Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Miss Martha King
2. She's Dynamite
3. Three O'Clock Blues
4. Please Love Me
5. You Upset Me Baby
6. Every Day I Have the Blues
7. Rock Me Baby
8. Recession Blues
9. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
10. I'm Gonna Sit in 'Til You Give In
11. Blues at Midnight
12. Sneakin' Around
13. My Baby's Comin' Home
14. Slowly Losing My Mind
15. How Blue Can You Get?
16. Rockin' Awhile
17. Help the Poor
18. Stop Leading Me On
19. Never Trust a Woman
20. Sweet Little Angel
21. All over Again
22. Sloppy Drunk
23. Don't Answer the Door, Pts. 1 & 2
24. I Done Got Wise
25. Think It Over
26. Gambler's Blues

Disc 2:

1. Goin' Down Slow
2. Tired of Your Jive
3. Sweet Sixteen, Pts. 1 & 2
4. Paying the Cost to Be the Boss
5. I'm Gonna Do What They Do to Me
6. Lucille
7. Watch Yourself
8. You Put It on Me
9. Get Myself Somebody
10. I Want You So Bad
11. Why I Sing the Blues
12. Get off My Back, Woman
13. Please Accept My Love
14. Fools Get Wise
15. No Good
16. So Excited

Disc 3:

1. Thrill Is Gone
2. Confessin' the Blues
3. Nobody Loves Me But My Mother
4. Hummingbird
5. Ask Me No Questions
6. Chains and Things
7. Eyesight to the Blind
8. Niji Baby
9. Blue Shadows
10. Ghetto Woman
11. Ain't Nobody Home
12. I Got Some Help I Don't Need [Single Edit]
13. Five Long Years
14. To Know You Is to Love You
15. I Like to Live the Love
16. Don't Make Me Pay for His Mistakes

Disc 4:

1. Let the Good Times Roll
2. Don't You Lie to Me
3. Mother Fuyer
4. Never Make a Move Too Soon
5. When It All Comes Down (I'll Still Be Around)
6. Better Not Look Down
7. Caldonia
8. There Must Be a Better World Somewhere
9. Play With Your Poodle
10. Darlin' You Know I Love You
11. Inflation Blues
12. Make Love to Me [Rehearsal]
13. Into the Night
14. Six Silver Strings
15. When Love Comes to Town [7" Edit & Mix] - B.B. King, U2
16. Right Place, Wrong Time
17. Many Miles Travelled
18. I'm Moving On
19. Since I Met You Baby

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9324 in Music
• Released on: 1992-10-20
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Amazon.com essential recording
This four-CD box set remains the absolutely definitive B.B. King collection, with 77 recordings and a biographical book that contains the great singer-guitarist's own remembrances of his decades-long career. It samples every stage of his development, from his days struggling to craft his music in the shadow of influences like T-Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson to his latter-day pairings with rockers like Bonnie Raitt and Gary Moore. The one constant is his open-hearted singing and the soulful, contemplative solos he squeezes from his beloved guitar Lucille. These discs, of course, embrace all his essential hits, from his first--1951's "Three O'Clock Blues"--to his 1970 smash "The Thrill Is Gone," which took King to the pop charts and made him a household name. If this package is too lavish for the budget, try the excellent Best of B.B. King, Volume 1, which collects many of King's great early works. --Ted Drozdowski

Customer Reviews

B. B. King is the King of the Blues
B. B. King has over 200 albums on the market today, ten of which are labeled "Best of" or "Greatest Hits". With that much music to pick from it sure his hard to find the right ones to purchase. This box set of CDs is one of the best places to start your King collection. It includes four disks with over 75 tracks. The really nice thing about this box set is that each CD has King's hits from different points in time. CD 1 from 1949 to 1966, CD 2 from 1966 to 1969, CD 3 from 1969 to 1975, and CD 4 from 1975 to 1991. The set also includes a very nice 73-page book all about the life and times of this great Blues artist.

splendid box set
B.B. King is the greatest blues guitarist ever. He's not as clever as T-Bone Walker; he can't play rhythm at all. He's not a wizard like Jimi Hendrix was. He's utterly original, though, and has been to the summit more often than anyone else.

What's surprising about B.B. King is how he brightens up any genre he steps into, whether it's lowdown or uptown or big band or radio-friendly soul. He plays with anybody and everybody with consistently wonderful results. Can't recommend this set enough!

The Blues defined by BB....
I am fairly young and still feel like I missed something by not learning about BB King and Muddy Waters at an earlier age. It is almost like coming upon buried treasure, to listen to these songs.

The energy and emotion of a song such as "I'm Gonna Sit in 'Til You Give In (and give me all of your love)" is unbelievable with raw power and energy. What is especially surprising to me is that I had never heard practically all of these songs played even on oldies stations. My personal favorites are his early years, but there are no bad songs here on any of the four CD's. Every person has their own favorite song.....mine is "Lucille." I am simply amazed that I never heard this song before having made this purchase. There are so many songs which can only be described with superlatives, and this is much too short of a space to do that in. I bought this box set and can honestly say that I am not skipping songs. BB King also is on here with the Duke Ellington band, with songs you will not get on any "Best of" collection.

I had picked this up and put it down many times, because I was unsure because of the price of it. But I have not regretted it one iota since buying it....quite the contrary in fact, as I look at this as one of the best purchases of music I ever made(even paying full price!). If you are at all interested in the blues, look into buying this piece of gold from one of the masters.

Highly recommended.