Memphis Days - The Definitive Edition Vol. 2 [Import]

Howlin' Wolf | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bear Family
• ASIN: B0000070YV
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #182,463 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Baby Ride With Me (Ridin' in the Moonlight)

2. How Many More Years

3. Moanin' at Midnight

4. Howlin' Wolf Boogie

5. The Wolf Is at Your Door

6. Mr. Highway Man

7. Getting Old and Grey

8. Worried All the Time

9. Saddle My Pony ( Gonna Find My Baby Out in the World Somewhere)

10. Oh, Red!

11. My Last Affair

12. Come Back Home [Take 2]

13. Dorothy Mae

14. Oh, Red! [Take 2]

15. Come Back Home [Take 3]

16. How Many More Years

17. How Many More Years

18. Baby Ride With Me (Ridin' in the Moonlight)

19. Baby Ride With Me (Ridin' in the Moonlight)

Editorial Reviews

Volume 2 of 2 of the Definitive edition of Howlin' Wolf's Memphis recordings, including many rare and previously unissued cuts. It's the second volume collection of his early recordings produced by the legendary Sam Phillips at the famed Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The deluxe booklet includes extensive liner notes by Jim Dickinson, and a discography of his 1951-1952 Memphis recordings by Dave Sax. A must have for any Wolf fan. With Willie Johnson, Willie Steel, etc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just buy it., November 22, 2001

By 

Lee Hartsfeld (Central Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memphis Days: Definitive Edition 2 (Audio CD)

Howlin' Wolf's earliest, pre-Chicago material was his best, by far, and this CD proves it. All of these tracks were recorded at Sun Studios, and they feature powerful and brilliantly minimalist blues music unlike the more assembly-line Chicago stuff that has been allowed to epitomize the genre. In a perfect universe, Wolf would have made ten times this many records while in Memphis, and each and every master tape would have survived intact. That didn't happen in our universe, but let's be thankful for the Early Wolf that HAS survived. Savor Willie Johnson's distorted guitar, particularly the nimble runs on "The Wolf is at your door" and the economic but dazzling genius of his lead work on "Howlin' Wolf boogie," the intro to which I haven't yet recovered from. And, lest anyone doubt that rock and roll existed long before it had a name, behold Johnson's amp-busting power chords on 1951's "How many more years," a track that renews itself every one hundred listenings or so. Wolf's voice is allowed full reign on these recordings, possibly because, at Sun, Wolf was allowed to play what he wanted to play without endless interruptions and Leonard-Chess-style admonitions of "Keep it simple." At Sun, Wolf was playing the actual music, not someone's hackneyed notion of what it was supposed to sound like. You might prefer these early sides. Or you might like them as much as the later material, or not as much. No matter. Just buy it.