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Born Under a Bad Sign | 
 enlarge | Artist: Albert King
Label: Stax
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $6.59
You Save: $5.39 (45%)
New (36) Used (10) from $6.59
Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 7863
Format: Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.8 x 0.5
MPN: 8606
UPC: 252188606288
EAN: 0025218860628
ASIN: B00006878K
Release Date: June 18, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Born Under A Bad Sign | | • | Crosscut Saw | | • | Kansas City | | • | Oh, Pretty Woman | | • | Down Don't Bother Me | | • | The Hunter | | • | I Almost Lost My Mind | | • | Personal Manager | | • | Laundromat Blues | | • | As The Years Go Passing By | | • | The Very Thought Of You |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk
Born Under a Bad Sign dates back to a time when albums were collections of singles, and when singles, designed for radio and jukebox play, seldom ran more than three and a half minutes. That limitation meant that artists had to make an impact quickly and firmly. In blues, the tendency of songs to go on a bit had to be curbed to produce performances with punch and point. There are few better examples of this process in action than Albert King's 1960s tracks like "Crosscut Saw," "Born Under a Bad Sign," and his story of hot whispers during the hot-wash cycle, "Laundromat Blues." With his thick voice and no-nonsense guitar, King brought absolute blues credibility to the well-made commercial single, and even tracks that were recorded purely for the album, like the aching slow blues "As the Years Go Passing By," became classics. Reissued with the original funky cover art, Born Under a Bad Sign is one of the foundation stones of a blues collection. --Tony Russell
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| Customer Reviews:
 One Of The Greatest Electric Blues Albums Of All-Time July 14, 2008
D. B Pepper (Plainview, NY United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This album and Earl Hooker's "The Moon Is Rising" are two of the greatest electric Blues albums of all-time. There is not a bad song on this disc. Albert King also displays great versatility; "Born Under A Bad Sign" sounds nothing like "The Very Thought Of You", perhaps an odd song choice for Albert, but very well-handled. This is one of the albums that the late Stevie Ray Vaughan most admired. He was heavily influenced by Albert's playing on this record, as were scores of other Blues guitarists and Blues-Rock performers.
 Souful February 7, 2008
Scott Wallace (Noblesville, IN USA)
This is really a fantastic blues album. Not even close to the most technical thing out there, but Albert King just pours out emotion into his guitar. It's a very soulful performance.
Flawless Electric Blues January 27, 2008
Southern Man (Raleigh, NC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Blues have always been much more popular in concert settings than on record. Truth is, there's not a wealth of terrific Blues studio records that appeal to a broad audience. If there were more Blues albums as excellent as "Born Under A Bad Sign", there's no question there'd be a much larger audience.
If you've only ever heard the title song by Cream, do yourself a favor and get this to hear King's smoking version. No worries that this will be an album that starts with a hit followed by a lot of filler. There's a lot more searing guitar work on "Crosscut Saw" and "Kansas City" and then on throughout the album. Every song is terrific. "As The Years Go Passing By" is an achingly beautiful, if mournful, slow blues with a haunting solo from King. One of my all time favorite Blues songs. Closing the album with the Jazz chestnut "The Very Thought Of You" might seem a curious choice but King reworks it as a Blues number and it really works.
This could not be a five star album if King weren't getting excellent support and Booker T and the MGs deliver that support with gusto. Their crack playing perfectly complements King on this outstanding collection of songs without ever overshadowing him.
This is one of the very best Blues guitar albums and, come to that, one of the finest Blues albums period. If you were starting a Blues collection with as few as five CDs, this would have to be one of them. If you're looking for a first purchase of Albert King, I'd strongly recommend this over the excellent "Very Best of Albert King". It's not just that King never made a better Blues record. Nobody else did either.
Born Under A Bad Sign January 26, 2008
Morton (Colorado)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Albert King-Born Under A Bad Sign *****
This is it, the album that changed everything. Up until this point it was white boys playing only trashy rock n' roll, but after the release of Born Under A Bad sign all the little white boys from England wanted to be blues musicians, especially the guitar players. With out Born Under A Bad sign Clapton, the Vaughn brothers, and Jimi Hendrix to just name a few would not have chosen the paths they chose. Instead they would have opted for a more straight forward rock sound (not to say that Clapton wouldnt do that anyways in the late '70s and 80's sadly).
Taken from a collection of singles and released as one whole album finally in 1967 Born Under A Bad Sign was Albert Kings crowning achivement so to speak. Pun intended. This was the album that solidified him as a guitar power-house and making him the third King in the three king trilogy along side B.B. King and Freddie King.
The album features and all star line up of Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn on guitar and bass. Al Jackson jr. on Drums. The Memphis Horns (Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love, Joe Arnold). To top off the line up is the great Booker T. Jones and Isaac Hayes on the keys. Phenomonal. Easily the best blues line up ever assembled!
Starting off with the title track, and legendary 'Born Under A Bad Sign' which is easily one of the top five blues numbers of all time. So good infact that in the mid 80's the hardcore band MDC (millions of dead cops) covered the song, and did a great job in fact. Killer cuts like 'Crosscut Saw' and 'Kansas City' keep things moving in an up beat manner complete with bleeding guitar. 'Oh, Pretty Woman' continues things. No not the Roy Orbison song, no, no, no, Kings 'Oh, Pretty Women' in my opinion is far superior. Possibly the very best song he ever recorded. A song that had a large influence over the Doors in the L.A. Woman period is 'Down Bother Me,' just a standard blues. 'The Hunter' is a rollicking number with a killer groove thanks to Al Jackson and Hayes. Now Albert King always said he thought of Born Under A Bad sign of more of a vocal album rather then a guitar album and for good reason, three of the albums best songs, 'I Almost Lost My Mind' 'As The Years Go Passing By' and the closer 'The Very Thought Of You' are very vocal. The guitar is there but the vocals are clearly the focal point of those tracks. Between those three are the gut wrenching 'Personal Manager' a song that should not be heard on a broken heart, and the severed wrist of a song, 'Laudromat Blues.'
This is one blues album that even a regular rock fan would enjoy. Fans of Eric Clapton would love this album because you can see where he gained a lot of his classic guitar licks from. As far as the blues go, it doesn't get any better then Born Under A Bad Sign from the real king...Albert King!
Excelent August 23, 2007
Rodrigo Crefta
Born Under a Bad Sign marked the history of the blues. This reissue is essential for blues lovers.
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