B.B. King's 'Anthology' adds concert DVD

LOS ANGELES (UMe Records) - Fans can now experience the work of major music artists on both CD and DVD with the new SOUND + VISION series from UMe. Each artist will be presented in deluxe, digitally remastered two-CD/one-DVD packages which bring together previously issued CD retrospectives and DVD concerts. Each package provides both an ultimate introduction to an artist for new fans and a comprehensive look-and-listen for long-time fans.

One of the series' initial releases celebrates perhaps the best-known and best-loved artist of the blues, B.B. King, with ANTHOLOGY (Geffen/UMe), released July 13, 2004. The King edition of the SOUND + VISION series combines for the first time in one package the much-lauded two-CD collection ANTHOLOGY, released in 2000, and B.B.'s concert homevideo BLUES SUMMIT CONCERT, originally issued on VHS in 1995 and then on DVD in 2000.

ANTHOLOGY pays tribute to the reigning King of the Blues who, after more than five decades of recording, has enjoyed some of his greatest success in recent years. In 2000, his collaboration with Eric Clapton, RIDING WITH THE KING, was a double platinum, two-time Grammy-winning Top 5 pop hit. In 2002, he took home two more Grammys.

With 34 classic original recordings on its two CDs, ANTHOLOGY begins in 1962 with "Sneakin' Around" and concludes in 1998 with "I'll Survive." Among the highlights are "The Thrill Is Gone," his epic "Lucille" and such renowned '60s standards as "How Blue Can You Get?," "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" and "Why I Sing The Blues." Among the handful of live recordings are "Every Day I Have The Blues" from his landmark 1965 album LIVE AT THE REGAL.

Guest artists also abound, including rock megastars U2 on "When Love Comes To Town," Robert Cray on "Playing With My Friends," Albert Collins on "Call It Stormy Monday," Bobby "Blue" Bland on "Let The Good Times Roll" and Leon Russell on "Hummingbird" plus Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Dr. John (including 1980's Grammy-winning "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere"), Joe Walsh, and even Ringo Starr.

The BLUES SUMMIT CONCERT DVD was inspired by the 1993 Grammy-winning BLUES SUMMIT album. The performance at B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street in Memphis was an historic meeting of superpowers, with B.B. performing with Ruth Brown, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Irma Thomas and Joe Louis Walker. Interspersed with exclusive interviews, the film offers an inspired and unprecedented gathering of blues greats that may never be equaled.

As ANTHOLOGY demonstrates, B.B. King - winner of 14 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement award; a Kennedy Center honoree, and a member of the Blues Foundation and Rock and Roll halls of fame - will surely never be equaled either.