B.B. King: Lucille

Lucille was released on BluesWay records in 1968. Lucille was B.B. King's fifteenth album. It was an album dedicated to his famous Gibson guitar named Lucille, which was a Signature ES-355. King's guitar playing style became synonyms with bending and plucking strings in such a way that it made a very distinctive sound that was easily identifiable as his own. While the album did not produce a hit for King, it did receive a positive reception, primarily for the aforementioned guitar playing that was the primary focus of the record.

Track List
1. Lucille"
2. You Move Me So
3. Country Girl
4. No Money, No Luck Blues
5. I Need Your Love
6. Rainin' All the Time
7. I'm with You
8. Stop Putting the Hurt on Me
9. Watch Yourself

Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs released Lucille as a part of their Original Master Recording series, mastered at half-speed by Original Masteringworks™. It was specially plated and pressed on high definition vinyl and mastered from the original master tapes. This release was also a part of the ANADISQ 200™ series, which incorporated 200 gram vinyl, as opposed to 140 gram and 150 gram vinyl previously used in the Original Master Recording series. While the intent was admirable, much like Classic Records experienced, the ANADISQ 200™ series was wrought with quality issues that resulted in non-fill. As such, the series was canceled shortly after it was started.

However, the quality of the tested record was excellent. No non-fill to report and the vinyl was actually very quiet. King's voice shined through and his guitar picking sounded like he was in the room. The album was very well mastered. Outside of the limitations that were apparently present on the master tape, the overall presentation was very good. Like many of King's records, this is not the most dynamic record you'll ever hear. Musical separation is average and the highs and bass suffer slightly from MOFI's notorious smiley face EQ. That said, a clean copy is definitely worth consideration, as you may not find a better sounding version of Lucille than MOFI's. 💵

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