B.B. King\u2019s 1974 album Friends<\/i> departs from the usual formula that brought him great success in the earlier part of the decade. Riding off the accomplishment of his first international hit \u201cThe Thrill Is Gone\u201d in 1969, B.B. recorded four studio albums between 1970-1974. Among them, Guess Who<\/i> and To Know You Is To Love You<\/i> are considered two of the greatest albums in B.B\u2019s repertoire. These two albums marked his expansion out of the realm of traditional blues and into the world of soul and R&B, transitioning his sound into almost-pop music. <\/p>\n
Friends<\/i>, however, stands more as a faulty experiment than a successful transition. The album is plagued by poor production both in terms of timbre and arrangement. The record was clearly mixed to sound more in the style of the burgeoning disco movement rather than the soul and funk that B.B.\u2019s previous records of the decade had seamlessly adopted. The instruments are mostly over-produced and over-compressed, a popular stylistic choice that seems like a faulty experiment of the entire pop music industry of the era. B.B\u2019s voice is strained as he attempts to croon over jazz-infused pop chord changes with lyrics that seem meandering and uncompelling at times. <\/p>\n
The title track \u201cFriends\u201d is a great example of this, with the chorus itself being a mundane repetition of the title. \u201cMy Song\u201d and \u201cBaby I\u2019m Yours\u201d unfortunately suffer the same fate as both tunes fail to reach the lyrical potential that they present with their strong titles. It\u2019s important to notice that only one song on the album was written by B.B., and it was co-written at that. The rest were penned by others, mostly written by David Crawford. Although the writers of the album did not do a fantastic job lyrically, it is true that they succeeded in creating somewhat catchy melodies that are relatively easy sing-alongs. Unfortunately, the great B.B. King blues guitar playing that devotees have come to know and love is mostly absent, perhaps as another attempt to move the record in the pop direction. The guitar does however make a grand entrance on the six-minute one-chord jam \u201cPhiladelphia\u201d later in the album. Otherwise, the song fails to add anything noteworthy to the album as the guitar lacks in innovation and rambles on for longer than necessary. The final song of the album, \u201cMy Song,\u201d while presenting an easy melody, fades leaving the listener only wishing there was something to bring a more satisfying ending to the album.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Friends<\/i> does have some pleasant moments. \u201cUp At 5am\u201d describes a scene of both longing and ongoing heartbreak, all taking place during an ungodly hour of the morning after a long night, a relatable scene. B\u2019B\u2019s voice shines here, sharing the bluesy soul that is missing from the rest of the album. \u201cPhiladelphia,\u201d with its polyrhythmic funky repetitious groove, does make for some great ambience when entertaining guests, or just as a song to enjoy on your daily commute. <\/p>\n
Though Friends<\/i> may not be B.B.\u2019s greatest record, it stands as proof of his continuing effort to change and evolve with the music industry of the world. One imagines that it documented his growth as an artist and left the listeners of the moment looking forward to the records that followed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":34266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8285],"rating":[11205],"class_list":["post-46100","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-b-b-king","rating-rating-d-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46100","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46100"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46100"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}