Albert King: “Born Under a Bad Sign”
From the Album: Born Under a Bad Sign
Single released May 1967
#49 R&B single

The title track of Albert King’s first full-length Stax release, a compilation of his singles cut hot in 1966 and ‘67, captures what might be the guitarist’s most memorable if not his finest moment in the studio. It is easily one of the world’s most “sung along to” blues tunes - almost everybody knows the line, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all,” for example.

“Bad Sign” now seems like something of an anachronism, presenting what is now a rarity - a blues single. It was co-written by Stax producer Al Bell with Booker T. Jones, who led the instrumental support from his MGs compatriots Al Jackson, Jr. (drums), Steve Cropper (guitar) and Duck Dunn (bass), plus Isaac Hayes on additional piano and shotgun brass from Memphis Horns Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love, and Joe Arnold.

It’s hard to imagine how one could improve “Born Under a Bad Sign” in any way. Like almost every Stax classic, it’s a model of economy, punching out in less than three minutes - King’s midsong “spotlight” solo lasts four fleet bars. Dunn and Jackson thump out a tempo deep in step with the resolute yet funky feeling of the blues. After introductory barrelhouse rollin’, piano slams down single chords hard on each 4/4 downbeat, making each beat sound and feel even more powerful. Dunn also doubles up on Cropper’s barbed and sticky rhythm guitar hook, helping to turn it inside out as King explodes into each chorus; this twisting, so that the melody underneath them goes down instead of up, makes the words “crawl” and “all” sound even more lowdown and dirty.

The principal’s vocal performance matches the intensity and sting of his guitar attack, which blows through torrid icy-hot flurries that fill in the break and the bars after each line he sings. He sings each line in a voice powerful yet soft, booming big and warm, turning out a vocal performance that might have made “Born Under a Bad Sign” a blues classic even without the regal, stellar blues of King’s guitar.

It was the spring of 1969 and three young sisters who were making the transition from gospel to R&B (as had other Stax artists before them, notably Johnnie Taylor, a former member of The Soul Stirrers) found themselves with a big hit. Sheila, Wanda and Jeanette Hutchinson had been a part of the family group known as The Heavenly Sunbeams along with their father Joe when they were just about able to walk! The Chicago-born family worked alongside greats like Mahalia Jackson becoming the Hutchinson Sunbeams in their early teens and, mentored by The Staple Singers, the trio began their journey into the secular musical world around 1967 recording initially for a local Chicago label, Twin Stacks.

Funny, but in my own history as a soul music man in the U.K., I had some involvement with the release of one of the trio’s singles for Twin Stacks when, along with my partners in the pioneering British Soul City company – Dave Godin (often referred to as the ‘godfather of R&B’ in Britain) and Robert Blackmore – we put out “Somebody New” on our Deep Soul label! Of course, typical of such releases on the imprint, it probably sold all of 100 copies to the ardent Brit soul brigade and now remains a complete rarity, forty years on…

The trio’s recordings for Twin Stacks may have sold a few more copies in the U.S. but it was after an appearance at The Regal Theater, the chitlin’ circuit venue in the Windy City, that The Emotions landed a contract with Stax, thanks no doubt to an introduction to the label by Pervis Staples. It was supposed to be a one-off single deal but when “So I Can Love You” (written by Sheila and, as she relayed to Rob Bowman in the liner notes for the Complete Stax Singles box set, Vol.2, based on a true story), so deftly produced by Isaac Hayes & David Porter began taking off, The Emotions found themselves with a long-term contract with Volt.

Still in their teens, the trio recorded for Stax for a number of years, although in interviews years later, members of the group expressed concern about having recorded songs (such as Luther Ingram’s “If Loving You Is Wrong,” released on a UK compilation of their work entitled “Songs Of Innocence and Experience”) that they deemed ‘inappropriate’ given their age. The record-buying public seemed unconcerned that the vocal trio coo-ing tunes like “So I Can Love You,”
“I Like It,” “The Best Part Of A Love Affair.” “Stealing Love,” “Show Me How” and “From Toys To Boys” were barely legal at the time and while an Emotions’ album for Volt was entitled “Untouched,” the young women’s seeming discomfort with singing songs that dealt with adult emotions and situations seem to dissipate as they became regular fixtures on the R&B charts from ‘69 to ’74.

In the wake of the demise of Stax, The Emotions hooked up with a man who, while born in Memphis, had made Chicago his home for many years: Maurice White, aware of the group from its early years in the world of gospel, signed the group to his Kalimba Productions in 1976 and a year later, The Emotions had landed a chart-topping single in the form of “The Best Of My Love,” now a tried-and-true classic, used in movie soundtracks, commercials and countless compilations since. While their sound evolved, certainly The Emotions’ early work for Stax provided a solid career foundation for this soulful team…

David Nathan
Aka the British Ambassador Of Soul
Owner, www.soulmusic.com