Live at the Regal is an absolutely necessary acquisition for fans of B.B. Talking to the crowd, setting up the tunes with a vignette, King is the consummate entertainer. More than anything else, Live at the Regal is a textbook example of how to set up a live performance. Displaying a jazz sensibility, King's lines are sophisticated without losing their grit. Of course, the master's guitar is all over this record, and his playing here is among the best in his long career. Nowhere is this more evident than at the climax of "How Blue Can You Get," where the Chicago venue threatens to explode at King's prompting. King's voice is rarely in this fine of form, shifting effortlessly between his falsetto and his regular range, hitting the microphone hard for gritty emphasis and backing off in moments of almost intimate tenderness. The backing band is razor-sharp, picking up the leader's cues with almost telepathic accuracy. Over percolating horn hits and rolling shuffles, King treats an enthusiastic audience (at some points, they shriek after he delivers each line) to a collection of some of his greatest hits. King is not only a timeless singer and guitarist, he's also a natural-born entertainer, and on Live at the Regal the listener is treated to an exhibition of all three of his talents.
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