B.B. King - Sings Spirituals (1959) [2006]

The Spirituals as B.B. King's 4th Crown LP, recorded in 1959 as a dedicated gospel album. The song selection literally represents a greatest hits package of the time, ranging from classics such as 'Precious Lord' and 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' to no less than 6 staples from the repertoire of the highly respected 5 Blind Boys of Mississippi. Includes 8 bonus tracks.

For a good part of the '50s B.B. King recorded for the Bihari Brothers' RPM and Kent labels, and the brothers would, in turn, issue collections of these singles on LP as part of their discount Crown Records series. B.B. King Sings Spirituals originally appeared as a Crown LP in 1959, but it was less a collection of singles than a true labor of love for King, who took it as an opportunity to return to the Baptist and Pentecostal church music of his childhood. It's easy to forget that King isn't just a blues player with a particularly distinctive guitar style, he is also a singer, and in the '50s he really worked more to the R&B side of the field than to the blues half, and, as these tracks show, his roots were always deep in gospel. The instrumentation here is sparse and appropriate to the spiritual material, just organ, piano, bass, and drums with tons of handclapping and choral support, and absolutely no guitar. King's singing here is a bit of a revelation to those who only know him for his blues work, as he breaks loose and sings vigorously on numbers like the rollicking "Ole Time Religion" and a stomping "Army of the Lord." This is B.B. King, one supposes, before the thrill was gone. He sounds absolutely jubilant. [This Ace reissue adds in a generous eight bonus tracks of period singles and alternate versions, some of them decidedly secular, including the stunning "I Am," which shows unequivocally that King is an explosively expressive singer when he chooses to be, and a curious horn-driven version of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons" that was released in 1955 as a single at the same time as Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit version of the song.]


Tracks:

01. Precious Lord (03:23)
02. Save A Seat For Me (03:04)
03. Ole Time Religion (02:27)
04. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (02:08)
05. Servant's Prayer (03:03)
06. Jesus Gave Me Water (03:04)
07. I Never Heard A Man (02:36)
08. Army Of The Lord (03:06)
09. I Am Willing To Run All The Way (03:38)
10. I'm Working On A Building (02:49)
11. A Lonely Lover's Plea (02:46)
12. I Am (02:19)
13. The Key To My Kingdom (02:34)
14. Story From My Heart And Soul (Take 1) (03:01)
15. In The Middle Of An Island (Take 7) (02:09)
16. Sixteen Tons (02:34)
17. Precious Lord (with Overdubs) (03:24)
18. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (with Overdubs) (02:07)