King of the Blues: 1989 is an album by the American musician B. B. King, released in 1988.[1][2] It was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Blues Recording".[3]
King supported the album with a North American tour, which was a hit due to his appearance in U2's Rattle and Hum.[4][5] King was disappointed that the album and tour did not find much success with Black audiences.[5]
The Orlando Sentinel called the album a "bid for pop- crossover attention."[16] The Calgary Herald wrote that "the songs are so mediocre as to actually give you the blues, and producer Al Kooper has drowned King's occasional stellar guitar work in a sea of keyboards and soulless drum programming."[17]The Kingston Whig-Standard determined that the album "is very contemporary and could easily give Robert Cray a run for his money in the blues-pop-soul category."[18] The Toronto Star labeled it "a bold, big electric blues album from the unassailable master of the field."[9] The Vancouver Sun noted that King of the Blues: 1989 was "more structured and tight than previous albums."[19]
AllMusic concluded: "Over-glossed R&B tracks, heavy doses of keyboards and drum programming are an ideal way to make albums for the pop charts, but for B.B. King, they are tools of disaster."[12] King's biographer, Daniel de Vise, deemed the album perhaps "the low ebb of his recording career."[1]
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