Well Hello Blues fans, here we are with another Blues Album of the Week! We’ve got a good one this time with Freddie King, The Shelter Years. King signed with Leon Russell’s new label Shelter Records in late 1969, early 1970. This association produced 3 albums from 1971-1973. The collection we are reviewing today was released in 2000 as The Best of Freddie King, The Shelter Years, which includes 18 songs, featuring Freddie’s unique vocal style and his glorious guitar tone. We always pick some highlights, but on a “Best of”, their pretty much all highlights. However, we will give it a shot, how bout “Same Old Blues”,”Walking by Myself”, the boogie of John Fogerty’s “Lowdown in Lodi”, marvelous slow blues of “Reconsider Baby” and “Help Me Through the Day”. Other notables include my on again off again love affair with “Woman Across the River”, and the smooth feel of “Please Send Me Someone to Love”. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my personal favorite “Palace of The King”, which includes the glorious line of “I can’t find a chitlin pizza no matter how hard I try”. It has probably been a long time since you dug some Freddie King, go ahead, take some time and enjoy this offering.
