Stax

Although he’s regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time (along with fellow Kings B.B. and Freddie), it’s notable that Albert King didn’t hit the ground running. He’d already been slogging it out on the Southern chitlin’ circuit and in St. Louis for more than a decade, playing countless gigs and recording for a variety of labels, when he was finally noticed by the powers-that-be at Memphis’ Stax Records in 1966. Finally, he’d found a label that knew what to do with him: King and his Gibson Flying V guitar (which he played left-handed without restringing) were matched up with Booker T. and The MG’s, the Stax house band, and the result was this piece of perfection that’s rightly regarded as one of the must-own blues albums of all time. On the title track, and on tunes like “Laundromat Blues,” “Oh, Pretty Woman” (not the Roy Orbison hit) and “Crosscut Saw” (which Cream lifted wholesale for “Strange Brew” ), King not only proved to be one of the most original guitar stylists of the genre but also a messenger bringing raw emotion and power; he also made standard ballads ( “The Very Thought of You” ) his own with ease. Albert King remained a favorite of both rock and hardcore blues fans for the rest of his life, and although it took him a while, it all really started here. (The reissue includes five bonus tracks.)