Album of the Day

Live at the Regal, by B.B. King (1965): While this is one of the landmark blues albums (and live albums) of all time, it's not without its faults. For one thing, it's only a little more than a half-hour long, even in CD form. Surely there's more material that could be added as bonus material. For another, the sound quality is pretty bad. It's mostly muddled, with occasional punctuations of audience cheers (particularly when the women speak up after the "I've gave you seven children / And now you want to give them back" lines in "How Blue Can You Get?". Still and all, it's a prime example of BB's magnetism and signature guitar work. Not as clean as later live albums, but alive and . . . well, "regal," as any of them.