This is a blues gem

[Youngspanion]

Albert Kings "Born Under A Bad Sign" is absolutely one of the must have albums of a blues fan. Every song on there offers a taste of great blues. Duck Dunn plays bass on an old Fender P bass. The album was released in 1967. Great bass lines and always always up front. I think this is a great album for intermediates to learn by ear because its clear grooving bass lines.

[Lowtonejoe]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

Albert Kings "Born Under A Bad Sign" is absolutely one of the must have albums of a blues fan. Every song on there offers a taste of great blues. Duck Dunn plays bass on an old Fender P bass. The album was released in 1967. Great bass lines and always always up front. I think this is a great album for intermediates to learn by ear because its clear grooving bass lines.

Definitely +1!

Definitely.



Joe.

[Blues Basser]

A very interesting comparison to make is between "Born Under a Bad Sign," with Dunn on bass and two subsequent Albert King recordings, "Do You Want To Get Funky?" and "I'll Play The Blues For You," with James Alexander on bass. All three CDs are incredible.

[Youngspanion]

Are those singles or full lengnth albums. I'd like to check 'em out.

[Blues Basser]

All three are full length CDs. They were all released by Stax. My apologies for getting the "Funky" title wrong. The following are the correct titles and release years:

1968 Born Under A Bad Sign
1972 I'll Play The Blues For You
1974 I Wanna Get Funky

Born Under A Bad Sign was King's first release on Stax. I am told by a friend who was in Albert King's band that he preferred James Alexander's bass playing to Duck Dunn's playing. I find it very interesting to compare the two styles. All three CDs are available from Amazon.

[Youngspanion]

Thanks, I checked them out at Amazon. Do you know why Dunn wasn't on the '72 and '74 records? Was he still with Stax?

[Blues Basser]

From Dunn's discography at www.duckdunn.com it is clear that he was doing other recordings for Stax during the time the aforementioned Albert King records were made. However, the Bar-Kays were also one of the house bands for Stax during this time and James Alexander was the bass player for the Bar-Kays. As I mentioned previously, a very good friend knew Albert King when he was young and played guitar for him when he was older. He told me that the Bar-Kays rhythm section was Albert King's favorite at Stax.

It should be noted that Dunn played on several other Albert King records. All were released by Stax.

1968 Blues For Elvis
1969 King Of The Blues Guitar
1971 Lovejoy
1977 The Pinch