Howlin' Wolf - The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues

Blues to the bone....

Excellent disc all around - great sound quality, great selection of songs, dynamite guitar work and "signature sound" singing. When you listen to Wolf sing the Blues, you are getting the Real Deal as far as I'm concerned. When I listen to today's Blues artists, they're nice and everything but most of them have never seen a hard day in their life compared to people like Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin' Wolf. The Blues for them came from having survived hard times and bringing the feeling of being a survivor to life in their music.

If you want to see where the real Blues comes from, give this one a spin and you won't be disappointed. December 24, 2007

what a shame

i bought this cd and was very disappointed by a skip right at the beginning of "300pounds of heavenly joy". i exchanged it for a new one but it was the same. evidently they are all defective from the digital master. i've tried to contact universal but it's near impossible. i recommend waiting to buy this one until the defect is addressed. it's a shame that the utmost care would not be taken in remastering such classic and important recordings. December 15, 2006

An essential pairing

Like the two long-players before it (Moanin' In The Moonlight and Howlin' Wolf - the "rocking chair" album), to which this makes an essential companion, these two albums, released in 1966 and 1967, were collections of material recorded over a period of more than a decade, mostly previously available on singles. The series of Folk Blues albums had been designed by Chess Records to package the blues to a new, younger audience, and were compiled and annotated by Willie Dixon, who produced a number of Howlin' Wolf records as well as playing bass and writing some classic songs.
Both albums present a coherent overview of the Wolf's distinctive viscerality in the company of the most simpatico and skilled players he could have found.
The Real Folk Blues consists of A-sides and B-sides recorded in Chicago from July 1956 onwards, including two recent singles, Killing Floor/Louise and Ooh Baby/Tell Me What I've Done, from 1965; and My Country Sugar Mama, a single released in December 1964. All five of these sides are in full stereo, the rest of the album being mono.
More Real Folk Blues (1967) draws exclusively from an earlier pool of recordings made between September 1953 and January 1956, all mono, and kicks off with three previously unreleased recordings made for Sam Phillips in Memphis. Two tracks from a session with Willie Dixon in March 1954 were also previously unreleased, Neighbours and I'm The Wolf (the latter being a remake of a 1952 RPM single), the rest all having being available on singles. I Love My Baby also dates from the Sam Phillips period, all others having been produced by Leonard and Phil Chess and Willie Dixon. No Place To Go (You Gonna Wreck My Life) was an alternate take found on the B-side of The Natchez Burning in 1959, also found on Moanin' In The Moonlight, and came out in its original form (from the same session) on the flip of Rockin' Daddy in 1954.
There are excellent new liner notes as well as reprints of the original notes by Willie Dixon and Paul Williams from Crawdaddy, and as some of its finest tracks are rarely anthologised, this is highly recommended alongside the Moanin' In The Moonlight/Howlin' Wolf CD. December 30, 2005

****1/2

This CD brings together Howlin' Wolf's two original "Folk Blues" LPs on one disc, "The Real Folk Blues" from 1966 and "More Real Folk Blues" from 1967.

Some of these songs are well-known Wolf singles (and none of them are too "folkish"), but there are also a number of rarities here, and while MCA/Chess's "His Best" is the best place to start, this twofer-CD is a very fine purchase for those fans who want a little more than just the hits. And it should certainly be noted that a number of these songs can only be found here and on the three-disc Chess Box, and one or two of the "More Real Folk Blues" songs are not available on CD anywhere else.
The best-known song here has to be the awesome 1964 single "Killing Floor", which kicks off the album, but while songs like "Rockin' Daddy" and the silly Willie Dixon-numbers "Built For Comfort" and "Three Hundred Pounds Of Daddy" are also well known, most of the remaining twenty songs rarely show up on the many available Wolf compilations.

The original "Real Folk Blues" album provides a couple of very powerful, horn-driven mid-sixties numbers ("Ooh Baby Hold Me", "Sugar Mama" and "Louise"), as well as the near-frightening and very somber "The Natchez Burnin'", the slow burner "Tell Me What I've Done", and a supremely funky, up-tempo version of "Poor Boy", very different from the usual one. And listen to lead guitarist Hubert Sumlin soloing right through Wolf's vocals on the impressive "Louise"...Sumlin's playing on Wolf's 60s recordings is always great and often awesome.

Where "The Real Folk Blues" drew from Wolf's then-current recordings, "More Real Folk Blues" went the other way and dipped into his earlier Chess sides, which means that the sound is kinda rough, and so is the music (but in a good way!).
The breakneck "Rollin' & Tumblin'"-knockoff "Just My Kind" opens the second set, followed by the excellent, too rarely heard "I've Got A Woman", a magnificent slow blues which stands out as one of Wolf's most impresssive (and intimidating) vocal performances.
Then comes the swinging, piano-driven "Work For Your Money", another early Wolf single which deserves a lot more attention than it has been given by various compilers, and the downright scary "I'll Be Around", a big, thumping beat and a demonic, roaring vocal by the Wolf:
"I'll be around to see you baby / I'll be around no matter what you say..."
(Former Saturday Night Live band member, soul singer Christine Ohlman, is reputed to have said upon hearing this track for the first time: "Boy, I'd sure hate to be the woman he's singing that one to!").

Other highlights include an alternative "I've Got A Woman", titled "I Love My Baby", a driving rocker titled "Neighbors", a slow, eerie "I'm The Wolf", the classic "Rockin' Daddy", the intense rage of "Who Will Be Next", and of course "I Have A Little Girl", a prime example of Wolf's incredibly raw and energetic early Chicago band sound, all fiery solos and jackhammer drumming from Earl Phillips.

The second half of this album is the most interesting, presenting several rare early-to-mid-50s songs which deserve a lot of attention, but the entire album is worth a listen, especially once you have the hits.
4 1/2 stars - highly recommended. November 16, 2003

The Wolf

What can I say? It's the Wolf. The remastered cuts are superb, and I only wish I could have seen this man in person. 24 of the best of the Wolf. A must-buy for anyone who loves the blues and wants a lot of his best on one cd. January 20, 2003

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