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For those who love the 60s band canned heat (famous for "Goin' Up the Country" and "On the Road", both of which are on this album), this is a great compilation album. It contains two discs full of songs that feature the vocals and music of one of its founders, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson. Wilson was not only a blues musician, but a gifted student in Delta blues music. He played with Son House (re-teaching the blues legend his own songs) and was praised heavily by John Lee Hooker. Wilson mastered the harmonica (often experimenting with different styles) and was an amazing guitarist, especially with the bottleneck style. His vocals are unique, and haunting, and reminiscent of early Delta blues legends like Skip James.
This album begins with the first notes of "On the Road Again," one of Canned Heat's best known songs, and their first hit. This song features Alan on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and the experimental Indian instruments heard at the beginning of the song. In fact, the only parts of the song that are not performed by Alan are the bass (Larry "The Mole" Taylor) and the drums (Adolpho "Fito" De La Parra). Following this song is one off of their first album, and the first one where we hear Alan singing in Canned Heat's discography. You can definitely hear Alan's understanding of the traditional blues combined with the talent of his bandmates. The album continues with "An Owl Song," an upbeat ditty. Following that is the song by which Canned Heat (and by association, Alan) is best known, "Goin' Up the Country."
This album is spread over two CDs of excellent music, including further notable tracks that illustrate the pain that evidently colored Alan's later years: "London Blues," "Pulling Hair Blues," and "Time Was."
Perhaps my favorite Alan Wilson-penned song found on this album is "My Time Ain't Long." The first notes come from Alan's bottleneck guitar and are incredibly haunting when coupled with his vocals as they sing, "...well I know...know my time ain't long." Within a few year after this recording, Alan will have passed away mysteriously, at the age of 27.
You can also hear Alan's well-documented concern for the environment on this album as he sings "Poor Moon". Alan was an ecologist at heart, concerned with human impacts on his beloved natural world. He would sleep outside as much as possible, and fought to preserve redwood forests with the Music Mountain foundation.
Final notable tracks include "Skat," "Childhood's End, and "Nebulosity/Rollin' and Tumblin'/Five Owls," all of which are mostly instrumental (Alan skats in the former) and showcase Alan and Canned Heat's talents.
This album is a fantastic sample of the blues academic and musician that was Alan Christie Wilson. Skip Taylor (Canned Heat's former manager) provides liner notes for each song as well as co-production credits with de la Parra. The main thing that this album left out were tracks from Hooker and Heat where John Lee Hooker praises Alan for his chops. That would have been a great touch.
I recommend this album to fans of Canned Heat, fans of the blues, and fans of great music! This is also a great place to start if you are interested in the life of the quiet, sensitive co-founder of Canned Heat. Don't expect to find the barrelhouse boogie stylings of Bob "The Bear" Hite here, though. It's all Alan.
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Sugar Magnolia
Antologia retrospettiva di di Alan Wilson
Reviewed in Italy on September 19, 2013