Born Under a Bad Sign

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Born Under a Bad Sign
Studio album by Albert King
Released	August 1967
Recorded	March 1966 - June1967
Genre	Blues
Length	34:19
Label	Stax Records
Producer	Jim Stewart
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Albert King chronology
The Big Blues (1962) Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) Live Wire/Blues Power (1968)

Born Under a Bad Sign is a blues album by Albert King, recorded between 1966 and 1967, and released in 1967 by Stax Records. This was the first album Albert King recorded on Stax, and the title song became a blues standard. King played a Gibson Flying V through a solid-state Acoustic amplifier; his tone on the second song, "Crosscut Saw," was hailed in 2004 by Guitar Player as one of the "50 Greatest Tones of All Time."^[1]

Eric Clapton closely imitated the solo of "Crosscut Saw" for Cream's song "Strange Brew" and the band covered the title song for their 1968 album Wheels of Fire. British band Free covered "The Hunter" on their 1968 debut album Tons Of Sobs, and it was a concert staple of theirs, as seen on their 1971 album Free Live!. In addition, Led Zeppelin incorporated elements of "The Hunter" into "How Many More Times" from their self-titled 1969 debut album. The vocal melody from "As The Years Go Passing By" inspired Duane Allman's composition of the main riff from "Layla" from Derek and the Dominos' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.^{[citation needed]} Glenn Danzig covered "The Hunter" on Danzig.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 499 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

Original release

Side one

1. "Born Under a Bad Sign" (William Bell, Booker T. Jones) – 2:47
2. "Crosscut Saw" (R.G. Ford) – 2:35
3. "Kansas City" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 2:33
4. "Oh, Pretty Woman" (A.C. Williams) – 2:48
5. "Down Don't Bother Me" (Albert King) – 2:10
6. "The Hunter" (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr, Booker T. Jones) – 2:45

Side two

1. "I Almost Lost My Mind" (Ivory Joe Hunter) – 3:30
2. "Personal Manager" (Albert King, David Porter) – 4:31
3. "Laundromat Blues" (Sandie Jones) – 3:21
4. "As the Years Go Passing By" (Deadric Malone) – 3:48
5. "The Very Thought of You" (Ray Noble) – 3:46

Vinyl re-issue

In 1998 Sundazed Records reissued the album with two additional bonus tracks, namely the rare mono single sides "Funk-Shun" and "Overall Junction", both written by Albert King. This expanded edition of the album—also featuring original liner notes by Deanie Parker and a new annotation by music critic Bill Dahl—was never released on CD and is available on vinyl record only.

Side one

1. "Born Under a Bad Sign" (William Bell, Booker T. Jones) – 2:46
2. "Crosscut Saw" (R.G. Ford) – 2:33
3. "Kansas City" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 2:31
4. "Oh, Pretty Woman" (A.C. Williams) – 2:48
5. "Down Don't Bother Me" (Albert King) – 2:09
6. "The Hunter" (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr, Booker T. Jones) – 2:43
7. "Funk-Shun" (Albert King) - 2:30

Side two

1. "I Almost Lost My Mind" (Ivory Joe Hunter) – 3:28
2. "Personal Manager" (Albert King, David Porter) – 4:27
3. "Laundromat Blues" (Sandie Jones) – 3:18
4. "As The Years Go Passing By" (Deadric Malone) – 3:47
5. "The Very Thought of You" (Ray Noble) – 3:46
6. "Overall Junction" (Albert King) - 2:19

Personnel

• Albert King – Electric guitar and vocals
• Steve Cropper – Electric guitar
• Booker T. Jones – Piano
• Isaac Hayes – Piano
• Donald "Duck" Dunn – Bass
• Al Jackson, Jr. – drums
• The Memphis Horns – Horns

Artists who have covered "Born Under a Bad Sign"

1. Blue Cheer
2. Tommy Bolin
3. Booker T. and the M.G.s (Note that Booker T. Jones co-authored the song)
4. Jack Bruce
5. Paul Butterfield
6. Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson
7. Eric Clapton
8. Rita Coolidge
9. Cream
10. Dimebag Darrell
11. Robben Ford
12. Peter Green
13. Richard Hawley
14. Jimi Hendrix
15. MC5
16. MDC
17. Pappo
18. Doug Pinnick
19. Paul Rodgers
20. The Smashing Pumpkins
21. Melvin Taylor
22. Pat Travers
23. Umphrey's McGee
24. B.B. King & John Lee Hooker
25. Ellen McIlwaine
26. Chris Wilson

References