Tapping UGK historian and documentary film maker, Sama'an Ashrawi, for unreleased interview audio, the producer cleverly uses the soundbites to help build his project's narrative. Stream/download the full album here: bit.ly/38OmstkĬrafting the album's bedrock from deconstructed samples of King's electric blues hits, Gazaway re-imagined what might have happened had King and UGK actually recorded in the same time and space. Aptly titled “BB & The Underground Kingz: The Trill is Gone,” the producer seamlessly bridges the gap between hip-hop and its predecessor, the blues. Tracks are chronologically jumbled, but the closing six-song run of live numbers provides a flaming finish.Under the Soul Mates Project banner of "collaborations that never were," Amerigo Gazaway’s latest imagines a recording session between Blues great, BB King, and Texas rap legends, UGK. The synthesised piano and rock-ballad melody of 'Into The Night' typify his 80s flirtations with the mainstream, while 1974's collaboration with Bobby Bland set a precedent for later collaboration with U2 and Gary Moore. picking funky figures throughout 'Ghetto Woman'. The 70s provided an evocative canvas for exaggerated gesture, strings and electric piano infusing the moody 'Chains & Things', B.B. Massed strings add drama to 'The Thrill Is Gone', 'Paying The Cost To Be The Boss' swaggers with crisp horn feints, 'Why I Sing The Blues' is a prime example of the extended funky vamp, these 60s cuts invariably swamped with eerie guitar reverb. The title's promise is fulfilled within this given time-period, but King's first 15 recording years are missing, as are examples of his very successful 90s work. Beginning with B.B.'s work for ABC in the mid-1960s (the label was later swallowed up by MCA), the compilation moves through B.B.'s cream-flared 70s output, then proceeds to sew up the 1980s. This two-disc set's jewel-case comes embossed with King's gold-inked signature, presumably a seal of approval for this bountiful summation of his MCA years.
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February 2023
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