Customer Reviews

Howlin Wolf: The Chess Box

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If life were a college course in Blues Appreciation, at least three aural textbooks would be required listening: the Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson and the Chess Boxes of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf. Just purchasing a CD or two of any of the other blues masters will suffice (for awhile anyway), but these three giants produced so much listenable and danceable music that nothing less than complete box sets will do. Even at 71 tracks, this set still feels incomplete; where is Wolf's fabulous live recording of "Highway 49" from the Newport Folk Festival? Or "Do the Do" from London Howlin Wolf Sessions, featuring Eric Clapton and Hubert Sumlin's fantastic guitar figures? But these are minor quibbles. How can you argue with an album that starts with a lonesome Wolf moan ("Moanin at Midnight") and ends (well, one track from the end, anyway) with a frail Wolf teaching a roomful of top blues acolytes (Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts) how to play acoustic guitar on "Little Red Rooster" the way Charlie Patton himself taught Wolf some 40-50 years ago? What an experience! His powerful, gargling-battery-acid voice (only Blind Willie Johnson and Captain Beefheart had more abused throats) now a shadow of it's former self, his commanding presence still moves the assembled royalty of British blues-rock to "get on it" and produce a memorable take. In between are too many highlights to mention, including "Killing Floor" (probably the only song set in an animal slaughterhouse), "Back Door Man" (later covered memorably by the Doors), "I Ain't Superstitious" (also covered well by Jeff Beck Group and Savoy Brown), and most memorably, his signature song "Smokestack Lightning." As a bonus, there are several snippets from an interview recording just a few years before his death in which he reveals how he got his name, how he got started playing the blues, and the "hidden" meanings behind both "Smokestack Lightning" and "I Asked Her For Water". These glimpses into the real, behind-the scenes Wolf persona, each about 30 seconds to one minute long, are priceless. Throughout the set, Wolf is supported by first-rate musicians, particularly the aforementioned Sumlin, who was such a good guitarist that he was "borrowed" regularly by the likes of Muddy Waters and Little Walter, but always made his way back to Wolf's pack. This set and all it's great music should keep most listener's happy for hours. Now, when will some great writer take up the challenge of giving Howlin' Wolf the biography he deserves? (Waters and Walter already have fine bios.) Until then, the Wolf fan will just have to make do with the (excellent) liner notes from this set and play it once again to hear the magic of the Wolf moanin' at midnight, or at any time of day he so desires.

This is a sublime, exquisitely packaged collection of Howlin' Wolf's awe-inspiring brand of blues.
Just under 3 1/2 hours of music, opening with Wolf's eerie, wordless "throat singing" on 1951's "Moaning At Midnight", and ending with the opening track, "Moving", off his final studio album.

A lot of people have covered Wolf's songs, but none have come close to matching his ferocious sandpaper voice, and Howlin' Wolf in his prime was without a doubt the most electrifying performer the Chicago blues clubs had even experienced. Standing 6'4" and weighing 275 lbs, Wolf towered over everybody, literally as well as figuratively.

Starting off as a strict Charley Patton-imitator, Chester Arthur Burnett showed up in the juke joints of Mississippi in the late 30s with one of the first electric guitars anyone had ever seen, and when he finally started recording (for Sam Phillips' Sun Records in 1951), he was 41 years old and had been performing for two decades down in the cotton belt.
He suddenly had two hits on the R&B list at the same time ("Moanin' At Midnight" and the clanging, piano-driven "How Many More Years"), and in the winter of 1953, Wolf headed out of the South (in his own brand new $4,000 car), settling in Chicago, Illinois, where he would record for Chess Records right up until his death from kidney failure in January, 1976:
"-I'm the onliest one", he said, "-drove out of the South like a gentleman!"
"The Chess Box" collects every hit the Wolf ever had, as well as B-sides, album tracks, rare acoustic solo performances, and a few short interview snippets. The only thing that could have made this collection any better would have been a fourth CD of live tracks.
The first CD collects Wolf's singles from 1951-1955, including the up-tempo, R&B-styled "Mr Highway Man" (excellent piano playing by Albert Williams), the Charley Patton-classic "Saddle My Pony", a remake of John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson's "Bluebird" (oddly credited to John Lee Hooker), the classics "Evil" and "Forty-Four", and the harp-driven "Just My Kind".

The first fifteen songs feature Wolf's original lead guitarist Willie Johnson, after which Lee Cooper takes over.
Johnson's aggressive, fiery guitar playing suited Wolf's songs perfectly, and he was surrounded by a slew of excellent blues pianists, from Ike Turner to L.C. Hubert, but around 1955 a more fixed band constellation started to take form, featuring bassist, arranger and composer Willie Dixon, and a fabulous young guitar player, Hubert Sumlin, who would stay with the Wolf right up until his death, and who became an idol for guitar players like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

Disc 2 is even better, mixing Wolf's originals with Willie Dixon's more contemporary compositions. Highlights include the all-time blues classic "Smokestack Lightnin'", composed by the Wolf himself, and featuring some of his best harp playing, as well as axe-men Hubert Sumlin and Willie Johnson playing side by side (one of only two sides where they appear together).
And then there's Wolf's take on Tommy Johnson's awesome "I Asked Her For Water (she brought me gasoline)", Dixon's "I Ain't Superstitious", "Shake For Me", "The Red Rooster", "Howlin' For My Darling" and "Down In The Bottom", and the classic "Sitting On Top Of The World". The supremely catchy "(Meet Me) Down In The Bottom" features Johnny Johnson on piano and Jimmy Rogers on guitar, but it's Wolf himself playing the fills and the main slide guitar riff heard during the intro and the instrumental break, and he plays as well on "The Red Rooster", "You'll Be Mine" and several other tracks.

