Customer Reviews

Canned Heat/Boogie With Canned Heat

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Watch out for this one, friends: The mastering on the "Boogie With Canned Heat" album is horrendous! The self-titled debut album sounds just as good as you'd expect; good wide stereo and all--but something went terribly wrong with the follow-up. "Boogie" is, unquestionably, one of the greatest blues/boogie/rock albums of all time, and I've waited many years to get a good copy of the complete album on cd. On this release, however, not only is the sound quality not quite up to the standard worthy of the moniker "remastered," but the stereo separation is so poor that had I not been listening with headphones, I'd have thought the album was in straight mono--and frankly, it might as well be. To add insult to injury, the classic closer (and one of Heat's signature tracks), "Fried Hockey Boogie" is edited down from its 11-minutes-+ complete version to under eight minutes!
In a nutshell, then: Properly recorded & mastered, this cd would easily rank 5 stars--but the inexplicable butchering of the "Boogie" album knocks it a full 3 stars down the ladder where I'm concerned. This is the kind of review I hoped I'd never have to write, but I thought I'd pass it along so you have an idea what you're getting if you decide to buy.

I've waited a good long while for these two albums--but particularly "Boogie With Canned Heat"--to come out, properly remastered, on cd, so you can imagine how eager I was to get this release when I saw it. Well, the first album sounds fine enough, but as I listened to "Boogie," my enjoyment slowly turned to fury: The mastering on this, Heat's second and best album, is horrendous! The stereo separation is so poor that had I not been listening with headphones, I'd have thought it was straight mono--and it might just as well be. For Bgo to claim this stuff was remastered is utterly preposterous: If anyone tries to tell me the "Boogie" album was mastered from a first-generation recording (or anything remotely close), I'll punch 'em in the nose. Believe me, people, it's that bad. This great band--and this great album--deserve a much more respectful, professional treatment. By the same token, for a $19 cd, we Heat fans deserve a lot better than this. Finally, to pour a few more grains of salt into the wounds, the album's classic closer, "Fried Hockey Boogie," is edited down from its 11-minutes-plus form we know and love to under eight minutes (Sunflower's guitar solo is slashed into less than half, and there are several chops in the Bear's rapping.) I've bought other cds on the Bgo label in the past and gotten pretty much what I expected, but after hearing this one, I don't suppose I'll buy another one on the label unless I've had an opportunity to hear it first. In summation: If you love this music (as do I) but don't care how it sounds, go ahead and put your money down. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a Good master of the "Boogie" album, you ain't gonna get it here. I'm sorry to burst the bubble of any of you who were, as was I, eager to get that album on cd sounding as it deserves to--but that's what this forum is about, and I wanted you to beware of what you'd be in for. Hopefully, prayerfully, someone else will get it right someday soon.

As owner of both a high end system and a reasonable set of ears, I have to take exception to the reviewer who was so steamed that he submitted the same review twice under different names. I owned both of these albums when they came out and they both sound better here. Granted, my stereo in 1968 wasn't much but you'd think from the review that you were getting some awful sounding facsimile of the original. Both CD's have been remastered but the job is just so-so. More money probably would have bought better remastering but considering that the Heat aren't going to sell many discs, this is probably the best that you're gonna get if you want both LP's without spending an arm and a leg. Yes, they do chop off over three minutes of "Fried Hockey Boogie" which is, I guess, depending on your POV, a shame. I have to say it didn't cause me to lose any sleep because I always liked the rest of the album more than that one song and it wouldn't fit on one CD. Yeah, they probably could have cut a track from the 1st album but then somebody would give it one star because they took off their favorite track. BTW this disc is 78+ minutes long. If you must have the full-length "FHB" there is a dandy 'best of' that has been nicely remastered but you'll miss well over half of the songs on "Boogie With" and 80% of the songs on "Canned Heat" so there you go. There is an out of print import of "Boogie With" that has the full "FHB" but the remastering isn't much different from this one. If your memories must be stored under glass and relived down to the exact same incense you used to cover that other smell, then you might want to shell out the big bucks for the seperate releases (about $50.) Otherwise this one is more than OK.

