you're wondering where Stevie Ray Vaughan got his inspiration.

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Great set from one of the 3 kings

Skydog7

As others have said, BB King may be more well-known, but Albert is truly the king. This is a great set of biting, searing live Albert King, who played a right handed guitar upside down, frustrating many of us who tried to bend notes up on the high E string (when he was bending them down)! You can clearly hear Albert's influence in countless guitarists including Dickey Betts, Santana, and Eric Clapton.

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The Real King

dsnyderman

There is a reason people like Stevie Ray Vaughn idolized Albert King. B.B. is a great blues guitarist and singer but if you want to hear truly great guitar playing, check out this album. In my opinion, blues artists always seem to play better in front of a live audience and Albert is no exception.

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Albert is the Blues

RayC

This is as good a place as any to place my review. Download everything you can find by this man. I came to Albert King through the back end of the tunnel, like lots of white folks. For years I dug blues based rock and roll, until I finally moved to Hong Kong and lost touch with whatever was current. I started searching for venues, cause music is an essential in my life. Anyway, I started finding all these blues albums. Albert King, Buddy Guy, Otis Spann....the list goes on. When I discovered emusic, I found it loaded with great blues. That's why emusic is my home.

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Combine with "Live '69"

Streetblues

This album and "Live '69" complement each other perfectly. They share the same time frame in his life and career and show him in similar peak form to the Wednesday/Thursday show releases. Powerful playing... Electric blues that keeps you charged.

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Believe the hype

LittleBird

Another Albert King great. While a little similar to the equally amazing compilation with Stevie Ray Vaughan, well worth more Blues at Sunrise and other must-know tracks.

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Breakthrough for Albert

MDProgger

Breakthrough album for Albert, recorded for live at the Fillmore in 1968 in front of an audience of young white hippies.

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Landmark Live Electric Blues

maxsmith

While B.B. King is surely the world's best-known electric blues guitarist, Albert King may arguably be the most influential - especially for white blues six-string slingers. Check in here to enjoy Albert live at the Fillmore during his '60s blues explosion hey-day - everything we love about Albert is here - the searing tone, the slippery, impossibly fluid string bends, confident singing, humor and a crack band. The roots of the sound and style of so many current blues guitarists (Stevie Ray Vaughan, just to name one) can be tasted here from the man who played it first.

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Stax Rare Gems

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The legendary Memphis-based Stax label didn't invent soul music, but it certainly helped shape the genre into a national treasure. While their Detroit competitors at Motown preferred a smoother, more elegant sensibility within an R&B framework, the Stax crew crafted raw and earthy vocals and arrangements. The label's '60s and '70s heyday provided music fans with a gritty, alternative "sound of young America." Stax's success was rooted in an abundance of gifted black singers who'd developed… more »

They Say All Music Guide

Live Wire/Blues Power is one of Albert King’s definitive albums. Recorded live at the Fillmore Auditorium in 1968, the guitarist is at the top of his form throughout the record — his solos are intense and piercing. The band is fine, but ultimately it’s King’s show — he makes Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” dirty and funky and wrings out all the emotion from “Blues at Sunrise.” – Thom Owens