The potential for a collaboration between
B.B. King and
Eric Clapton is enormous, of course, and the real questions concern how it is organized and executed. This first recorded pairing between the 74-year-old
King and the 55-year-old
Clapton was put together in the most obvious way:
Clapton arranged the session using many of his regular musicians, picked the songs, and co-produced with his partner
Simon Climie. That ought to mean that
King would be a virtual guest star rather than earning a co-billing, but because of
Clapton's respect for his elder, it nearly works the other way around. The set list includes lots of
King specialties --
"Ten Long Years," "Three O'Clock Blues," "Days of Old," "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer" -- as well as standards like
"Hold on I'm Coming" and
"Come Rain or Come Shine," with some specially written and appropriate recent material thrown in, so
King has reason to be comfortable without being complacent. The real danger is that
Clapton will defer too much; though he can be inspired by a competing guitarist such as
Duane Allman, he has sometimes tended to lean too heavily on accompanists such as
Albert Lee and
Mark Knopfler when working with them in concert. That danger is partially realized; as its title indicates,
Riding With the King is more about
King than it is about
Clapton. But the two players turn out to have sufficiently complementary, if distinct, styles so that
Clapton's supportive role fills out and surrounds
King's stinging single-string playing. (It's also worth noting that there are usually another two or three guitarists on each track.) The result is an effective, if never really stunning, work. ~ William Ruhlmann
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