Disc 3 opens with one of Willie Dixon's best compositions for Wolf, the up-tempo, almost rock n' roll-like "Hidden Charms". Backed by two sax players, Donald Hankins and Elmore James' saxist J.T. Brown, Hubert Sumlin lays down what has been called the best guitar solo ever recorded.
Dixon's other contributions, the silly "Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy" and "Built For Comfort", are almost novelty songs, but the superb arrangement makes them work.

And the rest of the disc features mainly Wolf's own songs, plus a powerful rendition of "Dust My Broom", and a 1970 recording of "The Red Rooster" featuring Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Stevie Winwood.
The sax-augumented "Love Me Darlin'" rolls along like a steam train, creating a magnificent groove, and Wolf's gravelly vocals on "I Walked From Dallas" and the awesome "New Crawling King Snake" must be heard to be believed.

CD 3 also includes two interesting acoustic solo performances, as well as the funky "My Mind Is Ramblin'" and "My Country Sugar Mama" (fine harp playing by the Wolf), and the menacing "Commit A Crime".
But the best song on the disc (and probably the best song of Wolf's career) is without a doubt the magnificent "Killing Floor", Howlin' Wolf's own composition and one of the defining classics of electric Chicago blues.
It opens with a supremely catchy guitar riff from Hubert Sumlin (Buddy Guy is playing the acoustic slap-back rhythm guitar), and the two-sax horn section of Arnold Rogers and Donald Hankins plays soul-revue stabs. And when the mighty Wolf finally opens his mouth it becomes clear that though Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix may have nicked the riff, the song itself belongs forever to the Howlin' Wolf, and those who dare try to cover it do so at their peril.

An essential addition to any serious collection of electric blues.

Anyone into the BLUES should have this comprehensive set. Although the early music on the first disc is interesting, the 2nd is really ON TOP OF THE WORLD. Hubert Sumlin is one of the great unsung guitarists of his time (and he's still playing although as a solo) and Eric Clapton paid tribute to him by requesting Sumlin's presence on the LONDON SESSIONS which this set includes some cuts but not enough. His scratchy, wild playing influenced many and some may not believe a lot of this stuff was recorded before Clapton became famous. These 3 CD's are worth checking out for seeing how well Sumlin and Wolf complimented each other.

If you like your blues hard, rough, and howlin' then this is what you need. His voice means business- when the Wolf speaks people listen. Everytime that I play this set people want to know who it is.

Anyone remotely appreciative of Howlin' Wolf will love this box. A number of tracks feature Wolf's dialogue which is a joy to hear. However its his music that features and this is a sensational place to begin your Wolf library (if you haven't started it already. This box is simply a 'must-have' for any serious fans of Howlin' Wolf - you will not be disappointed.

One of my first exposures to the world of Chicago-style blues, after a steady diet of country-style Delta blues, was the Rolling Stones' version of the Willie Dixon classic Little Red Rooster back in the early 1960's. I thought that was a song to beat all songs and it had nothing to do its allegorical nature, you know, about sex. What, moreover, capped it for me the fact that it was originally banned in Boston- from the radio airwaves of the times. Naturally that made this teenager want to hear it even more.

All this is by way of saying-yes; the Stones did a great version of that song but if you really want it heard then you must go to the master- Howlin' Wolf. That big gravelly-voiced man who, in still pictures that I have seen of him as well as film seems to be inhaling the microphone, lets it all hang out as he struts his stuff on that number. In Do the Do, Little Red Rooster, Killing Floor and on and on the Wolf sweats, bleeds, sucks up the whiskey, has another one for good measure and gets down on his knees, sometimes literally, to belt out the blues.

You buy this CD set to get your little hands on Rooster but that is hardly the end of the story. This set contains every classic Wolf song that you could want under one roof, and some interesting Wolf talk in between. What are the ones you want to make sure you hear (and hear over and over again). Well, here is a by no means inclusive short list. Spoonful, The Natchez Burning, Killing Floor, Dust My Broom, I Am The Wolf, Back Door Man, Wang Dang Doodle... hey, wait a minute let's make it easier just get the set, take a few hours off and listen-you won't want to turn the damn thing off.

This three CD box set collects the "best" recordings from Howlin' Wolf's long association with Chess Records. Wolf was one of the greatest blues singers of all time, and the vast majority of his recordings were with Chess. He did recorded a number of great tracks for another record label early in his career, which are collected on Moanin' at Midnight: The Memphis Recordings. But even without those recordings this is an essential overview of the career of one of the greatest bluesmen.

Wolf along with Muddy were stablemates during Chess's glory years, and this set shows why his reputation as one of the blues' great masters is inviolable. The set begins in the early 50s with his first recordings for Philip's Sun studios in Memphis, which are key to understanding his origins in Delta country blues, before switching to his various band formations at Chess through to the early 70s. There are many classics here, including "Evil," "Sitting on Top of the World," and "Smokestack Lightin'," as well as lesser known gems and brief interviews. With partial exception of some lackluster liner notes, this set is necessary for any self-respecting fan of American folk music and blues.

This is not a very tough choice, if you like Howlin' Wolf or the blues get this box. It has not weak tracks, some fascinating interviews (well The Wolf talking), and many of the classic, indispensable tracks.Plus, there's, as evidenced here, no other electric blues guitarist nearly as nasty, dirty, just downright awesome as Hubert Sumlin. Buy and enjoy, this is the blues at its best.

There isn't too much to add from the other reviews. You can find all the details about this box in some of them. The only complaint... It's too short! Where's the rest of the missing Wolf Chess material? It's out there, give it to us!