"Canned Heat/Boogie With Canned Heat" by CANNED HEAT – July 1967 US Debut Album Plus Their January 1968 US Second Studio Album both originally on Liberty Records in Stereo (August 1967 and June 1968 in the UK) - featuring Bob 'The Bear' Hite, Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson, Henry 'Sunflower' Vestine, Larry 'The Mole' Taylor, Frank Cook and Adolfo 'Fito' De La Parra (May 2022 UK Beat Goes On Compilation Re-Release – 2LPs onto 1CD - Andrew Thompson Remasters – This CD Originally Issued March 2003) - A Review by Mark Barry...

*** 2003 CD Remaster and 2022 Re-Release ***

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B000087HY0&asins=B000087HY0&linkId=e494d8cffb18dc8d722f5434401cebd1&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Turpentine Moan..."

 

In their nine-strong reissues of Canned Heat back-catalogue onto CD (see list below) – 2022 has seen England's Beat Goes On (BGO) return to three of them for re-release – and what we have here is the first of the three.

 

"Canned Heat" (July 1967 USA) and "Boogie With Canned Heat" (January 1968 USA) were both originally on Liberty Records and are presented here in glorious Stereo onto 1CD (a near 79-minute total playing time). The combo of their down-and-dirty Blues-Rock-Boogie and hairy-assed five-piece reprobate-charm chimed big time with young eager-to-participate audiences (they were a huge live draw back in the day).

 

First some background. What you technically have here is a re-release – a May 2022 re-release of a CD compilation Beat Goes On (BGO) first put out in March 2003 (itself reissued in 22 July 2013). Confusingly, this 2022 version uses the same catalogue number, Barcode and 2003 liner notes – with only the rear artwork around the copyright date box slightly different - but that is all (see photos above). It has also been suggested online that this is a new 2022 Remaster, but unstated as such, I doubt it. The 2003 Andrew Thompson Remasters were and are brilliant anyway – in yer face for all the right reasons so there would no need for a new one.

 

Time to start Rollin' and Tumblin' with our favourite Sterno Crew...here is the breakdown...

 

UK re-released 6 May 2022 (originally issued 17 March 2003) – "Canned Heat/Boogie With Canned Heat" by CANNED HEAT on Beat Goes On BGOCD577 (Barcode 5017261205773) is a 2LP-onto-1CD compilation of their first and second studio albums originally on Liberty Records in Stereo (UK and USA) that plays out as follows (78:22 minutes):

 

1. Rollin' and Tumblin' [Side 1]

2. Bullfrog Blues

3. Evil Is Going On

4. Goin' Down Slow

5. Catfish Blues

6. Dust My Broom [Side 2]

7. Help Me

8. Big Road Blues

9. The Story Of My Life

10. The Road Song

11. Rich Woman

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut-album "Canned Heat" - released July 1967 in the USA on Liberty Records LRP-3526 (Mono) and LST-7526 (Stereo) and August 1967 in the UK on Liberty Records LBL 83059E (Mono) and LBS 83059E (Stereo) – the STEREO MIX is used for this CD. Produced CAL CARTER - it peaked at No. 76 in the US Rock LP charts (didn’t chart UK).

 

12. Evil Woman [Side 1]

13. My Crime

14. On The Road Again

15. World In A Jug

16. Turpentine Moan

17. Whiskey Headed Woman No. 2

18. Amphetamine Annie [Side 2]

19. An Owl Song

20. Marie Laveau

21. Fried Hockey Boogie

Tracks 12 to 21 are their second studio album "Boogie With Canned Heat" – released January 1968 in the USA on Liberty LRP-3541 in Mono and Liberty LST-7541 in Stereo and June 1968 in the UK on Liberty LBL 83103E in Mono and Liberty LBS 83103E in Stereo - the STEREO MIX is used on this CD. Produced by DALLAS SMITH – it peaked at No. 5 in the USA Billboard Rock LP charts and No. 16 in the UK LP charts 

 

CANNED HEAT was:

BOB 'The Bear' aka 'Big Fat' HITE – Lead Vocals

ALAN 'Blind Owl' WILSON - Vocals, Slide Guitar, Chromatic Harmonica

HENRY 'Sunflower' VESTINE - Lead Guitar (and Sitar)

LARRY 'The Mole' TAYLOR - Bass

FRANK COOK – Drummer ("Canned Heat" LP)

ADOLFO 'Fito' DE LA PARRA – Drummer ("Boogie With Canned Heat" LP)

 

Longstanding liner-notes writer JOHN TOBLER provides us with a potted history of this famous American Blues-Rock band and a track-by-track analysis across 12-pages. Their first two incendiary platters were almost entirely cover versions of Blues and R&B standards given a Blues-Rock work-over and then fronted by two hugely different vocal styles – Hite the Gruff and Wilson the Choirboy. It reproduces the Pete Wilson liner notes from the debut album of 1967 (there were no liner note for the second in 1968) – Tobler taking his history through the loss of Wilson to suicide in 1970 and Vestine rejoining the band in 1971. There is also a period photo of the popular boogie band and a rear inlay through the see-through CD tray that advertises six titles on BGO for Canned Heart. But the Remaster is the thing – a cracking ANDREW THOMPSON transfer from Liberty tapes in STEREO that unleashes each album – dated a little perhaps in 2022 – but no less powerful.

