What this obviously wanted to be was a B.B. King record that could sit next to whatever else was selling in 1975, horns and strings and the whole apparatus, and it half works in spite of itself. The playing is completely unbothered by the arrangements piled around it and the wah pedal is the most FUN he ever let himself have on a record. It's over before it can turn into a chore, which I suspect was the plan. Rolling Stone called it lifeless, but they were listening to the orchestra instead of the guitar. B.B., you never needed any of them.
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Half works is generous. Anyway, in his own catalogue this sits a long way behind Live at the Regal, and what you're hearing as playing that's unbothered by the arrangements I hear as a man politely waiting for the strings to finish.
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you're kinder to the horns than i'd be. they sound booked by the hour and gone the minute the clock ran out
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