Track Listing
DISC 1: 1951 TO 1955:
1. Moanin' at Midnight
2. How Many More Years
3. Howlin' Wolf Boogie
4. Wolf Is at Your Door, The
5. Mr. Highway Man
6. Howlin' Wolf Talks #1
7. Bluebird
8. Saddle My Pony
9. That's All Right, (Well)
10. My Last Affair
11. Just My Kind
12. Work For Your Money
13. Mama Died and Left Me
14. All Night Boogie (All Night Long)
15. Streamline Woman
16. Crazy About You Baby
17. You Gonna Wreck My Life
18. Neighbors
19. Howlin' Wolf Talks #2
20. I'm the Wolf
21. Rockin' Daddy
22. Baby How Long
23. Evil
24. I'll Be Around
25. Forty Four
26. Who Will Be Next
DISC 2: 1956 TO 1963:
1. Don't Mess With My Baby
2. Smokestack Lightnin'
3. You Can't Be Beat
4. Howlin' Wolf Talks #3
5. I Asked For Water
6. Natchez Burnin', The
7. Who's Been Talkin'
8. Tell Me
9. Sittin' on Top of the World
10. I Didn't Know
11. Moaning For My Baby
12. Change My Way
13. I Better Go Now
14. Howlin' For My Darling
15. I've Been Abused
16. Mr. Airplane Man - (previously unreleased, alternate take)
17. Wang Dang Doodle
18. Back Door Man
19. Howlin' Wolf Talks #4
20. Spoonful
21. Down in the Bottom
22. Shake For Me
23. Red Rooster, The
24. You'll Be Mine
25. Just Like I Treat You
26. I Ain't Superstitious
27. Goin' Down Slow
28. Tail Dragger
DISC 3: 1964 TO 1973:
1. Hidden Charms
2. Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
3. Built For Comfort
4. Love Me Darlin'
5. Killing Floor
6. My Country Sugar Mama
7. Louise
8. I Walked From Dallas
9. Tell Me What I've Done
10. Don't Laugh at Me
11. Ooh Baby (Hold Me)
12. New Crawlin' King Snake
13. My Mind Is Ramblin'
14. Commit a Crime
15. Dust My Broom
16. I'm the Wolf
17. Ain't Goin' Down That Dirt Road - (previously unreleased)
18. Mary Sue
19. Hard Luck
20. Red Rooster
21. Moving
| Details | | Playing Time: | 214 min. | | Producer: | Andy McKaie (Compilation) | | Distributor: | Universal Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Mixed | | SPAR Code: | AAD |
Album Notes
This, the fifth in the series of Chess boxes, contains 71 tracks sequenced chronologically from 1951-1973. Digitally remastered from original master tapes and 78s, it includes two previously unknown solo acoustic guitar and vocal performances ("Ain't Going Down That Dirt Road" and "I'm the Wolf"), four segments from HOWLIN' WOLF TALKS and 17 tracks either previously unreleased in the US or on LP.
Personnel includes: Howlin' Wolf (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Willie Johnson, Hubert Sumlin (guitar); J.T. Brown (tenor saxophone); James Cotton (harmonica); Hosea Lee Kennard, Lafayette Leake, Johnny Jones (piano); Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy (bass); Willie Steele, Sam Lay (drums).
28 of the tracks are in stereo, including previously unissued versions of "Killing Floor", "Spoonful" and "I Ain't Superstitious". The package includes a 32-page LP-sized booklet, with 2 sets of liner notes containing a biography, track-by-track annotation, a Chess discography and rare photos.
Chester "Howlin' Wolf'" Burnett's razor-like voice was one of the signature sounds of post-war Chicago electric blues, and the three-disc CHESS BOX is the definitive document of his landmark recordings for the label that the Chess brothers made into the ultimate conduit for classic Chicago blues. Though coming from similar stylistic roots to his contemporary Muddy Waters, the Wolf had more of an edge to his sound. Where Muddy came across as a confident, grounded man, Burnett often seemed desperate and slightly crazed, as if he might come unhinged at any moment. The physically huge Burnett was indeed an intimidating presence, and such tracks as "Evil" and "How Many More Years" bear a dark, almost scary aura. The Wolf's monolithic status is further borne out when one considers how many of the songs included here ("Smokestack Lightnin'," "Killing Floor," "Spoonful") were the building blocks for nearly every important US and UK rock band that began in the first half of the 1960s. THE CHESS BOX is an absolutely essential slab of blues history.
Editorial Reviews
..whatever your taste, you'd have to be deaf not to respond to Wolf's Chicago classics...Moanin' At Midnight is one of the great moments in audio history..
Musician (01/01/1992)
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