The second landmark live album recorded by B.B. King in Chicago, six years after ‘Live at the Regal,’ ‘Live in Cook County Jail’ generated spectacular sales and publicity. It is still the only B.B. King album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts (and also the most successful of his LPs on the pop charts, where it peaked at No. 25). By spotlighting B.B.’s campaign to use the blues in prison concerts to uplift the spirits of audiences that were truly living the blues, it also served as a beacon of social concern. And of course the performance by King was heartfelt, sometimes heated, sometimes humorous, even if not groundbreaking in itself. Five of the album’s ten songs were old stand-by hits he had also recorded on the Regal album, with the major addition being a fine rendition of the crossover smash he had in the interim, ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ (worth listening to today, even for those who now view this as an overdone chestnut).
Recorded Sept. 10, 1970. Released on LP as ABC ABCS-723, February 1971.
— Jim O’Neal
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