Chester Arthur Burnett, known as Howlin' Wolf, was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, originally from Mississippi. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists. Musician and critic Cub Koda noted, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." Producer Sam Phillips recalled, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies'". Several of his songs, including "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful", have become blues and blues rock standards. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 51 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
His Best is a greatest hits compilation album by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf. The album was originally released on April 8, 1997 by MCA and Chess Records. The album was a part of the 50th anniversary of Chess Records, which was in that same year (see 1997 in music). Ten years later, on April 17, 2007, the album was re-released by Chess and Geffen Records as The Definitive Collection.
While both Bear Family sets deal with a largely unissued wealth of material, this collection is devoted in the main to all the Memphis recordings from 1951 and 1952 that saw the light of day on a number of Los Angeles-based labels owned by the Bihari Brothers, being issued and reissued and reissued again on a plethora of $1.98 budget albums. Featuring recordings done in Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service and surreptitious sessions recorded by a young Ike Turner in makeshift studios, these 18 sides are the missing piece of the puzzle in absorbing Wolf's early pre-Chess period. It also helps that this just happens to be some of the nastiest sounding blues ever recorded.
The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions is an album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf released in 1971 on Chess Records, and on Rolling Stones Records in Britain. It was one of the first super session blues albums, setting a blues master among famous musicians from the second generation of rock and roll, in this case Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman. It peaked at #79 on the Billboard 200.
These Charly, UK sets are not easy to find. Their sets are generally made with great care and pride. 151 Chess and Sun recordings- it is entitled "Complete" although it does not contain two very non-essential albums from the period (The Super Super Plus Band from 1967 and the 1968 Cadet album aka "Howlin' Wolf Didn't Like This Album"- and with good reason; both are quite disposable and unnecessary), plus a conversation; this is all from Sun and Chess, his very best stuff, the real essential recordings without a bad track in the lot.
Born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Chester Burnett, better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, helped modernize the country blues with his powerful vocal style and harmonica work and his ability to connect with an audience no matter what stage he prowled. His classic sides for Chess Records, several of which are collected here, including "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Sitting on Top of the World," "How Many More Years," and "Back Door Man," were instrumental in helping shape the classic sound of Chicago blues, which in turn helped shape everything that came after it.