Customer Reviews
From OK to pretty good. - By: AfterTheEvent, 02 May 2007 
Doesn't immediately appeal but theres some typical BB King stuff on here. It's worth buying but wouldn't necessarily top my list of must haves.
Production wise the sound suffers on some tracks from over use of Hammond organ & horns. Other-wise this is a laid back collection of enjoyable bluesy stuff. Not really too demanding for the artist, nothing new or challenging for the listener, Mr King doing his stuff, no fluff, just pounding blues.
Too slick and unvaried - By: Docendo Discimus, 05 Oct 2003 
Recordedin four days with his regular road band, "Blues On The Bayou" includes no duets, no guest stars, no overdubs, & no unintentionally funny cover versions of pop songs. Just fourteen B.B. King originals, a version of T-Bone Walker's "Mean Old World" which King shamelessly credits to himself, & a loose & relaxed approach.
B.B. King produced this album himself, for the first timein his 50-year career, & the result is pretty good, although this album is somewhat slicker & more polished than I would have liked (but then again, King never aspired to be Muddy Waters).
Among the best songs are the slow, soulful "I'll Survive" (definitely NOT the Gloria Gaynor single, but rather a discreet rip-off of Tampa Red's "It Hurts Me Too"), the swinging "Shake It Up And Go" (which is actually a slightly altered take on "Bottle Up And Go"), the funky instrumental "If That Ain't It I Quit", & the slightly jazzy "Good Man Gone Bad", which features some excellent piano playing by keyboardist James Toney.
I would certainly have preferred a bit more grit & a little less of the very synthetic sounding organ & the equally synthetic string orchestra, & the many slow songs all sound more or less alike, but that's contemporary blues for you.
If your idea of what electric blues should sound like is Howlin' Wolf & Elmore James, stay FAR away from this album.
But if you prefer your blues from the decanter rather than the bottle, you'll probably like it just fine.
Relaxing and smoooooooth. - By: tpursey@globalnet.co.uk, 05 Sep 2000 
B.B. King has been a jazz great for many a year, & now has decided to do things his own way. He took his band down to Louisiana and, 'without a lot of fanfare' cut a relaxed, smooth, & natural album. All live all real, cutin four days. B.B. sounding how B.B. wants to sound. 18 songs makes it a good one to play whilst doingsomething else - 68 minutes long, Blues on the bayou is happy to jazz away by itself for a good time.
