Customer Reviews

Back Door Wolf

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(2)
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Wolf's last album is an astonishing display of pure guts and deep, deep blues. Tracks like "Coon On The Moon" and "Watergate Blues" updated the form itself, and he re-invents the past in songs like "Moving", "Trying To Forget You", and the utterly amazing "Can't Stay Here". Some so-called purists were put out by the keyboard-simulated harpsichord on a few cuts, but it only adds to the effect of killer tunes like "Speak Now Woman". The great Hubert Sumlin is here as well, and if you're a guitar player, clean your ears and listen up. While many people point out "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions" as the highlight of Wolf's last years, this album is an even deeper, purer document of maybe the greatest of them all. He's been gone twenty-two years, but I don't think that voice will ever be entirely dead.

I enjoy listening to the music on this CD very much. This is the last album recorded by the legendary blues giant Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf. The CD notes provide a brief history of the man, the myth, the mighty, moanin' Wolf. I learned from them that, although he had been performing since the 1930s, he started his recording career at the age of 40 in 1951. It was in Memphis where he was discovered by Sam Phillips, as in Elvis. His first recording session resulted in a hit, "MOANIN' AT MIDNIGHT", a personal favourite, and landed him a contract with Leonard Chess. For twenty years begining in 1953, the Wolf made records with Chess. Although, success was late in arriving for him in the US, if you were at the Crawdaddy Club in London in the 1960's, you would have known who he was. He was one of the influences for the under-rated British group the YARDBIRDS which was a revolving door for legendary guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and finally, Jimmy Page. In the songs of this CD, Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin, who was his guitarist since 1954, look back over their recording career update and summarize it. As much as this is a Howlin' Wolf album, it is also a Hubert Sumlin album. If you are learning to play guitar and have yet to master one of Sumlin's leads, this is a good CD to listen closely to. He balances Wolf's low growl with treble notes which bend, slide, jab and smoothly grace a pentatonic scale. Sumlin's style depends on a solid rhythm section to keep things steady, and he is working with a fine one here. CAN'T STAY HERE, SPEAK NOW WOMAN(ALT.) and TRYING TO FORGET YOU are standouts as Sumlin showpieces. The last one is a retrospective tour through Wolf's songs as that woman who is still "trying to wreck" his life has him "moanin' at midnight". If you are interested in the Chicago Blues, or would like to learn the classic guitar solos of Hubert Sumlin, this CD will be interesting to you

On this 1973 effort you can hear some guy feeding Howlin' Wolf his lyrics on the opening cut "Moving." Wolf also flubs a line in the song. We must thank the guardians of blues authenticity for leaving in mistakes and off-mike cues. Nonetheless, this is a fine blues album and Howlin' Wolf is everybody's favorite artist. Bluesniks all over Sweden, London and El Cerrito still debate whether Hubert Sumlin or Buddy Guy played the classic guitar licks on Wolf's '50s and '60s Chess records. On this one Sumlin is credited so I guess it's him. Someone got Detroit Jr. a harpsichord to play on this album. Another example of that restless experimentation that characterized the Chess label. Howlin' Wolf was a master of throwaway phrasing just like Frank Sinatra but I don't believe Mr. Burnett ever got to hang out with any presidents, and if there was ever any chance of that happening his "Watergate Blues" queered that deal. But Wolf is easily as good as Sinatra or anybody else, he takes a back seat to no one, and in the ongoing debate over whether Francis Albert or Howlin' Wolf was better, I say Wolf. This was Howlin' Wolf's last album before dying in 1976. If you don't know his music, get the early stuff he cut in the Memphis area in the early 1950s, as it remains perhaps his best work. I can hear that guy off-mike right now, feeding Wolf the words, and if I could find out who it was, I'd write a letter to someone who cared.

Frankly, this album gets off to a less-than-good start, wherein a really good song ("Movin'") is effectively ruined by the highly audible presence of Eddie Shaw feeding Wolf his lines. This was standard practice for Wolf in the studio, as reading wasn't his strong suit, but when it winds up on mic it's distracting as hell, as it is here.

Fortunately, this technical gaffe is not repeated, and the album picks up steam from there with a series of uniformly strong compositions from Wolf and/or Shaw. Wolf is in good voice despite his failing health and puts the songs over well, while Hubert Sumlin turns in some of the most indescribably sublime guitar work of his (or anyone else's) career, which is saying a whole lot.

Then there's the harpsichord. I don't pretend to know what the motivation was behind this experiment, but it doesn't work on any level. The several songs on which it appears are rendered (to my ears at least) pretty much unlistenable. It's too bad, because without the harpsichord, this would be an absolute five star career-closing triumph for one of the giants of American music in the 20th century. However, despite the harpsichord experiment gone awry, there's still plenty of stuff to like here. If you already own Wolf's extraordinary Chess albums of the '50s and '60s and are looking for more, The Back Door Wolf will certainly not disappoint.

