King George (born 1938 as George Clemons) is an American soul singer who after having trouble with US authorities, getting ultimatums from The Black Panthers to chose side and with no interest of getting drafted to Vietnam, went from Harlem to Sweden 1967 to get a break from it all. He only planned a three month visit, but when falling in love and getting the girl pregnant decided to stay for good. They married and he still lives here, now enjoying grandchildren as well. Already at arrival there was a band waiting for him, founded by Danish jazz drummer Grave Hansen - "The Harlem Kiddies" - consisting of experienced US musicians. Organist Billie Jo Thomas had been a member of the Motown studio crew. Sax player Jesse Wilks earlier with Art Blakey and Max Roach, the other sax player Dave Turnbull had toured with Chuck Berry and Roy Orbison. Paul Weeden an experienced studio guitarist. All these then living in Sweden, as I presume to avoid getting drafted on home turf. Record produced by Scotish drummer James Campbell, then living in Denmark. Though the title of the album is "Live From Las Vegas" I don't see how that is possible considering the circumstances. Can't find any fact of where the concert took place, but even if mainly consisting of American musicians they were a Scandinavian band by then that probably had all reason to shun US soil. Also the sleeve photos were taken by a Danish photografer, so I'm guessing it was a Scandinavian affair taking place in Copenhagen or Stockholm...as it sounds in a small club...maybe one called "Las Vegas"... which would make some sense. In any case this is enjoyable listening. Top jazz and rock musicians playing soul and r&b, most of it rather wild up-tempo. The stereo mix and audio good for a sixties live recording - loud and intrusive allowing you to be there in front of the stage. King George himself may not be the most sensitive soul singer here, but he works really hard and it fits. This has become rather rare and may be hard to find at a reasonable price, but if you're deep into US sixties soul or just appreciate a good live album to travel back with it can be worth it. King George would go on to form the group "King George Discovery" a year later and there do psychedelic soul, but that's another story (see earlier post). To my knowledge this was the only issue. It came with label as shown here, thick unflexible vinyl and laminated flip/back cover. (LYBÖ*) (SÖNÄ*) (SWÄU*) (CCÖ*)
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