As was the case with many early rock and blues legends (Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters) in the early '70s, B.B. King went to London to cut an album with an assortment of rock royalty of the day. 1971's B.B. KING IN LONDON found the King Of The Blues using members of Fleetwood Mac, Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie as sidemen on an assortment of blues classics and numbers written especially for this project. On Fleecie Moore's jump blues classic "Caledonia," King rubs shoulders with Peter Green and plays some nimble-fingered guitar on the Gary Wright-penned instrumental "Wet Hayshark," powered by the dual drumming of Jim Gordon and Ringo Starr (who plays on three songs in total). British blues godfather Alexis Korner contributed the instrumental "Alexis' Boogie" in which King duets with Korner on acoustic guitar while Steve Marriott wails away on harmonica. Other highlights include Louis Jordan's "We Can't Agree," here turned into a mid-tempo stroll and Dr. John trading in his piano for a guitar on "Ghetto Woman," a rare song with string arrangements that doesn't come off sounding mawkish. King's brightest playing comes on the joyous "Power Of The Blues" and the Stax-soaked fullness of "Ain't Nobody Home."
Rovi