''Born Under a Bad Sign'' is the second compilation album by American blues musician

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps ...

, released in August 1967 by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

. It features eleven

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 19 ...

songs that were recorded from March 1966 to June 1967, throughout five different sessions. King played with two in-house bands: Booker T. & the M.G.'s and

the Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...

. Although the album failed to reach any

music chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...

, it did receive positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

and is often cited as one of the greatest blues albums ever made. ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' influenced many guitarists, including Eric Clapton,

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his ...

, Jimi Hendrix, and

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years ...

. ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' has been recognized by several music institutions, and has been inducted into the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of t ...

Hall of Fame, the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

, and the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

Recording and music

In 1966, King signed with the Memphis-based label

. The 43-year-old musician had already recorded music for other labels, but outside of his 1961 song " Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong", he had yet to find any commercial success. Throughout five sessions from March 1966 to June 1967, King recorded several songs at Stax Studios with two in-house bands: Booker T. & the M.G.'s and

. Although Jim Stewart is credited as the producer, trumpeter

Wayne Jackson Wayne Jackson may refer to: *Wayne Jackson (brigadier), List of Australian generals and brigadiers, senior Australian army officer *Wayne Jackson (footballer) (born 1944), Australian football player and former CEO of the Australian Football League ...

said

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as O ...

and Al Jackson Jr. ran the recording sessions. Many of the songs recorded during these sessions were released as singles, and in August 1967, the singles were compiled and released as King's debut album with Stax, titled ''Born Under a Bad Sign''. ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' is an

album, with influences of

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

and funk. The album's music comprises simple chord progressions, which Jackson noted was due to inexperience. "We didn't know how to play it any better!" said Jackson. King played primarily on the three highest

guitar strings A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments such as the guitar, harp, piano (piano wire), and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material that a musical instrument holds under te ...

and only used a select few

phrases In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can con ...

throughout the album. In the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

for the 2002 reissue of ''Born Under a Bad Sign'', critic Michael Point wrote how King was able to distinguish his guitar play despite only using a few phrases: "His simple but subtle reconfigurations were accomplished through inflections, emphasis, and timing, not via sprinting through scales." The sharp guitar sound heard throughout the album can be partially attributed to King's unorthodox style of play. King was left-handed, but chose to play a right-handed

Gibson Flying V The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Explorer, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designed ...

and not restring it. King pulled strings from above instead of pushing from below, the standard

string bending String bending is a guitar technique where fretted strings are displaced by application of a force by the fretting fingers in a direction perpendicular to their vibrating length. This has the net effect of increasing the pitch of a note (or notes ...

technique. As a result, he was able to bend several strings simultaneously, which allowed for multi-

timbral In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and music ...

phrasing. When asked about King's style of play, Jackson said: "Albert's guitar was always out of tune with everything else, but he was such a strong man he would just bend the notes back in!" Side one of ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' features six short songs, which are all under three minutes long. Side two features longer, more

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

-like songs. "Personal Manager" in particular contains one of the few

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular ...

s on the album. Arguably the most famous song from ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' is the album's

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

, which was written by William Bell and

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

. Bell wanted to write a song about

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

and came up with an unconventional ten-bar guitar line (as opposed to eight-bar and

twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...

) during a

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ext ...

. Music historian Rob Bowman called "Born Under a Bad Sign" "one of the most smokingly intense blues recordings of the modern era".

Release and reception

''Born Under a Bad Sign'' was released in August 1967 by Stax Records. It failed to reach any

, although three songs from the album—"Laundromat Blues" (1966), " Born Under a Bad Sign", and "

Crosscut Saw A crosscut saw (thwart saw) is any saw designed for cutting wood perpendicular to (across) the wood grain. Crosscut saws may be small or large, with small teeth close together for fine work like woodworking or large for coarse work like log b ...

