A Record a Week: The King's Singers - By Request

SIDE 1.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND (Ray Charles)
THE WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND (Dusty Springfield/others)
BECAUSE (Beatles)
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (Beatles)
THREE TIMES A LADY (Lionel Richie)
THE RHYTHM OF LIFE (From Sweet Charity)
YOUR FEET'S TO BIG (Ink Spots)

SIDE 2.
SHORT PEOPLE (Randy Newman)
LAZYBONES/(UP A) LAZY RIVER (Tin Pan Alley)
NINA (Noel Coward)
HUSH LITTLE BABY (John Blackwood Arrangement)
I LOVE YOU SAMANTHA (From High Society)
WHAT'S IN A TUNE (David Overton Arrangement)

Well, two questions: 1. Who is it that was requesting this? 2. How long can you listen to a (mostly) acapella album?

I can't answer the first one, but I will take a stab at the second. I listened to the whole thing, as I have promised myself I would during this review process. However, I would say I hit my a capella limit somewhere around Three Times a Lady. Despite the wonderful tones of all of the voices on this record, hearing nothing but that loses its novelty fairly quickly. A little digging tells me that this group has made MANY records, so perhaps I am in the minority as far as desire goes. I will say that I did enjoy the songs I recognized far more than those that I did not, so maybe one of their christmas albums or their all-Beatles album would be more appealing.

This is not to take away from their wonderful voices, I just can't do nearly 44 minutes of just that. Really, 44 minutes of any one thing would be too much. Isolating the guitar tracks on any given album and listening to that would not be a listening experience, it would be called engineering or producing.

A Record a Week: Freddie King - Getting Ready

SIDE 1.
SAME OLD BLUES
DUST MY BROOM
WORRIED LIFE BLUES
FIVE LONG YEARS
KEY TO THE HIGHWAY

SIDE 2.
GOING DOWN
LIVING ON THE HIGHWAY
WALKING BY MYSELF
TORE DOWN
PALACE OF THE KING

It seems that many of the blues albums I listen to are compiled of a mix of covers and originals; Getting Ready is no exception. The opening side is a slower blues style with drawn out guitar riffs and slow, deliberate beats. The second side picks up the pace a bunch and has you nodding your head before you even realize you're doing it.

Despite most of his career being made up of covers, many of his originals became standards on their own; covered by the likes of Grateful Dead and Eric Clapton. Admittedly, I had never heard of King before listening to this record. He is from an era where he was most likely heavily overshadowed by (not related) B.B. King. That isn't to take anything away form his ability, because his talent is up front on this record. I would certainly listen more to the second side, it fits into the type of blues that I wish I knew more about.