Canned Heat

Canned Heat's second long-player, Boogie with Canned Heat (1968), pretty well sums up the bona fide blend of amplified late-'60s electric rhythm and blues, with an expressed emphasis on loose and limber boogie-woogie. The quintet – consisting of Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitar/harmonica/vocals), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass), Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (guitar), Aldolfo "Fido" Dela Parra (drums), and Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals) – follow up their debut effort with another batch of authentic interpretations, augmented by their own exceptional instrumentation. One development is their incorporation of strong original compositions. "On the Road Again" – which became the combo's first, and arguably, most significant hit – as well as the Albert King inspired anti-speed anthem, "Amphetamine Annie," were not only programmed on the then-burgeoning underground FM radio waves, but also on the more adventuresome AM Top 40 stations. Their love of authentic R&B informs "World in a Jug," the dark "Turpentine Blues," and Hite's update of Tommy McClennan's "Whiskey Headed Woman".

This 15-track single-disc collection was culled from Canned Heat (1967), Boogie With Canned Heat (1968), Living the Blues (1968), Hallelujah (1969), and Future Blues (1970). Arguably, Canned Heat Cookbook (1969) – a hits package in its own right – could be lumped in since it was the first full-length platter with "Going Up the Country," which was initially only issued on a 45-rpm single. During this era, the Heat was inhabited by Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitar/vocals), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass), Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (guitar), and Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals). Frank Cook (drums) contributed to the band's self-titled debut prior to being replaced by Aldolfo "Fito" de la Parra (drums), who remained as the combo's sole purveyor into the 1990s.

Canned Heat - Canned Heat Blues Band (1999) {Ruf Records RUF-1040}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 321 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 118 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 259 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999 Ruf Records | RUF-1040
Blues / Blues-Rock / Boogie Rock / Modern Electric Blues

I cannot for the life of me find a thing wrong or amiss with this cd. I've been playing it for years and always love it. I know all about Canned Heat's tragic and illustrious past, and I'm not knocking those old records (most of them were great); but, it should be said by someone - the Canned Heat albums beginning with "Reheated" straight to the present - leave the old ones in the dust. Leaving behind the excessive reverence for the past (if you can, and you know who you are), there's one thing that has never changed about this band.

Canned Heat & Henry Vestine - Human Condition Revisited & Used To Be Mad! (2006) {2CD Blue Label SPV-97942 rec 1978, 1981}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 795 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 269 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 381 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1978, 1981, 2006 Blue Label / SPV | SPV 97942
Rock / Blues Rock / Blues / Boogie Rock

Canned Heat's 1978 release, Human Condition, was an important one in the band's overall discography, as it was the last studio effort to feature original singer Bob Hite fronting the band (Hite would pass away in 1981). In 2006, the album was expanded with a pair of live tracks from 1985 and retitled Human Condition Revisited, and was packaged as a double disc that also featured the overlooked 1981 solo effort by Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine, I Used to Be Mad! (But Now I'm Half Crazy).

This 15-track single-disc collection was culled from Canned Heat (1967), Boogie With Canned Heat (1968), Living the Blues (1968), Hallelujah (1969), and Future Blues (1970). Arguably, Canned Heat Cookbook (1969) – a hits package in its own right – could be lumped in since it was the first full-length platter with "Going Up the Country," which was initially only issued on a 45-rpm single. During this era, the Heat was inhabited by Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson (guitar/vocals), Larry "The Mole" Taylor (bass), Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (guitar), and Bob "The Bear" Hite (vocals). Frank Cook (drums) contributed to the band's self-titled debut prior to being replaced by Aldolfo "Fito" de la Parra (drums), who remained as the combo's sole purveyor into the 1990s.

Canned Heat is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its interpretations of blues material and for its efforts to promote interest in this type of music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, who took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called "canned heat", After appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals at the end of the 1960s, the band acquired worldwide fame with a lineup consisting of Hite (vocals), Wilson (guitar, harmonica and vocals), Henry Vestine and later Harvey Mandel (lead guitar), Larry Taylor (bass), and Adolfo de la Parra (drums).

Canned Heat - On The Road Again - BLACK BOX (2007) {2CD Box Set Weton-Wesgram BB2194 - live and re-recordings}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 856 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 311 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 75 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Weton-Wesgram | BB2194
Rock / Blues Rock

Canned Heat rose to fame because their knowledge and love of blues music was both wide and deep. Emerging in 1966, Canned Heat was founded by blues historians and record collectors Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite. Hite took the name “Canned Heat” from a 1928 recording by Tommy Johnson. They were joined by Henry “The Sunflower” Vestine, another ardent record collector who was a former member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Rounding out the band in 1967 were Larry “The Mole” Taylor on bass, an experienced session musician who had played with Jerry Lee Lewis and The Monkees and Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra on drums who had played in two of the biggest Latin American bands, Los Sinners and Los Hooligans.