" (both 1967)—did reach the

Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. Rob Bowman believes this was because the rhythm and blues market emphasized 45 rpm singles as opposed to albums. A critic from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine awarded the album a "Special Merit Pick" label, and wrote: "Albert King has a way with the blues, a realistic, soulful style which hits the mark as all 11 cuts in his latest Stax album demonstrate." ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' was

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Reco ...

d in 2013 by Stax and

Concord Records Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists hav ...

. The reissue features remastered versions of every song from the original release, as well as four alternative versions, one untitled instrumental piece, and additional

. Neil Kelly of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...

'' felt the additional song was enough to warrant a repurchase, and highlighted the instrumental piece. Kelly said: "Booker T and the MG's never sounded better, even on a one-off jam that was never supposed to be issued."

Legacy

Decades after its release, ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' status continues to grow, and it is now considered one of the greatest blues albums ever made. ''

The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' gave ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' a perfect score, where author David McGee described it as "a blues monument". Leland Rucker echoed McGee's remark in the '' MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide'' book, writing "King's Stax debut ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' is an undisputed classic."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

highlighted the musicianship between King and the M.G.'s, and wrote: "it's astounding how strong this catalog of songs is". Erlwine noted how influential the guitar play on the album was. "

ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...

unleashed a torrent of blistering guitar runs that were profoundly influential, not just in blues, but in

rock & roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

". Journalist Sean McDevitt agreed with this statement, and wrote "''Born Under a Bad Sign'' directly influenced legions of guitar players who studied its every subtlety and nuance". Among these guitarists are Eric Clapton,

, Jimi Hendrix, and

, most of whom covered songs from ''Born Under a Bad Sign''. Clapton's band

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

sampled the guitar solo from "Oh, Pretty Woman" for the song " Strange Brew", and covered "Born Under a Bad Sign" for their 1968 album ''

Wheels of Fire ''Wheels of Fire'' is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in the US in June 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It was released in the UK on August 9. It r ...

''. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band also covered "Born Under a Bad Sign" for the 1967 album ''

The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw ''The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw'' is a 1967 album by the Butterfield Blues Band, their third release. Its name refers to Elvin Bishop, whose role shifted to lead guitarist after Mike Bloomfield departed to form the Electric Flag. The albu ...

''. ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' has been recognized by several music institutions as an influential album. It has been inducted into the

Hall of Fame and the

, and the

. The 2002 reissue received a Blues Music Award for "Historical Blues Album of the Year". In 2012, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' ranked ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' at number 491 on its list of the

500 greatest albums of all time * Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time * NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a 2013 special issue of British magazine '' NME'', available digitally or in newsstands on October 23. The li ...

. The list states: "King's first album for the Stax label combines his hard, unflashy guitar playing with the sleek sound of the label's house band, Booker T. and the MG's." Michael Point believes ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' was critical to the modernization of blues music, and catapulted King into mainstream popularity. King went from playing on the

Chitlin' Circuit The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of performance venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African American musicians, comedians, and other enterta ...

as a relatively unknown musician, to large rock arenas such as

the Fillmore The Fillmore is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California. Built in 1912 and originally named the Majestic Hall, it became the Fillmore Auditorium in 1954. It is in Western Addition, on the edge of the Fillmore District and Upper F ...

and

Fillmore East The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. I ...

. These performances attracted both black and white audience members, including a large following of

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

fans.

Track listing

Track listing taken from the 1967 vinyl release of ''Born Under a Bad Sign''.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the

of ''Born Under a Bad Sign''. *

lead guitar, vocals *

keyboards, organ, piano *

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songw ...

keyboards, piano *

rhythm guitar * Donald Dunn bass guitar * Al Jackson Jr. drums *

trumpet * Andrew Love tenor saxophone * Joe Arnold baritone saxophone, flute

References

Notes

Footnotes

{{Authority control 1967 compilation albums Albert King albums Albums produced by Jim Stewart (record producer) Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Stax Records albums United States National Recording Registry recordings United States National Recording Registry albums