Saturday Morning Records: #22 — “B.B. King Live in Cook County Jail”

A new series for paying subscribers — celebrating favourite albums for the weekend

People talk about B.B. King’s Live at The Regal like it’s the gold standard. And of course it is! It’s B.B. King! And in his prime entirely! But, much as I love that album, I have always preferred Live in Cook County Jail. I think it’s the emotion in the version of How Blue Can You Get. I think it’s also that intro where the warden of the prison is thanked for making it happen, and the crowd (the prisoners) turn from applause to boos. There’s a palpable energy there — and throughout — which is what you want from a live album.

I first heard this through a record store recommendation. I owned the CD — and loved it. And then of course I craved having it on vinyl, and I never saw it around. I wrote about how much I loved this album, picked it as one of my all-time favourite live albums, and used to just generally mention it whenever I could.

Then one day, out of the blue, I get a message from a Facebook friend — we’ve never met — he’s a Kiwi but lives in America. He tells me he has bought me a copy of Cook County from the actual location (Cook County, Chicago). He has transported it over to NZ and he’s leaving it in a store for me to collect. It’s a gift. Years of reading my stuff. Here. Have it.