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{{Infobox album
{{Infobox Album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
| Name = The Howlin' Wolf Album
| name = The Howlin' Wolf Album
| Type = studio
| type = studio
| Artist = [[Howlin' Wolf]]
| artist = [[Howlin' Wolf]]
| Cover = The Howlin' Wolf Album.jpg
| cover = Howlin' Wolf - The Howlin' Wolf Album.jpg
| alt =Text reading "This is Howlin' Wolf's new album. He doesn't like it. He didn't like his electric guitar at first either."
| Released = 1969
| Recorded = November 1968
| released = {{Start date|1969}}
| recorded = November 1968
| Genre = [[Blues]], [[psychedelic rock]]
| Length = 40:59
| venue =
| studio =
⚫
| Label = [[Cadet Records|Cadet Concept]]
| Producer = [[Marshall Chess]], [[Charles Stepney]], [[Gene Barge]]
| genre = {{hlist|[[Blues]]|[[psychedelic rock]]}}
| length = {{Duration|m=40|s=59}}
| Last album = ''[[Howlin' Wolf (album)|Howlin' Wolf]]''<br />(1962)
⚫
| label = [[Cadet Records|Cadet Concept]]/[[Chess Records|Chess]]
| This album = '''''The Howlin' Wolf Album'''''<br />(1969)
| producer = {{hlist|[[Marshall Chess]]|[[Charles Stepney]]|[[Gene Barge]]}}
⚫
| Next album = ''Message to the Young''<br />(1970)
| prev_title = [[The Super Super Blues Band]]
| Misc = {{Extra chronology
| prev_year = 1968
| Artist = [[Rotary Connection]]
⚫
| next_title = [[Message to the Young]]
| Type = studio
| next_year = 1970
| Last album = ''[[Electric Mud]]'' (with [[Muddy Waters]])<br />(1968)
| This album = '''''The Howlin' Wolf Album''''' (with Howlin' Wolf)<br />(1969)
| Next album = ''Aladdin''<br />(1969)
}}
}}
}}
'''''The Howlin' Wolf Album''''' is a 1969 album by [[Howlin' Wolf]], with [[Rotary Connection]] as his backing band. It mixed [[blues]] with [[psychedelic rock]] arrangements on several of Howlin' Wolf's classic songs. Howlin' Wolf strongly disliked the album, and [[Chess Records]] referenced this fact on the album's cover. The album peaked at No. 69 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|Black Albums]] [[Billboard charts|chart]].
'''''The Howlin' Wolf Album''''' is the first studio album by [[Howlin' Wolf]], released in 1969. It features members of [[Rotary Connection]] as his backing band.<ref>[http://depanorama.net/wolf/wolf2.htm Howlin' Wolf Sessionography] accessed September 19, 2019</ref> The album mixed [[blues]] with [[psychedelic rock]] arrangements of several of Wolf's classic songs. Howlin' Wolf strongly disliked the album, which is noted on the album's cover art. The album peaked at number 69 on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine's "[[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|Black Albums]]" chart.