 

The debut is a mess-up of Blues and R 'n' B cover done in Rock-Blues style - a sort of gruffer Paul Butterfield Blues Band - guitar and chromatic harmonica tearing it up. "Canned Heat" opens on a Muddy Waters cover "Rollin' And Tumblin'" followed by Blind Boy Fuller's "Bullfrog Blues" which Rory Gallagher would flame-thorough on his fabulous LP "Live! In Europe" on Polydor Records in 1972. Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf's catalogue not surprisingly gets hammered with "Evil Is Going On" but far better is a Slow Blues shuffler in the shape of Jimmy Oden's "Goin' Down Slow" where Wilson gets to rip on huge Harmonica warbles. The album then goes so John Lee Hooker with "Catfish Blues" - geetar and foot taps soon joined by Bass and Drums in a typical Canned Heat build. 

 

Robert Johnson gets picked up next with his "Dust My Broom" - give this one a bit of welly on the old Volume knob - will repay that special telegram. The production lifts considerably for Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help Me" - Wilson's high-pitched vocals taking a bit of getting used to - but wow that playing. Things speed up at last with "Big Road Blues" but go back to guitar-lead slow Blues for "The Story Of My Life" - a misery and woe tale of abandonment. The album romps home with two credible Howlin' Wolf approximations in "The Road Song" and then "Rich Woman" which comes on like John Mayall in 1966. 

 

The debut was good - even great in parts - but for me this release comes alive with their second LP "Boogie With..." - a far dirtier and more confident affair. The harsh separation of guitars are still in the left and right speakers, but the playing is almost abandoned - like the Riot In Cell Block No.9-sounding "My Crime" - an original of sorts where the boys describe working a hippy place busted by the cops. This is a band finding its groove - the Audio ballsy. We're then hit with a sound we all know - those opening moments of "On The Road Again" - the single that broke them worldwide and especially in the UK - Wilson's weirdly up-there vocals part of its groovy cool. We're then hit with Hite goin' Rawk with "World In A Jug" - another band original that almost has Doors dirtiness about it - fantastic stuff. 

Barroom piano-notes opens the 'running around with someone else' romp that is the wickedly good "Turpentine Moan" - the band cooking as he slashes through the slide guitar with that trademark talking Hite does. Drink a bottle of this and you're good to go. He introduces their second take on "Whiskey Headed Woman" with a giggle, but better is the message-song "Amphetamine Annie" - a lady who's always shoveling speed - pills that crack her lips and turns her skin yellow. "An Owl Song" has jarring brass, "Marie Laveau" is a slow Blues instrumental with great Guitar, Piano and harp battling - but they're whomped into submission by the finale of "Fried Hockey Boogie" - a huge Hooker-Boogie tour-de-force beast of outrageous guitar soloing that clocks in above twelve minutes. I mean they get it on! Hardly surprising that it surfaced on the "Cook Book: The Best Of Canned Heat" set that ended 1969. 

 

For sure this music is grungy, 60ts dated, hippy-ish and at times derivative and even amateur - but man what a racket the Heat made. Blind Owl - do your boogie - and they did...

 

CANNED HEAT CD Reissues/Remasters on Beat Goes On Records (BGO): 

 

1. "Canned Heat/Boogie With Canned Heat"

Debut/Second LPs from July 1967 and January 1968 US on Liberty in Stereo

March 2003, July 2013 and May 2022 CD Reissues

Beats Goes On BGOCD577 (Barcode 5017261205773) for all

 

2. "Living The Blues"

Third album from November 1968 US 2LP set on Liberty Records in Stereo

September 2003, July 2013 and April 2022 Reissues

Beat Goes On BGOCD591 (Barcode 5017261205919) 2CD Set

 

3. "Hallelujah/Cook Book + Bonus Track"

July and November 1969 US Fourth and Fifth Albums on Liberty in Stereo

"The Canned Heat Cook Book: The Best Of Canned Heat" is a Compilation of Tracks from Their First Four Studio LPs

March 2003 and July 2013 with 21-Tracks (no Bonus)

May 2022 Re-release with 2022 Remaster and 22-Tracks (One Bonus)

Beat Goes On BGOCD578 (5017261205780) – all issues

The Bonus Track is the 1970 single "Let's Work Together"

 

4. "Canned Heat '70 Concert: Recorded Live In Europe"

November 1969 US LP, June 1970 UK on Liberty in Stereo

September 1989 UK CD Reissue

Beat Goes on BGOCD12 (Barcode 5017261200129)

 

5. "Future Blues"

September 1970 US/UK LP on Liberty Records in Stereo

September 1989 UK CD Reissue

Beat Goes On BGOCD49 (Barcode 5017261200495) 2CD Set

 

6. "Hooker N' Heat" (CANNED HEAT and JOHN LEE HOOKER)

January 1971 US 2LP set on Liberty Records in Stereo (March 1971 UK)

May 2005 UK 2CD Reissue/Remaster

Beat Goes On BGOCD694 (Barcode 5017261206947) 2CD set

 

7. "Historical Figures And Ancient Heads"

February 1972 US LP on United Artists (March 1972 UK)

August 1990 UK CD Reissue/Remaster

Beat Goes on BGOCD83 (Barcode 5017261200839)

 

8. "The New Age"

September 1973 US/UK LP on United Artists

May 1991 UK CD Reissue/Remaster

Beat Goes On BGOCD85 (Barcode 5017261200853)

 

9. "One More River To Cross"

January 1974 US LP on Atlantic Records (March 1974 UK)

July 2016 UK CD Reissue/Remaster with Two Bonus Single Sides

Beat Goes on BGOCD1233 (Barcode 5017261212337)