B.B. King
Guess Who

Blues is an American thing. Without a doubt.

To write a review about an album by the king of blues, one should therefore have a knowledge (and perhaps especially a historical one) of the genre.

In any case, remembering that music is universal, let's try to discover what "Guess Who" manages to evoke from the spirits of us Latins accustomed to the sounds of mandolins and lutes.

The year is 1972. B.B. King's style has changed a lot compared to the '50s, not due to a different approach to the 6-string (which has remained and will remain unchanged over the years), but rather in the way of conceiving the composition of a song. Maybe it's because the times have changed, or maybe due to the contributions of the various musicians that the great B.B. has collaborated with, that his music came to be colored by characteristics of different genres. Pop, above all. Thus, the arrangements feature a series of nuances that embellish the tracks, differentiating them from each other by the sounds chosen.

The start of the opening track of the album in question confirms what has been said. A very soul introduction that presents a warm song, throughout its duration, with the flavor of a ballad, even though it is relatively fast. The arrangements for the choirs and horns do all this work excellently and make the first track the most beautiful on the album. After three minutes of warm passion, the B.B. King we were accustomed to is missed, but the big black man doesn’t disappoint, presenting "Just can't please you." It's about the usual girl who infatuates the author, leading to a lively piece with an angry voice. Thankfully, there are Lucille's solos to soothe the spirit. A similar style is found in the third track where we once again encounter that slightly more pop flavor mentioned above. But we are still talking about blues, and B.B. never contradicts himself, not even with this track (which is also full of horns) whose main characteristic is the melody of the chorus. Nice. It's time to calm things down. "You don't know nothing about love" takes care of that. A beautiful track, but it doesn't stand out amongst the others.

The next 2 tracks "Found what I need" and "Neighborhood affair" are not particularly noteworthy, and "It takes a young girl" would also fall into this category if not for the curiosity of the title, the sax embellishments, and B.B.'s pleasant solo. "Better loving man" is enjoyable to listen to. It's a pity that the title track falls back into the "normalcy" of a piece without many peculiarities, except for some solo guitar phrases that will easily remain impressed as a riff upon a second listen. Thankfully, after a certain mediocrity, it closes beautifully. The penultimate track has a voice that returns a bit to the rooted old blues style with a mixture of full voice and falsettos. Now we're talking. But it's a bit late because we've reached "Five long years", a flagship of B.B. King, but the last track on the album. The lyrics, usually secondary in most blues songs, are known to many genre lovers, and the singing is a mix between calm voice and very pressing angry vocalizations (unintended play on words). I must mention the remake of the song that 28 years later B.B. King will do in the album that bears his name and that of the monstrous Eric Clapton. Thanks to "Slowhand," "Five long years" will acquire a strength and intensity hard to match.

In conclusion, an album without disgrace and without much praise. But it deserves a 4/5 rating for the class of the person who recorded it. And that of B.B. King is no small thing.