Completely Well

Completely Well, released in 1969, is a studio album by the blues guitarist B. B. King. It is notable for the inclusion of "The Thrill Is Gone", which became a hit on both the R&B/soul and pop charts and which earned him a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1970.^[1]

Completely Well
Studio album by B.B. King
Released	December 5, 1969[1]
Recorded	June 24–25, 1969
Studio	Hit Factory, New York City
Genre	Blues, R&B, soul
Length	49:57
Label	BluesWay
Producer	Bill Szymczyk
B.B. King chronology
Live & Well (1969) Completely Well (1969) Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970)

The album was released in the US as an LP record in 1969 and as a CD in 1987; in the UK only as an LP. San Francisco critic Ralph J. Gleason's liner notes are mostly a profile of King, with only a passing reference to the actual music contained in King`s commercial breakthrough album.

Background

"The Thrill Is Gone" is a cover of a song originally released by Roy Hawkins in the early 1950s, and for the version on this album, strings were added at the suggestion of producer Bill Szymczyk.^[2][3] King later revisited the song as a duet with Tracy Chapman on his 1997 album Deuces Wild.^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings	[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[5]

On the Billboard 200 chart, the album reached a peak position of number 38 on April 4, 1970, becoming King's first Top 40 album in the United States.^[6] It also climbed to number 5 on Billboard's R&B albums chart, marking his first Top 10 entry on that chart in about five years since Live at the Regal (1965).^[7]

The single "The Thrill Is Gone" from the album became his highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 15,^[8] and it rose to number 3 on Billboard's R&B singles chart.^[9] The follow-up single "So Excited" reached number 54 on the Hot 100^[8] and number 14 on the R&B chart.^[10]

Track listing

1. "So Excited" (B.B. King, Gerald Jemmott) -- 5:34
2. "No Good" (Ferdinand Washington, B.B. King) -- 4:35
3. "You're Losin' Me" (Ferdinand Washington, B.B. King) -- 4:54
4. "What Happened" (B.B. King) -- 4:41
5. "Confessin' the Blues" (Jay McShann, Walter Brown) -- 4:56
6. "Key to My Kingdom" (Maxwell Davis, Joe Josea, Claude Baum) -- 3:18
7. "Cryin' Won't Help You Now" (Sam Ling, Jules Taub; LP has only B.B.) -- 6:30
8. "You're Mean" (B.B. King, Gerald Jemmott, Hugh McCracken, Paul Harris, Herbie Lovelle) -- 9:39
9. "The Thrill Is Gone" (Rick Darnell, Roy Hawkins; LP has Arthur H [Art] Benson, Dale Pettite) -- 5:30^[1]

Personnel

• B.B. King: Vocals, lead guitar
• Hugh McCracken: Rhythm guitar
• Paul Harris: organ, acoustic and Fender Rhodes electric piano
• Jerry Jemmott: Bass
• Herbie Lovelle: Drums
• Bert "Super Charts" DeCoteaux: string and horn arrangements