Canned Heat's debut and "Boogie With Canned Heat", all summed up on one disc. Twenty one tracks total of rockin' blues from the band who once occupied the stage of Woodstock. "Canned Heat" their debut of the real blues, upon it's release in 1967 was not received to well, the follow up "Boogie With Canned Heat", 1968, actually turned the tide for the band and listening to both recordings here it sounds as if one is as good as the other, not a bad track, an excellent compilation...pay no attention to the reviewer pertaining to the audio of "boogie", there's nothing wrong with the sound, although I do admit cutting a song in half (Fried Hockey Boogie) of an original studio track is slightly unorthodox to say the least, I'd say unheard of, inspite of knowing this I did add to this to my collection, and ordered all of Canned Heat's studio albums with extraordinaire slide and harp player, Al "blind owl" Wilson - the debut Canned Heat, Boogie With, Living The Blues, Hallelujah, Future Blues. England import, BGO 2003, "the heat" five stars all the way.

I think the last reviewer got it right, not the guy who submitted the first two. I own both this CD and the best of discussed above, so I was able with my burner to make up a perfectly good Boogie album out of the tracks from this one plus the "Fried Hockey Boogie" from the best of (my version of which is called Cookbook). If you like these albums, especially Boogie, as much as I do, you should not be deterred from buying this, which is a perfectly good digital copy of the LP if not exactly a remaster. The LP quality was excellent to begin with, so for most listeners it should not be a problem. Worth it just for the full-length "On the Road Again," which appears only as the single version on most other compilations, and for all the long-lost songs like "My Crime" and one of my favorites, "An Owl Song." What bothers me more than a cut Fried Hockey is that on the BGO reissue of Living the Blues (apparently only available as a physical import CD) as well as on Cookbook, on the song "Boogie Music," they left off the wonderful 1920's fade-out of an old 78 that seems to have been the inspiration for the tune of "Going Up the Country." I had to transcribe my original 45 to get that.

Great cuts, great memories. Saw them in concert when 'Bears' arm was broken. They still put on a great show, from what I can remember (too much party). Tragic history involved, but a couple of the guys are still touring. Giving this CD a special place in music history.

If you are a Canned Heat fan from the 70's, you will love this CD, especially the Boogie with Canned Heat. This combination is by far one of their best.

Here you get Canned Heat's first two albums on one CD. Both albums are great. There's nothing wrong with the audio as the first two reviewers claim, not as far as I can tell anyway.
The first album contains some great traditional blues songs, and Alan Wilson plays an awesome slide guitar on some of the tracks.
The second album is Canned Heat's break through album containing their first big hit, "On The Rad Again", song by Alan Wilson in his high tenor voice (not falsetto as some claim), and minor hits such as, "Amphetamine Annie", and, "My Crime" (about the band's drug bust in Denver). This is the seminal album where they found their "sound".

The only thing wrong with this release, is the fact they cut, "Fried Hockey Boogie", almost in half. It's a mystery to me why they chose to shorten the track, but they did (I guess they did'nt like Henry Vestine's guitar solo very much :) ).
I still think it's a good deal though, to get their first two albums on one CD for $16.31.

As a long time Canned Heat fan, I was pleased to see this two-fer available in the MP3 downloads. The debut album was one the classic blues-rock albums of the '60's and it sounds great. Boogie is a real gem, too. They did cut FHB in half, but you can get that in other sources. One thing I do miss is the cover art. Both of these, especially Boogie, had classic covers, wish there was a way you could get those.

when i bought this same copy off amazon a few years ago i was 19 and it absolutely changed the way my ears precieved blues/rock for the rest of my life. contrary to the dude who can't stand the mastering job, i find it just dandy; and completely agree with reviewer James D.Morrow. buy this from the most affordable seller on here an let it all soak in with "Big Road Blues." Most Highly Recommended..