B.B. King
There Is Always One More Time

Get ready to listen to one of B.B. King's most beautiful albums.

By the '90s the music of this great artist is now made up of tracks that, despite their classic blues backbone, have the appearance of a "song" in the popular sense of the term.

In this "There is always one more time" (1991) B.B. King was joined by pianist Joe Sample and Michael Landau. Perhaps this is the secret behind such a successful record, who knows. But the cover reads B.B. King, so the credit for this masterpiece goes to him. All the tracks have their own identity, their own color. The choices of arrangements and sounds vary greatly, keeping the album fresh from start to finish. Every piece has soul and personality, most are spirited, and each one is engaging, full of energy. Starting with "I'm moving on." B.B. King seems to have somewhat abandoned the style of a suburban bluesman to dress as a high society musician. We are faced with classy blues that sometimes give the impression of telling stories of men in suits and ties rather than in jeans and checkered shirts. The aforementioned first track has a drive that's hard to stop and a chorus that immediately gets in your head. Right from the start, you can tell where B.B. King is heading, but we are not talking about predictability, but rather a strong imprint that the king of blues presents right from the first hints. But we've only just begun. The best is yet to come. After the fireworks, the second piece starts and it almost seems a shame to find that, all excited from the first, one must settle in to listen to a slow song. But open your ears, because an amazing piece of beautiful depth and color is about to start. B.B.'s interpretation is great, both in voice and guitar, where he engages in his usual phrasing, but with a style that is more about true accompaniment rather than a soloist. The stop-starts at the end of the chorus almost push the seated listener off their chair. The voice is incredibly warm. Can a piece better than this be imagined on the same album? Imagination is not needed; just move on to the third track: "The blues come over me." Magnificent. Not too fast a tempo, but the piece grabs you and doesn't let go. It takes courage to turn off the stereo and interrupt all this. The special feature where the voice presents on the same chords previously played is also nice, yet it still manages to give that extra push to a piece that theoretically didn't need it, but nevertheless benefits from it further.

"Full me once" is the classic walking blues. Extremely catchy. B.B. makes his Lucille respond to almost every word of the chorus. What spectacularity with just two hands and a voice. Unbeatable. "The lowdown" has a not bad chorus and also lets us hear a good cohesion of the rhythm section. Now back to the passionate. "Mean and evil" is greatly appreciated for B.B.'s gritty voice that confidently takes on a great chorus following an equally beautiful verse. The initial riffs of the next "Something up my sleeve" seem to introduce the "usual King piece," but then immediately starts with a high-pitched and raw voice chorus that we like so much. Very impactful. I'm listening to it while I write, and, perhaps because I also play guitar, I can't help but press the keys in time. "Roll roll roll" seems a bit "commercial," but an easy and catchy piece is a piece that has one more gear, not less. And in fact, the chorus of this song is spectacular, and it's one of those to sing with friends until you're exhausted. "There is always one more time", the last track, bears Doc Pomus's signature and indeed sounds "different" from the others. May I say something? Not to be presumptuous, but the three authors met throughout the rest of the CD, in my opinion, had given their best by creating 8 wonderful tracks, and perhaps this last track wasn't needed.. One moment, it's a slow piece, it takes a little time to let go. And indeed, by the fourth minute, B.B. King's voice brings us ever closer to the explosion. What explosion? A Lucille that closes with a long solo and shows everyone who's boss. Now do you understand why the track lasts a full 8 (only seemingly long) minutes?

What more can be said? It's one of those rare albums that after listening to it, you put it back on to start a fabulous experience again.

Almost forgot! A mention of the cover. After all, it's the business card of every album. But just one word: spectacular.

Like "There is always one more time".

Like Lucille.

Like B.B. King.