Track Listing

1. Introductions
2. Every Day I Have the Blues
3. How Blue Can You Get?
4. Worry, Worry
5. Medley: 3 O'Clock Blues/Darlin' You Know I Love You
6. Sweet Sixteen
7. Thrill Is Gone
8. Please Accept My Love

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11082 in Music
• Brand: MCA
• Released on: 1998-04-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Live, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
One of the greatest concert recordings of all time. How could it be less, with B.B. King performing some of his best material before a literally captive audience in an Illinois prison? "Worry, Worry" and "How Blue Can You Get" take on deeper meanings here, although King works the latter's camp lyrics as if he were in a juke joint. His mix of down-home humility and commanding stagecraft is instantly appealing. And his guitar barks, sings, and squeals with such authority that this is a bravura performance from the first bent, soul-searing note. A true desert-island disc. --Ted Drozdowski

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD
The stockade show opener "Every Day I Have the Blues" is tossed off so quickly that King gives the impression he wants to be elsewhere (can't blame him). But on this summer day in 1971 his heart goes out to 2,000 inmates, and he takes his time offering the sublimated "How Blues Can You Get," the ever- forceful "The Thrill Is Gone," a medley combining his first hit, "Three O'Clock Blues," "Darlin' You Know I Love You," and three more effusions of hopefulness. He bends vibrato- drenched notes out of Lucille with all the attention to rhythm and melody expected of a master -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

Best live album ever from the King
Of the many outstanding live albums B.B. King has recorded, 1971's "Live In Cook County Jail", stands out on top. For many, the 1964 release "Live At The Regal" (both were recorded in Chicago) is not only considered B.B's best live album it is considered the best live blues album ever. However, there is a rugged maturity evident on "Live In Cook County Jail" that escapes any earlier live recordings. By the time B.B. got to Cook County Jail, he knew exactly what to play. His throat (and Lucille's) are more vicious, honest & cutting than ever. Other than that, the inmates booing the warden at Cook County seem more appropriate for a blues album rather than the teenage girls screaming at the Regal. His rendition of "How Blue Can You Get" is his most hilarious ever, as the inmates cheer him on. The 'Cook County' version of "The Thrill Is Gone" also indicates that it was performed at a time when B.B. really knew how to sing the song, yet the delivery doesn't sound like he's sung it a million times already.

This album also features B.B. & band with a raw, organic quality that would become absent from his more polished 90's live albums. Just look at the album cover; the hurt expression on his face, the jail bars & burnt brick behind him, and the photo's blue tint. They say it all. "Live In Cook County Jail" is one mean blues album, and the King's finest hour captured onstage.

The King at his best!
When people talk about B.B. King's greatest albums they normally narrow the fight down to two albums: Live at the Regal and Live in Cook County Jail. For years blues fans have fought about who is the better of these two blues heavyweights. However any way you slice out Cook County Jail is the clear favorite.

The main reason that I think this is the superior recording is that it captures the King at his peak as a guitar player. This album is the reason he is one of the greatest guitar players ever. In the Regal he depended too much on his horns group, so we didn't hear enough of Lucille.

Then there's B.B. the performer. Something about these 2000 some odd prison inmates gave the King a buzz that night, because he was very loose that day, having fun with the crowd and going through fantastic versions of How Blue Can You Get, Worry Worry, Three 'o' Clock Blues, and (most notably) the always essential The Thrill is Gone. All coming with a flair that only he could have produced.

There are some albums that a blues fan should simply own so that he can declare himself a blues fan. Cook County Jail makes one. Live at the Regal makes two. Both are all time classics, and represent B.B. King at his all time greatest. So if you love great blues, jazz, and soul meshed together, which normally means you love great music, then you must own these two CDs. You ain't a blues fan if you don't.

Ten Reasons to Buy This Album
10. It's B.B. King 9. You get to hear prisoners booing the warden. 8. There is something about Cook County and the blues. 7. This is absolutely one of the best live albums ever recorded - blues or otherwise. 6. There are no cuts on this album, just one nice, long, smooth concert. 5. "Everyday I Have the Blues" is the quintessential blues tune. 4. B.B.'s band is in fabulous form. 3. Lucille. 2. This is about the best "The Thrill is Gone," anywhere. 1. It's B.B. King