For a recording fervently hyped as a special occasion --
B.B. King's 50th album and all that -- this one is surprisingly patchy in concept and erratic in execution. Five of the tracks are Miami sessions prosaically produced by longtime
King cohort
Dave Crawford, who also co-wrote most of them with
Luther Dixon. The routine pop/rock backing tracks produce an often apathetic response from
King; even
Dixon's "Big Boss Man" is depressingly routine. Oddly enough, the only numbers that have any grit are the three co-produced by filmmaker
John Landis (of
the Blues Brothers notoriety) and
Ira Newborn from the soundtrack to the former's film Into the Night. Indeed,
Newborn's "My Lucille," the ultimate apotheosis to
King's beloved guitar, is an underrated signature classic -- even Lucille herself gets a lot of space to sing out -- and "In the Midnight Hour" also strikes fire. Buy it for "My Lucille," if you don't mind the filler and the album's short duration. ~Richard S. Ginell