==Production==
==Production==
In 1967, [[Marshall Chess]] formed [[Cadet Records|Cadet Concept Records]] as a subsidiary of [[Chess Records]]. The label's first release was the self-titled debut album of the [[psychedelic music|psychedelic]] band [[Rotary Connection]], whose members Chess described as "the hottest, most [[Avant-garde music|avant garde]] [[rock music|rock]] guys in [[Chicago]]".<ref name="Shannon">{{cite web |url=http://www.furious.com/Perfect/muddywaterselectricmud.html |title=''Muddy Waters: His most hated, misunderstood album'' |accessdate=2009-03-18 |last=Shannon |first=Tim |date=December 2006 |publisher=[[Perfect Sound Forever (magazine)|Perfect Sound Forever]]}}</ref> As a result of the album's success, Chess felt that he could revive the career of bluesmen Muddy Waters and [[Howlin' Wolf]] by recording two albums of experimental, psychedelic [[blues]] with members of Rotary Connection as the backing band for the singers, producing the albums ''[[Electric Mud]]'' and ''The Howlin' Wolf Album''.<ref name="Murray">{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Charles Shaar |title=Crosstown traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the post-war rock'n'roll revolution |year=1991 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-312-06324-5 |page=134 |chapter=Blue are the Life-giving Waters }}</ref> Chess hoped the new albums would sell well among fans of [[psychedelic rock]] bands influenced by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.<ref name="Humphrey">{{cite book |last1=Humphrey |first1=Mark |title=Electric Mud |type=liner notes |accessdate= |year=1996 |publisher=[[Chess Records|Chess]]/[[MCA Records|MCA]] |id=UPC: 076732936429|oclc=779181053}}</ref>
In 1967, [[Marshall Chess]] formed [[Cadet Records|Cadet Concept Records]] as a subsidiary of [[Chess Records]]. The label's first release was the self-titled debut album of the [[psychedelic music|psychedelic]] band [[Rotary Connection]], whose members Chess described as "the hottest, most [[Avant-garde music|avant garde]] [[rock music|rock]] guys in Chicago".<ref name="Shannon">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.furious.com/Perfect/muddywaterselectricmud.html |title=''Muddy Waters: His most hated, misunderstood album'' |access-date=2009-03-18 |last=Shannon |first=Tim |date=December 2006 |magazine=[[Perfect Sound Forever (magazine)|Perfect Sound Forever]]}}</ref> As a result of the album's success, Chess felt that he could revive the career of bluesmen Muddy Waters and [[Howlin' Wolf]] by recording two albums of experimental, psychedelic [[blues]] with members of Rotary Connection as the backing band for the singers, producing the albums ''[[Electric Mud]]'' and ''The Howlin' Wolf Album''.<ref name="Murray">{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Charles Shaar |title=Crosstown traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the post-war rock'n'roll revolution |year=1991 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-312-06324-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/crosstowntraffic00murr/page/134 134] |chapter=Blue are the Life-giving Waters |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/crosstowntraffic00murr/page/134 }}</ref> Chess hoped the new albums would sell well among fans of [[psychedelic rock]] bands influenced by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.<ref name="Humphrey">{{cite book |last1=Humphrey |first1=Mark |title=Electric Mud |type=liner notes |year=1996 |publisher=[[Chess Records|Chess]]/[[MCA Records|MCA]] |id=UPC: 076732936429|oclc=779181053}}</ref>


In place of Howlin' Wolf's regular musicians were Gene Barge, [[Pete Cosey]], Roland Faulkner, [[Morris Jennings]], [[Louis Satterfield]], [[Charles Stepney]] and [[Phil Upchurch]].<ref name="Cohodas-289">{{cite book |last1=Cohodas |first1=Nadine |title=Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records |year=2001 |publisher= |page=289 |chapter=Final Tracks }}</ref> Cosey, Upchurch and Jennings joked about calling the group "The Electric Niggers".<ref name="Cohodas-289"/> Marshall Chess liked the suggestion, but [[Leonard Chess]] refused to allow the name.<ref name="Cohodas-289"/>
In place of Howlin' Wolf's regular musicians were [[Gene Barge]], [[Pete Cosey]], Roland Faulkner, [[Morris Jennings]], [[Louis Satterfield]], [[Charles Stepney]] and [[Phil Upchurch]].<ref name="Cohodas-289">{{cite book |last1=Cohodas |first1=Nadine |title=Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records |url=https://archive.org/details/spinningbluesint00coho |url-access=registration |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/spinningbluesint00coho/page/289 289] |chapter=Final Tracks }}</ref> Cosey, Upchurch and Jennings joked about calling the group "The Electric Niggers".<ref name="Cohodas-289"/> Marshall Chess liked the suggestion, but [[Leonard Chess]] refused to allow the name.<ref name="Cohodas-289"/>


