Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf/Moanin' in the Moonlight

This package combines blues giant Howlin' Wolf's first two albums, themselves compilations of his singles released between 1951 and 1962. Apart from two tracks cut in Memphis with Ike Turner, these Chess Studios recordings are landmarks in the development of electric Chicago blues. The Mississippi Delta native's gruff persona towers over "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Red Rooster," "Spoonful," "Evil," "Wang Dang Doodle," "Back Door Man," and others that have become standards since being "discovered" by the Rolling Stones, Clapton, The Doors, et al. Almost as influential as Wolf's bottomless growl are the guitar playing of Hubert Sumlin and the writing and direction of Willie Dixon. An exceptional twofer value for such a weighty slice of American musical history. --Ben Edmonds Amazon.com

Excellent buy not so great packaging

Howlin' Wolf is one of the seminal blues artists. His guitar and that scritchy voice are definitive of the blues standard. This CD is actually a two-fer, a Chess compilation of his two first albums: Howlin' Wolf and Moanin' at Midnight.

The packaging isn't much to be proud of. You get liner notes, but not much else and the paper's pretty disreputable.

Favorites:

"Back Door Man" you'll hear this one covered all over the place, but nobody does it like the Wolf.

"Evil" well, doesn't the name say it?

"Going Down Slow" this is an interesting perspective on the music business and money.

Rebecca Kyle, August 2008 August 14, 2008

Seminal!

It's hard to over rate the impact these early HW recordings have had on rock and roll. As is well known HW and his contemporaries were hugely influential on the 60s giants like Hendrix, Clapton, the Stones, Led Zeppelin and John Mayall but countless other lesser known lights have also sprung from HW's fertile loins. Even now, 50 or so years later, these two platters still stand up to scrutiny. HW's voice is one of the most distinctive in modern music and he uses it to great effect on every track here. The lyrics are superb too, always lascivious, frequently laugh out loud funny. It's a stone classic in every way and anyone with even a remote interest in the evolution of rock music should own a copy. Also good for shaking your thang to... "We're gonna wang dang doodle ALL night long..!" July 1, 2008

An easy must-have

A few songs from Moanin' in the Moonlight (Moanin' for My Baby, All Night Boogie, Forty-Four, Baby How Long) aren't exactly all that great, but the rest makes up for it. This is basically a set of blues classics, in fact if Killin' Floor and Sittin' on Top of the World were included you'd think it was a very in-depth best-of. Just look at how many legendary musicians have covered (or ripped off, in Led Zeppelin's case) some of these songs: The Red Rooster, Spoonful, Wang Dang Doodle, Goin' Down Slow, Back Door Man, How Many More Years, Who's Been Talkin'? Smokestack Lightin', Evil, Tell Me or I Asked Her for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline). Most artists are lucky to have two or three legendary songs. Wolf has eleven on this album alone, and this one doesn't even have Killin' Floor, Sittin' on Top of the World or I Ain't Superstitious, also part of legend. But I digress. These original recordings, taken from the old '45s rather than being the remakes spread across his career, pound any cover you can imagine into all hell. Okay, maybe Cream's version of Spoonful beats the original. Maybe not. It's a tough call. But that's beside the point.
Okay, blues fans withuut this are simply doing themselves a disservice. But a rock or soul fan looking to trace the music's roots who doesn't own a copy of Howlin' Wolf/Moanin' in the Moonlight is also shooting themselves in the foot. Actually, so is anybody who enjoys good music. Plain and simple. March 25, 2007

Doesn't Get Any Better

My friends, this is the real deal, it just doesn't get any better than this. This is Howlin' Wolf at his gritty, slashin', terrifyin' best, and just about nothing matches the greatness and intensity of the Wolf at his best. Nearly every track is a classic and all of them are superb. "Red Rooster" "Wang Dang Doodle" "Spoonful" "Back Door Man" "Evil" "I Asked For Water..." are among the most well known clasics in the entire genre, but every track is top notch. His voice was truly original (even tho Capt. Beefheart managed to imitate it uncannily well) and likely shocked the pants off the first to hear him. This is such down and dirty, greasy, slicin' blues that it's impossible to think of it as being as "old" as it is. The Wolf was so far ahead of his time that time still hasn't caught up. Though he's had many admirers among rock stars, such as the Stones, he's really never quite received the fame and recognition that he deserves for having been such a genius. THe musicians are wonderful, Hubert Sumlin may be the nastiest blues guitarist ever to grace a track, but it is the monumental, legendary, godlike Wolf who stands out the most. October 4, 2006

Amazing music, terrible packaging.

Let's get my only gripes out of the way now--a drunk monkey could've come up with better packaging than what comes with this 2-albums-in-one set. The cover art is sloppily integrated and cheap, the albums are oddly in reverse chronological order (the self-titled album was released in 1962, Moanin' In The Moonlight in 1959), the liner notes are minimal given Chester Burnett A.K.A. Howlin' Wolf's importance to modern blues and the sound quality is so-so (Chess offers a remastered single disc titled His Best, if this bothers you). They even left off a track due to what they claim is CD length limitations, which is B.S. since the whole thing is under 70 minutes and most of the existing tracks are under three. Who are they trying to kid?

Other than that, this is SEMINAL electric blues from one of the best in the business. Wolf is quite simply the finest blues vocalist ever--his gravelly, soulful, cavernous growl is unmistakable and awesome, befitting a man of such huge girth and power (listen to the microphone nearly detonate on the beginning of Moanin' In The Moonlight from trying to handle his voice). His lyrics exude passion and grit, but not without a touch of humor--this is blues to party to. The band behind him is equally potent, with Hubert Sumlin's iconic riffs and Willie Dixon's bass playing and songwriting acumen.

Every song from the self-titled is a classic--the boogie-blues of Shake For Me, innuendo-drenched Little Red Rooster, party stomper Wang Dang Doodle, slow-burning and funny Goin' Down Slow, and the catchy backbeat of Down From The Bottom being my favorites. Moanin' In The Moonlight isn't quite as memorable, but it too has its share of historical blues singles such as How Many More Years, Smokestack Lightnin', Forty Four, and the Dixon-penned Evil.

This is the real stuff, and an essential buy. Let's just hope this package gets updated for a new generation. February 7, 2006

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