King of the Blues: 1989

King of the Blues: 1989 is an album by the American musician B. B. King, released in 1988. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Blues Recording".

King supported the album with a North American tour, which was a hit due to his appearance in U2's Rattle and Hum. King was disappointed that the album and tour did not find much success with Black audiences.

Production
Al Kooper was among the album's four producers. Many of the tracks used drum machines; King was an adopter of home computers and curious about modern studio technology. Steve Cropper played rhythm guitar. "Drowning in the Sea of Love" was written by Gamble and Huff. "Can't Get Enough" was King's favorite track.

Critical reception
The Orlando Sentinel called the album a "bid for pop- crossover attention." The Calgary Herald wrote that "the songs are so mediocre as to actually give you the blues, and producer Al Kooper has drowned King's occasional stellar guitar work in a sea of keyboards and soulless drum programming." The Kingston Whig-Standard determined that the album "is very contemporary and could easily give Robert Cray a run for his money in the blues-pop-soul category." The Toronto Star labeled it "a bold, big electric blues album from the unassailable master of the field." The Vancouver Sun noted that King of the Blues: 1989 was "more structured and tight than previous albums."

AllMusic concluded: "Over-glossed R&B tracks, heavy doses of keyboards and drum programming are an ideal way to make albums for the pop charts, but for B.B. King, they are tools of disaster." King's biographer, Daniel de Vise, deemed the album perhaps "the low ebb of his recording career."