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B.B. King
A Christmas Celebration of Hope
(MCA)
It takes authority to keep sentiment from dribbling into muck, and when the blues
maestro applies his off-hand phrasing and judicious guitar work to these 13 pieces, he
leaves the competition's cookie-cutter approach in the dust. Right from the
get-go, on "Please Come Home for Christmas," there's a measured urgency to his
vocals; throughout the disc, that sense of immediacy never fades.
Of course, King sneaks a bit of nastiness into his tinseled boudoir. In case you thought he was going to be good for goodness sakes, there's a track called "Back Door Santa," where our wicked Saint Nick 'splains how he's been around enough to know
exactly which homes have a rear entry. Down boy, down. The sauciness continues in
the lyrics of "Christmas Comes But Once A Year," but I'll let you figure that out for yourself. At this late date, King's work is perfectly refined, and these ditties just roll off his tongue, each
transcending their predictability by stressing maximum musicianship and pure charisma.
Jim Macnie
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