{"id":41158,"date":"2008-10-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/one-kind-favor\/"},"modified":"2008-10-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-14T00:00:00","slug":"one-kind-favor","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/one-kind-favor\/","title":{"rendered":"One Kind Favor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The term \u201clegend\u201d is tossed around very loosely in music these days, to the point that it\u2019s hard to determine what really makes a legend in the first place. Is it skill at the artist\u2019s craft? Fame? Style? Charisma?<\/o:p><\/p>\n

By any of these standards, B.B. King is a legend.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

From the first, marvelously clean lick of \u201cSee That My Grave Is Kept Clean,\u201d it\u2019s clear that Mr. King has lost nothing, and that One Kind Favor<\/i> is just another notch on his belt. A beautiful mix of piano, guitar, and the King of Blues\u2019 rich Southern voice should make any blues fan warm with happiness. You\u2019re excused if you instead get goosebumps.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u00a0Tracks like \u201cHow Many More Years\u201d and \u201cI Get So Weary\u201d are made all the more effective by the legend\u2019s (yes, there\u2019s that word again) age and longevity in this profession. You truly feel that he means these words, and Lucille\u2019s wailing tones, best heard in carefully patterned solos, only add to this feeling of sincerity. The addition of brass in the background adds richness to the sound, and is a welcome companion to the guitar present throughout.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cBackwater Blues\u201d is King\u2019s time to shine vocally, on a slower and jazzier tune where Lucille takes a backseat to his baritone. Here the listener is given a chance to hear the full extent of the master\u2019s range, as well as chance to hear him exercise a tool too often neglected in modern music: volume control. That\u2019s right, rather than blasting the listener the entire time, the King Of Blues uses the art of the crescendo to make his impact. This is also the longest track on the album, but King displays a true sign of artistic talent: making seven continuous minutes seem too short.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

King\u2019s soul is bared in the traditional blues manner primarily in the album\u2019s second half in tracks such as \u201cBlues Before Sunrise\u201d and \u201cThe World Gone Wrong.\u201d These songs are the kind that you can easily picture listening to on a rickety old rocking chair or an old fishing boat, and few other places. It truly felt wrong to hear songs like these on an iPod; these are best heard on a transistor radio (and this is coming from a nineteen-year-old!)<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album closes fittingly, with a track entitled \u201cTomorrow Night.\u201d With many speculating that this may be Mr. King\u2019s final album, this gospel-sounding ballad about the future is an appropriate fit, and the gentle piano matches King\u2019s syrupy-sweet voice beautifully, as do the brass instruments that come in about halfway through the song. Opting for a brass solo at the midpoint rather than the traditional guitar was an interesting choice for what may be King\u2019s last song — but have no fear, Lucille makes her appearance.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Nothing innovative is accomplished on this album, but it\u2019s difficult to pull that off when you\u2019ve already mastered the genre. If this is really the King Of Blues\u2019 swan song, let it be said that he went out on a high note. And if there\u2019s more to hear from the legendary B.B. King, let\u2019s hope it\u2019s as good as this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":29565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8285],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41158","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-b-b-king","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41158"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41158"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}