![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/canned_heat_finyl_vinyl.jpg\")
Canned Heat began as a group in 1965. The Los Angeles-based blues band quickly became renowned for its deep, encyclopedic understanding of (and appreciation for) the blues. Alan Wilson and Bob \u201cThe Bear\u201d Hite were effectively blues scholars when such a thing was all but known in popular music circles. With a psychedelic flavor, the original Canned Heat gained fame for its original material informed by its members\u2019 scholarship.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s performances at both Monterey Pop and Woodstock brought them \u2013 and the blues \u2013 to wider audiences. Based on a blues song that was already 40 years old, \u201cGoing Up the Country\u201d was a hit for the group in 1968, charting in the Top 20 in the U.S., UK and Canada. The band also scored hits with \u201cOn the Road Again\u201d (1968) and \u201cLet\u2019s Work Together\u201d (1970). The group\u2019s performances at both Monterey Pop and Woodstock brought them to wider audiences.<\/p>\n
Wilson took his own life in 1970, and Hite passed away in 1981. But as early as 1971 the group\u2019s lineup began to fray; over the course of its existence, more than 45 musicians have passed through the ranks of Canned Heat. Among the most notable alumni include guitarists Harvey \u201cThe Snake\u201d Mandel, Junior Watson and Walter Trout. After Hite\u2019s death, the sole founding member of the group was drummer Adolfo \u201cFito\u201d de la Parra; he remains with the group to this day.<\/p>\n
In fact, the current configuration of Canned Heat is among its most stable; the group \u2013 de la Parra plus guitarists Jimmy Vivino, harpist Dale Wesley Spalding plus bassist Rick Reed \u2013 has been together for five years. Canned Heat had not released an album of new music but once in the 21st<\/sup> century: 2003\u2019s Friends in the Can<\/i>. But now Canned Heat returns with the portentously-titled Finyl Vinyl<\/i>.<\/p>\n Guest stars help out here and there: Joe Bonamassa stops by to add his lead guitar on \u201cSo Sad (The World\u2019s in a Tangle.\u201d Framing and acknowledging Canned Heat\u2019s history, Dave Alvin (The Blasters, X, The Third Mind etc.) guests as well, singing and playing guitar on a song he wrote in honor of Alan Wilson, \u201cBlind Owl.\u201d<\/p>\n But the core group brings plenty of creativity of its own. Vivino wrote three of Finyl Vinyl<\/i>\u2019s tracks, most notably the opener, \u201cOne Last Boogie,\u201d an appealing shuffling tune reminiscent of ZZ Top\u2019s \u201cLa Grange.\u201d Spalding contributes three of his tunes as well; best among them is the playful and slinky \u201cTease Me.\u201d That track features some especially tasty harp wailing.<\/p>\n Whether the album\u2019s title signals a closing of the Canned Heat saga remains to be seen; the group\u2019s concert calendar is well-booked for 2024, with dates in the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Canned Heat began as a group in 1965. The Los Angeles-based blues band quickly became renowned for its deep, encyclopedic understanding of (and appreciation for) the blues. Alan Wilson and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[458],"class_list":["post-28445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-canned-heat","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28445","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=28445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28447,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28445\/revisions\/28447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}