Freddie King – Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsation Concert
Elemental Music – 2026
CD1: 8 tracks; 66 minutes
CD2: 8 tracks; 60 minutes
Freddie King’s death in 1976, just 42 years old, was a terrible loss to the blues world. A big influence on the British guitarists of the 1960’s, his instrumentals “Hideaway”, “The Stumble” and “Driving Sideways” became the signature tunes for Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor respectively in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Here he is, live in France just a year before his death, in a beautifully packaged set with excellent liner notes and over two hours of music, Freddie performing with a five piece band: Ed Lively on second guitar, Alvin Hemphill on organ, Lewis Stephens on piano, Benny Turner on bass and Calep Emphrey on drums; Freddie handles lead guitar and vocals.
The concert opens with a lengthy “Have You Ever Loved A Woman?” with short intros for each band member, Freddie including snatches of “Rock Me Baby” and “The Sky Is Crying”. BB King’s “Whole Lot Of Lovin’” is outstanding, Freddie’s guitar and the piano of 19 year-old Lewis Stephens (still going strong with Mike Zito) very subtle and understated before we get back to boogie with “Hey Baby/Mojo Boogie” that also references “Dust My Broom”. Guitar Slim’s “The Things I Used To Do” is beautifully done, five minutes of just guitar and piano before the band joins in. “Messin’ With The Kid” is played pretty straight and Jimmy Rogers’ “That’s All Right” is given a tender treatment before the band ramps things up with “Going Down”. Another classic, T-Bone’s “Stormy Monday Blues”, is treated with due reverence to close disc 1.
CD2 starts with three lengthy cuts, a snippet of “Sen-Sa-Shun” which rapidly moves into Magic Sam’s “Looking Good” and John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillun”; a second BB pick is “Sweet Little Angel” during which every band member gets a short solo slot, including Freddie’s brother, Benny Turner, on bass; “Got My Mojo Working” may well be the point at which Freddie leaves the stage as we get lengthy applause and foot stomping before he starts on a very laid back, almost acoustic version of “Sweet Home Chicago”. The quieter mood prevails for “Wee Baby Blues” (Big Joe Turner/Pete Johnson) and “Danger Zone” (Percy Mayfield) before he delivers a jazzy version of Dave Mason’s Traffic tune “Feelin’ Alright”. The show closes with “You’re The One”, a slow build-up to a rousing finale.
Freddie King was a force of nature who certainly lived life to the full. You can hear that Freddie is having a great time here and it shows in a selection of music that touches on many of the greats, both from Freddie’s own generation and those that came before him. The Nancy crowd had a ball and, if you’re ‘Ready For Freddie’, so will you.
