Real Folk Blues

Howlin Wolf, Howlin' Wolf | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B000002OA5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,615 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Few folks are as aptly named and few albums are as aptly titled as this one. Wolf was a powerhouse of a singer, a blues belter who positively growled his words. Backed by a Chicago blues band of unrestrained force, the result is some of the strongest and long lasting recordings in the history of electric blues. Guitarist Hubert Sumlin deserves much of the credit. His piercing wails punctuate tracks such as "Killing Floor," "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy," and "Sittin' On Top of the World"--yet Wolf is always center stage. These tracks were cut between 1956 and 1966, and include both Wolf's sterling originals as well as a trio of Willie Dixon numbers tailor-made for the big man. --Rob O'Connor

Product Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 2007. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful Wolf disc, November 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Folk Blues (Audio CD)

This is a solid Howlin' Wolf disc, in fact, you'll find few better. Killing Floor, of course, rocks. There are no weak tracks on this disc and it includes the classics: Louise, Poor Boy, Sittin' on Top of the World and Built for Comfort, among others. Enjoy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ****1/2 - plenty of great, thoroughly non-folkish Wolf, September 8, 2004

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Real Folk Blues (Audio CD)

The only thing "wrong" with this disc is that almost all of this material is available on MCA/Chess's main Howlin' Wolf-compilations "His Best", "Hist Best vol. II" and the magnificent "Chess Box".

In terms of rarities, "More Real Folk Blues" is the more interesting of Wolf's two "Folk Blues" albums (neither of which are the slightest bit folkish), but the fact that "The Real Folk Blues" and "More Real Folk Blues" are now in print only as a twofer-CD which features all 24 tracks makes that kind of a moot point, I guess.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with what is here. "The Real Folk Blues" opens with two of Wolf's best and most powerful mid-60s numbers, the self-penned "Killing Floor" and "Louise". "Killing Floor" is one of the finest songs in Chester Arthur Burnett's lenghty catalogue, perhaps the finest, and the lesser-known but thoroughly impressive "Louise" is a driving powerhouse of a song, all blaring saxes and a scorching solo by Wolf's lead guitarist Hubert Sumlin.

Other highlights include...well, the rest of what is here, really, although Willie Dixon's novelty-thumper "Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy" is something of an acquired taste. But most of these songs (9 out of 12, actually) ar Wolf originals, and numbers like the muscular grind of "My Country Sugar Mama", the swinging shuffle "Poor Boy", and the somber "The Natchez Burnin'" are particularly superb.
This is nothing like a thorough Wolf retrospective, of course, just a sample of his mid-50s to mid-60s Chess waxings, but that doesn't make it any less great. You need this material in one form or another!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No unreal folk blues here...., February 3, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Real Folk Blues (Audio CD)

Some of these tracks are among Wolf's best; others aren't. Those that fall into the "aren't" category include Willie Dixon's "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy," a number that confirms Dixon's reputation, in the eyes of some, as the Chet Atkins of the blues. (Blues-politan?) I'm not saying that this is good or bad, but the track is not among Wolf's best. But my review policy regarding Wolf is simple and, I think, absolutely fair, my policy being that Wolf never recorded anything worth fewer than five stars. Period. If a collection of coughing and sneezing by the great man were released as a CD, or part of one, I would issue five stars to it. This is based on the theory that anything Mr. Burnett committed to tape (or disc) was, and remains, magnificent. Regardless of what it was.

At any rate, there is nothing but music on this CD, the best tracks being "Killing Floor," "Poor Boy," "Sittin' on Top of the World," and the almost-experimental "Nachez Burning," a 1956 side unlike anything else I've heard by this great artist. Blues rock is linked with any number of "Chicago" (i.e., transplanted Southern) bluesmen, but Wolf practically invented the 1960s version of that music. Proof herein.

I almost forgot. Five stars.