The album incorporates use of [[wah-wah pedal]] and [[Distortion (music)|fuzzbox]].<ref name="Moon">{{cite web |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6106175 |title=A Blues Icon Who Rocks Unwillingly |accessdate=2009-03-16 |last=Moon |first=Tom |coauthors= |date=September 20, 2006 |work= |publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref> Marshall Chess augmented the rhythm of Howlin Wolf's live band with the use of [[electronic organ]] and [[saxophone]].<ref name="Moon"/> Blues purists criticized the album's psychedelic sound.<ref name="Humphrey"/> Howlin' Wolf disliked the sound, which he did not consider to be [[blues]].<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248">{{cite book |last1=Segrest |first1=James |last2=Hoffman |first2=Mark |title=Moanin' at Midnight |year=2005 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |isbn=1-56025-683-4 |page=248 |chapter=Change My Way }}</ref> According to guitarist [[Pete Cosey]], during the recording sessions, Howlin' Wolf "looked at me and he said 'Why don't you take them wah-wahs and all that other shit and go throw it off in the lake — on your way to the barber shop?'"<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/>
The album incorporates use of [[wah-wah pedal]] and [[Distortion (music)|fuzzbox]].<ref name="Moon">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6106175 |title=A Blues Icon Who Rocks Unwillingly |access-date=2009-03-16 |last=Moon |first=Tom |date=September 20, 2006 |publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref> Marshall Chess augmented the rhythm of Howlin Wolf's live band with the use of electronic organ and saxophone.<ref name="Moon"/> Blues purists criticized the album's psychedelic sound.<ref name="Humphrey"/> Howlin' Wolf disliked the sound, which he did not consider to be blues.<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248">{{cite book |last1=Segrest |first1=James |last2=Hoffman |first2=Mark |title=Moanin' at Midnight |year=2005 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |isbn=1-56025-683-4 |page=248 |chapter=Change My Way }}</ref> According to guitarist Pete Cosey, during the recording sessions, Howlin' Wolf "looked at me and he said 'Why don't you take them wah-wahs and all that other shit and go throw it off in the lake – on your way to the barber shop?'"<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/>


==Release and reception==
==Release and reception==
{{Album ratings
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Leggett|first=Steve|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-howlin-wolfs-new-album-mw0000546845|title=This Is Howlin' Wolf's New Album - Howlin' Wolf|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|accessdate=November 22, 2014}}</ref>
| rev1Score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Leggett|first=Steve|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-howlin-wolfs-new-album-mw0000546845|title=This Is Howlin' Wolf's New Album - Howlin' Wolf|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=November 22, 2014}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev2 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=Dave|editor1-last=Marsh|editor1-link=Dave Marsh|editor2-first=John|editor2-last=Swenson|year=1983|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Record Guide]]|publisher=[[Random House]]/[[Rolling Stone|Rolling Stone Press]]|isbn=0394721071|page=554}}</ref>
| rev2Score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=Dave|editor1-last=Marsh|editor1-link=Dave Marsh|editor2-first=John|editor2-last=Swenson|year=1983|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Record Guide]]|publisher=[[Random House]]/[[Rolling Stone|Rolling Stone Press]]|isbn=0394721071|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars/page/554 554]}}</ref>
}}
}}
[[Marshall Chess]] referred to Howlin' Wolf's dislike of the arrangements on the album's cover.<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gioia |first1=Ted |title=Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music |year=2008 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location= |language= |isbn=0-393-06258-9 |page=303 |chapter=Smokestack Lightnin' }}</ref></blockquote> Howlin' Wolf took exception to the blurb, as he had enthusiastically adopted the use of [[electric guitar]], and had led the first entirely electric blues combo in [[West Memphis, Arkansas|West Memphis]] in the early 1950s.<ref name="Murray"/> Howlin' Wolf stated that the album was "dog shit".<ref name="Murray"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Martin Charles |title=The Great Rock Discography |year=2004 |publisher=Canongate |isbn=1-84195-615-5 |page=711 |chapter=Howlin' Wolf }}</ref> According to Chess, the album's cover hurt its sales. Chess states that "I used negativity in the title, and it was a big lesson: You can't say on the cover that the artist didn't like the album. It didn't really sell that well. But it was just an attempt. They were just experiments."<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/>
Marshall Chess referred to Howlin' Wolf's dislike of the arrangements on the album's cover.<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gioia |first1=Ted |title=Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music |year=2008 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-06258-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifean00gioi/page/303 303] |chapter=Smokestack Lightnin' |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifean00gioi/page/303 }}</ref> Howlin' Wolf took exception to the blurb, as he had enthusiastically adopted the use of electric guitar, and had led the first entirely electric blues combo in [[West Memphis, Arkansas|West Memphis]] in the early 1950s.<ref name="Murray"/> Howlin' Wolf stated that the album was "dog shit".<ref name="Murray"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Martin Charles |title=The Great Rock Discography |year=2004 |publisher=Canongate |isbn=1-84195-615-5 |page=711 |chapter=Howlin' Wolf }}</ref> According to Chess, the album's cover hurt its sales. Chess states that "I used negativity in the title, and it was a big lesson: You can't say on the cover that the artist didn't like the album. It didn't really sell that well. But it was just an attempt. They were just experiments."<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/>


