Cat. No. BCD 15460: HOWLIN WOLF ~ MEMPHIS DAYS - THE DEFINITIVE EDITION. VOL. 1. BEAR FAMILY BCD 15460. (IMPORT).
LIKE MOST TRUE GREATS, CHESTER BURNETT (A.K.A HOWLIN’ WOLF) MADE HIS FIRST APPEARANCE IN A RECORDING STUDIO SPORTING A STYLE THAT HE NEITHER ALTERED NOR BETTERED. DRESSED IN HIS FIELD OVERALLS WITH HOLES CUT IN HIS OVERSIZED SHOES TO ACCOMMODATE HIS CORNS, WOLF SEATED HIMSELF BEFORE THE MICROPHONE IN SAM PHILLIPS’ TINY MEMPHIS RECORDING SERVICES STUDIO AT SOME POINT IN MAY 1951, LEAVING HIS SMALL GROUP TO FIND THEIR WAY AS BEST THEY COULD. WOLF BEGAN TO SING HIS UNEARTHLY TALES OF DARKNESS AND PAIN. SAM PHILLIPS WAS TRANSFIXED. HE HAD STARTED HIS STUDIO EIGHTEEN MONTHS EARLIER AND WOLF’S IMPOSING MUSIC WAS THE CLOSEST HE HAD COME TO CAPTURING THE SOUNDS HE HAD HEARD IN HIS HEAD. AFTER TWO YEARS IN THE SERVICES WOLF HAD RETURNED TO FARMING IN MISSISSIPPI BUT STARTED PLAYING IN WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS IN 1948. WOLF SOON CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF LOCAL RADIO STATION KWEM AND SECURED HIS OWN RADIO SHOW. AS HE ENTERED HIS FORTIETH YEAR, THE HOWLIN’ WOLF (AS HE WAS NOW KNOWN) BECAME A HOT ITEM AMONG THE RURAL BLACKS IN AND AROUND MEMPHIS. NOT LONG AFTER WOLF CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF SAM PHILLIPS WHEN A DISC JOCKEY FROM WEST MEMPHIS TOLD HIM ABOUT WOLF’S RADIO SHOW.
THE FIRST SESSION HELD IN PHILLIP’S STUDIO WAS AROUND MAY, 1951. HE RECORDED TWO SONGS THAT DEFINED HIS STYLE, “MOANIN’ AT MIDNIGHT” AND “HOW MANY MORE YEARS”. AN UNISSUED SONG, “BABY RIDE WITH ME” ALSO PROBABLY DATES FROM THAT TIME AS WELL. THE RECORDING WAS PLACED WITH CHESS RECORDS AND ENTERED THE NATIONAL R&B CHARTS IN DECEMBER THAT YEAR. WOLF RETURNED TO PHILLIP’S STUDIO IN DECEMBER, 1951 AND JANUARY 1952 FOR HIS SECOND AND THIRD RECORDING SESSIONS. HIS LAST SESSION AT PHILLIP’S STUDIO WAS IN OCTOBER 1952. THIS CD COMPRISES A NUMBER OF TRACKS RECORDED AT THOSE SESSIONS BUT NOT ALL JUDGING BY THE DISCOGRAPHY IN THE *-PAGE BOOKLET ACCOMPANYING THIS CD AS THE RECORDING DATES DO NOT MATCH UP EXACTLY WITH THE LINER NOTES. NONETHELESS WHAT YOU ARE HOLDING IN YOUR HAND COMPRISES MANY OF THE EARLIEST RECORDINGS OF ONE OF THE GREATEST BLUESMEN. SENSATIONAL HISTORICAL RECORDINGS ******
TRACK LISTING: Oh Red (take 1) / My Last Affair (take 1) / Come Back Home (take 1) / California Boogie / California Blues / Look-A-Here Baby / Smile At Me / My Baby Walked Off / Drinkin’ CV Wine (CV Wine Blues) / My Troubles And Me / Chocolate Drop / Mr. Highway Man (Cadillac Daddy) / Bluebird Blues / Color And Kind / Everybody’s In The Mood / Dorothy Mae (number 2) / I Got A Woman/Sweet Woman / Decoration Day Blues / (Well) That’s All Right / How Many More Years / Baby Ride With Me (Ridin’ In The Moonlight).
CD INCL. 8-PAGE BOOKLET. NEW
