Oft-considered his second attempt (after the Howlin Wolf Album he famously shunned) at offering the masses a psychedelic record, the sound on the record ranges from acid-rock, to blues, to funk, and back again. The title track on Message To The Young is exactly what the title suggests; Wolf s attempt at reaching the youth of the era in a beautiful spoken word ballad which can easily be summed up in two words Be Yourself .
Download it now . . . .check out the maestro of the Howl on the link above first if you don’t believe us!
so the follow up second volume of the now long out of print Memphis recordings of Howling Wolf have been shared over at the Twilight Zone and another peach it is too! Great tidy up and cleans re-issue so if blues stalwarts are your thing have at it!
Now I have already said I had a precocious interest in the blues as barely a teenager and collected albums from the cheap budget bins, singles and EPs too by the likes of Josh White, Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, John Lee Hooker and others (Chris Farlowe's Stormy Monday we have discussed) and the voice that sent a shiver down me was the legendary Howlin' Wolf. It frightened me somewhat, Smokestack Lightning haunted me and whilst I bought some singles and EPs (ask your grandparents!) I was kinda drawn ineffably but scared too! That voice! It probably lead me to Captain Beefheart later on for obvious reasons . . . . . .
Well here is a breakthrough album and it is clean and clear and contains many a hidden gem and its only Volume One!
Enjoy! I did!
If this is still commercially available please let me know if you wish me to take it down or just go out and buy it! I cannot find it and Amazon have volume II at nearly £60 so I assume it is out of print - Andy
Another in an ongoing series on blues artists . . . . . . . . .
I have mentioned before my precocious interest in the blues and at about 13 developing a passion for Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, Josh White and others but Howling' Wolf scared me at first. That HUGE voice from the huge frame was so other worldly and unique I was at once fascinated and nearly fearful! I soon got to appreciate the link and added him and John Lee Hooker and the deltas blues players as well like Missippi John Hurt and Jesse Fuller as my searching took me further in to the more esoteric. Nothing but nothing will replace the feeling that I got when first I heard Howling Wolf sing 'Smokestack Lightning'
This is the only known filmed version of "Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf. This was shot in England during the famed American Folk Blues Festival tours and features the legendary Hubert Sumlin on guitar. In addition to other great Howlin' Wolf footage, our archive houses many iconic blues performances from Muddy Waters, Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker and Buddy Guy.
Meet Me In The Bottom
Some of Howlin' Wolf’s band members came home empty-handed from weeks on the road and told their wives that Wolf didn’t pay them. When Andrew McMahon’s wife, Ida, complained to Wolf about it, he called a meeting with the band members and invited their wives. Then he recited a litany of crimes and misdemeanors.
“Eddie Shaw, you didn’t bring your money home because you gambled it up. Hubert Sumlin, you gambled and drank your money up. S. P. Leary, you drank yours up. Andrew McMahon, you know you bought the womens with all your money.”
McMahon tried to convince his wife that Wolf was lying, but she didn’t buy it.
“Wolf didn’t like that wrongdoing,” she said. “I guess he just didn’t want his name scandalized that he was not paying his boys when he knew he was.”
Wolf was equally blunt with rude audience members. One night on a double bill in Memphis with Muddy Waters, someone in front had the nerve to yell about Wolf’s garish yellow tuxedo,
“Look at that man in the monkey suit!”
Wolf glared and said, “I don’t know what you-all talking about. You may think my suit’s funny. Yeah—go ahead and laugh. But you here to listen to me tonight—I’m not here to listen to you. And ’cause of that, I got a pile of money big enough to burn up a wet mule!”