''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' did not sell as well as ''Electric Mud''.<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/> ''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' peaked at #69 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|Black Albums]] [[Billboard charts|chart]].<ref name="Billboard">{{cite web |url={{Allmusic|class=album|id=r106966|pure_url=yes}} |title=Charts and awards for ''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' |accessdate=2009-03-16 |publisher=''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''}}</ref> The album's single, "[[Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)|Evil]]", peaked at #43 on the R&B Singles chart.<ref name="Billboard"/>
''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' did not sell as well as ''[[Electric Mud]]''.<ref name="SegrestHoffman-248"/> ''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' peaked at number 69 on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine's [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|Black Albums]] chart.<ref name="Billboard">{{cite magazine |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r106966|pure_url=yes}} |title=Charts and awards for ''The Howlin' Wolf Album'' |access-date=2009-03-16 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref> The album's single, "[[Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)|Evil]]", peaked at number 43 on the R&B Singles chart.<ref name="Billboard"/>


In 2007 a digitally remastered [[Compact Disc]] edition was released as a limited edition in Japan. Due to an error in remastering the CD version cuts 34 seconds from the last song "Back Door Man". Instead of a fade out the song ends abruptly at 6:31. On March 22, 2011 Get On Down Records reissued the CD in the US with the same mastering error. <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATA1AKaUHpY</ref><ref>http://www.discogs.com/Howlin-Wolf-The-Howlin-Wolf-Album/release/2976238</ref> The reason for the error is that the printed time for Back Door Man printed on the back cover is 6:17, however, this is for the music only. Correct timing for the full song with the spoken intro is 6:51. The album has never been released on CD in its complete form.
In 2007, a digitally remastered compact disc edition was released as a limited edition in Japan. Because of an error in remastering, the CD version cut 34 seconds from the last song, “Back-Door Man.” Instead of a fade out, the song ends abruptly at 6:31. On March 22, 2011, Get On Down Records reissued the CD in the US with the same mastering error.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Howlin-Wolf-The-Howlin-Wolf-Album/release/2976238|title=Howlin' Wolf - The Howlin' Wolf Album|website=Discogs.com|access-date=December 8, 2019}}</ref> The reason for the error is that the printed time for "Back-Door Man " printed on the back cover is 6:17, but this excludes the spoken intro. The correct timing for the full song with the spoken intro is 6:51. The album has never been released on CD in its complete form.

