Blues Guitar Hero: The Influential Early Sessions
Of the Three 'Kings' of the blues (BB, Albert and Freddy), Freddy King is perhaps the least well known these days. He enjoyed cross-over success with the white rock audiences of the 70s (hitting with albums for Cotillion, RSO and Shelter and touring extensively - his 'live' LP for German label Crosscut is about the closest thing to heavy metal blues imaginable). Yet his death from hepatitis in 1976 robbed Freddy of the kind of acclaim that the current blues revival has given BB, Albert and John Lee Hooker. There was a time, though, in the mid-'60s when his singles were among the most influential in blues, particularly for British and European audiences. His instrumental singlesHideawayandDrivin' Sidewayswere issued on Sue and covered by every white blues group that knew what was really happening on the R&B; scene. Those two sides plus classics like(The Welfare) Turns It's Back On You,See See Baby,The StumbleandSan-Ho-Zaywere covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Peter Green, Albert Collins and Chicken Shack.The Influential Early Sessionsgathers together all these wonderful sides, made originally in the early '60s for Sy Nathan's Federal and King labels, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the class and power of them remains undiminished to this day.