European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 19, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Entertainment Robert Cray above displayed his unique Talent thursday in Frankfurt while . King right had a Good time a along with the  and heir play classic blues Errol Vega and Paul Tanguay made the Long trek from Span Dahlem a to Frankfurt through thursday afternoon Rush hour traffic jams to hear a bit of the blues at the alte oper last week. Arriving without tickets they were rewarded with two seats in the Middle of the fourth Row bought for the face value of about $39 a seats the scalpers in front of the theater were hawking for $98. "b.b. King is a Bonus a Vega said Quot i m Here for Robert Cray and i was prepared own Trail with Superb renditions of bouncing Back from his 1991 Midnight stroll album and a revisit to his earlier work in because of me from the Strong persuader disc. Cray s passion was evident in his 60 minutes of flawless playing making it Tough for a listener to decide whether he is a better guitar player or Singer. That Call is equally hard to make when it comes to sixty something  King his Nephew William led the tue does eight piece band through a two number instrumental Intro new disc set offers .�?Ts Best to pay twice what 1  Vega s opinion on which of the two Star acts was More   to the legendary photos and text will Der of Luule a King s Gibson guitar which he worthwhile was in the minority. From most of the 2,000 others in the Hall the Young progressive challenger to the blues throne Drew muffled applause. The audience saved its enthusiasm for the King. It s not often that two powerhouse names in the world of ramp a come to Frankfurt and at a Nice Price considering the nearly three hours of entertainment in a Classy venue that has been hailed As acoustically perfect. The thirty something Cray started the evening with a tight hour of coaxing his guitar to walk and talk. Taking Center stage for a scathing i guess i showed her from his grammy award winning album Strong persuader he and his group were in perfect sync throughout the session. Cray Drew heavily on his new album i was warned which May have been his undoing since repeated shouts of smoking Cun his first International hit interrupted his chitchat Between numbers. At one Point a fan in the first Row yelled up to Cray Quot what s the forecast a a a reference to his radio hit forecast Calls Tor pain. Cray ignored the hint replying Quot cold Man.  he probably could have waked up the snoozing crowd with More familiar numbers instead he chose to Blaze has by Jim Derheim made talk sigh whisper and howl during nearly 90 minutes on stage. Rousing the crowd out of its slumber with a fiery let the Cood times Roll King and his band approached the Midnight hour without letting up on numbers like the thrill is Cone Rock me baby and two numbers from his latest album an instrumental version of the title song there is always one More time and a run through of Back in l a. From the same album his Best in years. King is a Jolly joker on stage a teaser who tortured his Nephew when the amplifier Jack fell out of Lucille. While William struggled to reinsert the Jack . Playfully jerked his Gold plated Gibson up and Down All the while rolling those big eyes at the crowd who guffawed along with his band. Fie also caused his hapless Nephew to struggle with the Correct placement of his chair and Mike stand prior to a bit of picking done sitting Clown. After five attempts to get the chair positioned just right the undisputed heavyweight Champion of the blues finally settled in for a Trio of songs ending with the thrill is Cone. By Robert Hilburn los Angeles times . King May be at once the most famous and most taken for granted bluesman in pop history. One reason for both titles is familiarity. Where some classic blues figures starting with Robert Johnson died before the Start of the Rock Era and others including Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf enjoyed Only limited mainstream Success King has registered almost three dozen singles on the weekly top 100 pop charts and has toured so extensively that he always seems to be either in town or on the Way. King 67, has also benefited from lots of to exposure. Another reason for both the popularity and the fact that he is sometimes less prize by critics than the  wolfs is that his musical style in t As raw a or pure a As Many of his blues rivals. King proudly proclaimed that he has been making music for 42 years before he surprised the crowd by introducing Cray once More who took the stage and joined King for what he called a Quot history in the making take of Early in the morning. Just when it seemed to be Over King uttered a woman in the front his guitar pick. Hesitantly she took it. Then out came a guitar pin Lucille in miniature. A hand reached for it again from the front. Suddenly there was a wave of people at the stage All clamouring for a pin a necklace a pick All of Winch came trom King s Deal less Tuxedo pockets. Yet King s influence on blues and Rock artists has been immense and Mca s new King of the blues offers an excellent overview. A set worthy of yet another grammy for Mca reissue head Andy Mckaie the four disc package contains 77 songs including 30 that have never appeared before on cd and seven that have never been released in any format. The selections Range from such 50s ramp a hits As three o clock blues to 1970 s the thrill is Cone and 1989 s u2-assisted when love comes to town. A Mississippi native Riley a King was a disc jockey in Memphis where he picked up the nickname blues boy later shortened to . And began his recording career in the late 40s. From the beginning King reached out to other musical Fields including jazz and pop rather than stick to music that is in the words of Rock historian Peter Guralnick the Quot product of a local or isolated  it was Christmas come Early to those Lucky ones who got a tangible piece of the night s entertainment. For the rest the memories will suffice King playing Lucille into his Golden years and the Young Prince Robert Cray Here to sing and play to blues blooded listeners into the 21st Century. For those who skipped this show remember your missed Chance the next time you lament the constant onslaught of rap and hip hop on the radio. Let s All Hope that these lesser forms of music Don t succeed in spoiling the Good taste of blues in ers. 12 stripes Magazine november 19, 1992