The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions - Wolf, Howlin' (CD 1989)

During the late 60's and early 70's english musicains brought over their blues influences overseas to record. This is probably the best of the London Sessions of them all. Howlin' Wolf aka Chester Burnett is responsible for a lot of what Page, Clapton, and pretty much all the white blues guitarists of the 60's were playing at the time. This album is a great collection of that sound. The Wolf was a very large man with a deep husky voice that once you hear it you won't soon forget. He once referred to himself as "300 Pounds Of Joy."

The London Sessions is The Wolf playing with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Billy Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Ringo Starr as his band. This album lets these guys play with a true legend. He was legend before this was recorded. Howlin' Wolf to me is the greatest bluesman of all time.

The man got his monicker from crawling on his knees and screaming the songs. He died in 1976, and the Rolling Stone magazine tribute shows him on his knees with a hat on backwards screaming like he's in the worst pain imaginable.

London Sessions contains all of Wolf's better know songs like "Killing Floor", "I Ain't Superstitious", and "The Red Rooster." One of the best cuts is Clapton trying to get him to play his guitar with them. They act like they don't know how to play "Red Rooster", and Wolf explains the rythmn to them. He then laughs as he figures out they know how to play it after all. This is a great album as I think Clapton feels most a home playing the blues. This after his bands Cream and Yardbirds became too popular for his liking. He's a great player, and this shows how much he enjoys the true blues.

Wyman and Watts are the bassist and drummer from The Rolling Stones. Of course we all know they know a little about slow blues and rock. Ringo Starr guests as "Richie" on drums on "I Ain't Superstitous."

These are times and people that are gone now as John Lee Hooker pasted a few months ago. Other than B.B. King we don't have any of the great bluesman on this side of the moon anymore. It's the roots of rock n' roll with one of the original masters.

Jimi Hendrix covered a lot of Wolf's songs in his brief career as well. All of your "Guitar Gods" go back to this , and this is one you shouldn't go without hearing yourself.