{"id":24505,"date":"2023-02-08T05:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24505"},"modified":"2022-12-09T14:54:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T19:54:15","slug":"album-review-various-artists-howlin-wolf-his-wolf-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/08\/album-review-various-artists-howlin-wolf-his-wolf-gang\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Various Artists \u2013 Howlin\u2019 Wolf & His Wolf Gang"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Truth in labeling is a valued quality. With that in mind, it\u2019s worth pointing out right up front that \u2013 although it\u2019s clearly labeled as such \u2013 this is not, in fact, a Howlin\u2019 Wolf album. Chester Burnett is the featured artist on less than one-third of the album\u2019s tracks. It\u2019s also not really a live album; all of the recordings save for the Howlin\u2019 Wolf numbers (and one other) were cut in the studio. This Austrian release is compiled from a wide variety of recordings made between the mid \u201870s and 1996.<\/p>\n

All that said, despite its mishmash character, Howlin\u2019 Wolf & His Wolf Gang<\/i> has its moments. The unifying quality of the set is the involvement of Wolf\u2019s supporting musicians. Saxophonist Eddie Shaw, pianist Emery \u201cDetroit Jr.\u201d Williams, Jr. and guitarist Hubert Sumlin were all Wolf sidemen in 1975.<\/p>\n

The first five tracks on the disc feature Eddie Shaw at ACME Studio in Chicago, drawing from four separate sessions in 1990, \u201892, \u201894 and 1996. On vocals, harmonica and saxophone, Shaw is backed on most tracks by a core lineup of guitarist Johnny B. Moore and bassist Tim Taylor. Other players variously include guitarists John Primer or Vann Shaw. Eddie Shaw leads his bands through three original tunes: \u201cHighway 61 Bound,\u201d \u201cFannie Mae Jones\u201d and the rollicking, boastful blues of \u201cGot to Go Now.\u201d A pair of Willie Dixon compositions, \u201cBuilt for Comfort\u201d and the perennial \u201cLittle Red Rooster\u201d round out the Shaw part of the set. The performances are solid, Shaw\u2019s in fine form, and the live-in-the-studio recording vibe is just right.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, despite their historical importance, the Howlin\u2019 Wolf tracks were captured in dreadful fidelity. Recorded at the newly opened 1815 Club in Chicago across three nights in July 1975, they\u2019re difficult listening. If one braves the sonic murk, Wolf can be heard singing and playing harmonica; his guitar playing is indistinct in the mix. Purportedly he\u2019s backed by Sumlin, Detroit Jr. and Shaw, but intrepid listeners will find it a challenge to detect their participation in this execrable, bootleg-quality recording.<\/p>\n

Easier on the ears is a live Detroit Jr. cut from 1978 in Vienna, \u201cCall My Job.\u201d This, too, is clearly an amateur recordings of dodgy quality, but compared with the Wolf tracks, it\u2019s far less likely to induce a headache. The band is loose in the extreme, but Detroit Jr.\u2019s electric piano work is thrilling. Two studio cuts from 1994 sound great, even though they\u2019re pretty much the same song.<\/p>\n

Three Hubert Sumlin tracks dating from 1991 round out the collection. Sumlin\u2019s \u201cYou Can\u2019t Change Me\u201d is easily the best track on the entire disc, showcasing the slow-burn blues artistry of the guitarist. A pair of acoustic duets featuring John Primer, \u201cNo Place to Go\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ve Been Gone\u201d explore the subtle side of Sumlin\u2019s guitar work.<\/p>\n

As long as one knows what they\u2019re getting into with this set, Howlin\u2019 Wolf & His Wolf Gang<\/i> is an intermittently worthwhile listening experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Truth in labeling is a valued quality. With that in mind, it\u2019s worth pointing out right up front that \u2013 although it\u2019s clearly labeled as such \u2013 this is not, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,19,49,65],"tags":[5025,5024,3841,5026],"class_list":["post-24505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-compilation","category-new-release","category-review","tag-detroit-jr","tag-eddie-shaw","tag-howlin-wolf","tag-hubert-sumlin","cat-9-id","cat-19-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24507,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24505\/revisions\/24507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}