Born Under a Bad Sign

So that last post was a little crazy. I think I probably over used commas a little bit. I was putting parenthetical phrases everywhere. It got a little silly. Well don't worry. I'm going to try and use short sentences in this one. Let's see how that goes.

Today's song is Born Under a Bad Sign. Blues guitarist Albert King recorded it in 1967. It's the first track off of his 1967 album of the same name. It's been covered by several artists, including Homer Simpson. That's kind of neat. Jimi Hendrix does an 8 minute instrumental version. King's version made it to number 49 on the Billboard R&B chart. It also made the Rock and Roll hall of Fame's list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. The album itself is considered one of the most influential blues albums of the 60s. It has been inducted into the blues hall of fame under the category Classics of Blues Recordings. In 1999 it received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. It was ranked number 499 on Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums List, and then ranked number 491 on a revised version of the list. The 2002 reissue was named "Historical Blues Album of the Year.” Not too shabby.

Cream recorded a cover for the studio portion of their 1968 double album Wheels of Fire.  Their version wasn't a single so it did not chart. However, Wheels of fire was a number 1 album in the US, and Number 3 in the UK (it was also number 1 in Canada, and Australia. Number 16 in Norway, and number 11 on the US R&B charts).  It was the first ever platinum selling double album. Rolling Stone ranked it number 203 on its greatest albums of all time list.

Albert King:

Cream:

Okay so this song is bad as heck. I mean bad in the good way. I'll get right to the point. I like Albert King's version way better. The Cream version is pretty good. But it's once of those cases where the song itself is so good that you'd really have to mess it up to get it wrong. And I'll be straight with you. I'm not the biggest Cream fan. Don't get me wrong. They're good. I have Wheels of Fire. I have Disraeli Gears too. There's good stuff on both of those albums. They just never really blew me away. I'll come right out and say that I'm positive that Cream's Born Under a Bad Sign cover isn't the reason why Wheels of Fire was so successful. Clearly, Crossroads and White Room deserve that credit. But again I'm not trying to tear it apart. I just don't really believe Jack Bruce when he's singing about how he was born under a bad sign.  When King sings it he makes you believe (even though Booker T. and William Bell wrote it). Also, his guitar tone is way better.