B.B. King and Eric Clapton – Riding With the King (2LPs, Warner)

Eric Clapton and B.B. King, two guitar legends, first performed together in NYC in 1967. Over 30 years later, in 1999, the two longtime friends joined forces to create a collection of all new studio recordings of blues classics and contemporary songs. The resulting album, Riding with the King, would be released in June 2000 and go onto sell over 2 million copies and win the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the album has been expanded and remastered by Bob Ludwig with two previously unreleased tracks added to the album: The blues standard Rollin and Tumblin and a cover of Willie Dixons Let Me Love You Baby. Both tracks were recorded during the original sessions and were produced and mixed especially for this release by Simon Climie, who produced the original album with Clapton. The album features five Dixon originals, plus a selection of covers from writers as diverse as Isaac Hayes (Hold On Im Coming), Johnny Mercer (Come Rain Or Come Shine) and Big Bill Broonzy (Key To The Highway). John Hiatt wrote the albums title track. The album features an all-star line-up of musicians: Andy Fairweather Low, Steve Gadd, Nathan East, Joe Sample, Doyle Bramhall II, Susannah and Wendy Melvoin, and Jim Keltner. The celebrated producer and arranger Arif Martin contributed string arrangements and orchestration to two tracks. TRACKSFull Length Vinyl 1Side A01 Riding with the King02 Ten Long Years03 Key to the Highway04 Marry You. Side B01 Three O’Clock Blues02 Help the Poor03 I Wanna Be. Full Length Vinyl 2Side A01 Worried Life Blues02 Days of Old03 When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer04 Hold On I’m Coming. Side B01 Come Rain or Come Shine02 Rollin’ and Tumblin’03 Let Me Love You.