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.
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. King later revisited the song as a duet with Tracy Chapman on his 1997 album Deuces Wild.

Reception

On the [Billboard 200|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. 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.
The single "The Thrill Is Gone" from the album became his highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 15, and it rose to number 3 on Billboard's R&B singles chart. The follow-up single "So Excited" reached number 54 on the Hot 100 and number 14 on the R&B chart.

Track listing

  1. "So Excited" -- 5:34
  2. "No Good" -- 4:35
  3. "You're Losin' Me" -- 4:54
  4. "What Happened" -- 4:41
  5. "Confessin' the Blues" -- 4:56
  6. "Key to My Kingdom" -- 3:18
  7. "Cryin' Won't Help You Now" -- 6:30
  8. "You're Mean" -- 9:39
  9. "The Thrill Is Gone" -- 5:30

Personnel