Everyone one knows how great Howlin' Wolf had been in the previous two decades, but how did he sound in 1973 on his final album, at the age of 63, in poor health and with less than three years to live? The contents of The Back Door Wolf, recorded on August 14th and 17th 1973, seem ignored on all the compilations by which most of us now know his work.
Actually, he is in great voice and contributes some nifty harmonica work to boot. Regular accompanists SP Leary and the legendary Hubert Sumlin are all over the record, abetted by Willie Harris on rhythm guitar and either James Green or Andrew McMahon on bass. The baroque harpsichord-like sounds of Detroit Junior's electric keyboards on four of the tracks have put off some listeners but didn't trouble me, though on balance I prefer his piano work on the other tracks, particularly on Stop Using Me. An alternative take of St Louis Jimmy's Speak Now Woman is added to the CD on which the harpsichord is replaced by background piano and Hubert Sumlin's guitar lead. The tenor sax player Eddie Shaw wrote five of the tunes but plays only on the instrumental title track, also the single from the album, which has Wolf moaning and howling in the background.
In some ways this is a retrospective album, with Wolf frequently back-referencing his earlier recording in the lyrics and in his harmonica playing, and also quoting lines from early influences such as Charley Patton, though there are also topical songs about the Watergate hearings and about African-American integration. At times the playing can seem slightly subdued and to lack fire, but this minor criticism aside this is a fine body of work.

This is the last album The Wolf recorded. It has some top-notch songs on it, and a couple of not-so top-notch (the electric harpsichord is overdone!)

For any Wolf fan, this is a must. Even after a heart attack or two and kidneys that no longer functioned, Wolf showed on this album that he could still howl like no one else.

Recommended

Finished in August, 1973, "The Back Door Wolf" comprises Howlin' Wolf's very last recordings for MCA/Chess. His last recordings for anybody, actually, since Wolf was a very sick man at the time, and he passed away less than 2 1/2 years later at the age of 65.

But it is by no means the last, barely audible gasp of a dying legend. Even at 63, plagued by kidney failure and serious heart problems, Wolf could rock the house, and this album, while not quite the equal of his output during the 50s and early 60s, is more than worth a listen.
It opens with the tough, pulsating "Killing Floor"-like "Moving", an autobiographical song penned by Wolf himself, and containing references to many of his old hits, and ends on a high note as well, with bassist Andrew McMahon's swaggering shuffle "Can't Stay Here".
Other highlights include the piano-driven "Stop Using Me", the swinging "Leave Here Walkin'", and Wolf Gang saxist and bandleader Eddie Shaw's wonderful "Coon On The Moon", an easy, loping blues tune set to Shaw's proud lyrics about the misfortunes and triumphs of the blacks of America, and delivered with power, dignity and conviction by the Wolf:
"You know they call us coons / Say we don't have no sense / You know you gonna wake up one morning / And the old coon gon' be the president - things have changed!"

The band, anchored by drummer S.P. Leary, is great as always, although I could easily have done without Detroit Junior's harpsichord which pops up here and there. But guitarists Hubert Sumlin and Willie Harris are excellent, with Sumlin getting off some fiery solos, and Wolf's harmonica playing is sparse but just right as always.

Not the place to start your Howlin' Wolf collection, perhaps, but a great place to end up.
Highly recommended.

A more detailed review will be on the eventual way but for now...I feel I must get in my two cents...


This album is EXCELLENT, that keyboard that everyone keeps complaining about rips like Herbie Hancock! The vocals are at their most developed, the lyrics are at their best, and even speak out and take a stance on songs like "Watergate Blues." Some EXCELLENT all-around muscianship. The title track is a ripping instrumental with the Wolf OOOing over the fine solos.

Put this along with the highlight tracks off of "Real Folk Blues" and maybe a couple other albums and you have yourself a fine Wolf collection...

One love

For the critics who think they're "purists" at heart,

And complain that the harpsichord "bites",

You're deceiving the masses about Wolf's GREAT last album,

May 'Ol Howlin' haunt you at night!!!

(With apologies to Maria Ouspenskaya......)

This is an often overlooked and underrated album by Howlin' Wolf. This was his last album and he is actually in good voice and plays some great harmonica. What I like about this album is the content. Newer songs like 'Coon on the Moon' and 'Watergates Blues' stand out for me. It's not just a rehash of his hits. A major issue with the album is the harpsichord, which can be found on a number of tracks. Too much of this happended in the early 70's and it really dates the album. This would not be the first place I start to discover the great Howlin' Wolf, but would be a nice addition to round out a collection.