The singer [[Bilal (American singer)|Bilal]] names it among his 25 favorite albums.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Simmons|first=Ted|date=February 26, 2013|url=https://www.complex.com/music/2013/02/bilals-25-favorite-albums/the-velvet-underground-the-velvet-underground-and|title=Bilal's 25 Favorite Albums|magazine=[[Complex (magazine)|Complex]]|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref> In 1998 ''[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]'' included the album in a list of groundbreaking albums, where [[Sasha Frere-Jones]] wrote of how Chess' wish to put "the greatest shouter of all time" against an electric band to recut several of his early hits unusually resulted in a group that "was capable of outdoing both [[Funkadelic]] and [[The Meters]] at their own game, and unafraid to get very foreground and doubly black." He wrote that the same group's albums with Muddy Waters "came close to the majesty" of ''The Howlin' Wolf Album'', but that ultimately "there's no topping Howlin's [[polytonality|polytonal]] bellow. Combine that voice with the rhythm and noise here and you have evidence of the greatest rock group that never was."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Appendix to 100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening) |magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |issue=176 |date=October 1998}}</ref>


==Track listing==
==Track listing==
Titles, writer's credits, and running times are taken from the original Cadet LP record cover and may differ from other releases.

All tracks written by [[Willie Dixon]], except "Smokestack Lightning" and "Moanin' at Midnight," written by Howlin' Wolf.
{{tracklist
{{tracklist
| headline = Side A
| headline = Side 1
| total_length = 20:49
| total_length = 20:49
| writing_credits = yes

| title1 = [[Spoonful]]
| title1 = [[Spoonful]]
| writer1 = [[Willie Dixon]]
| length1 = 3:48
| length1 = 3:52


| title2 = Tail Dragger
| title2 = Tail Dragger
| writer2 = Dixon
| length2 = 4:20
| length2 = 4:33


| title3 = [[Smokestack Lightning]]
| title3 = [[Smokestack Lightning]]
| writer3 = Howlin' Wolf
| length3 = 3:54
| length3 = 3:56


| title4 = Moanin' at Midnight
| title4 = Moanin' at Midnight
| writer4 = Howlin' Wolf, Taub
| length4 = 3:13
| length4 = 3:15


| title5 = Built for Comfort
| title5 = Built for Comfort
| writer5 = Dixon
| length5 = 5:07
| length5 = 5:11
}}
}}


{{tracklist
{{tracklist
| headline = Side B
| headline = Side 2
| total_length = 20:09
| total_length = 20:09

| writing_credits = yes


| title6 = [[Little Red Rooster|The Red Rooster]]
| title6 = [[Little Red Rooster|The Red Rooster]]
| writer6 = Dixon, Howlin' Wolf
| length6 = 3:48
| length6 = 3:50


| title7 = [[Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)|Evil]]
| title7 = [[Evil (Howlin' Wolf song)|Evil]]
| writer7 = Dixon, Howlin' Wolf
| length7 = 4:06
| length7 = 4:06


| title8 = Down in the Bottom
| title8 = Down in the Bottom
| writer8 = Dixon
| length8 = 2:43
| length8 = 2:45


| title9 = Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
| title9 = Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
| writer9 = Dixon
| length9 = 2:34
| length9 = 2:35


| title10 = [[Back Door Man]]
| title10 = [[Back Door Man]]
| writer10 = Dixon
| length10 = 6:51
| length10 = 6:51
}}
}}


==Personnel==
==Personnel==
* Howlin' Wolf – [[guitar]], [[harmonica]], [[Singing|vocals]]
* Howlin' Wolf – guitar, harmonica, vocals
* [[Gene Barge]] – horn, [[Saxophone|electric saxophone]]
* [[Gene Barge]] – horn, electric saxophone
* [[Pete Cosey]] – guitar, bowed guitar
* [[Pete Cosey]] – guitar, bowed guitar
* [[Hubert Sumlin]] – guitar
* [[Hubert Sumlin]] – guitar
* Roland Faulkner – guitar
* Roland Faulkner – guitar
* [[Morris Jennings]] – [[Drum kit|drum]]s
* [[Morris Jennings]] – drums
* [[Don Myrick]] – [[flute]]
* [[Don Myrick]] – flute
* [[Louis Satterfield]] – [[Bass guitar|bass]]
* [[Louis Satterfield]] – bass guitar
* [[Phil Upchurch]] – bass, guitar
* [[Phil Upchurch]] – bass, guitar
;Technical
;Technical
* [[Ron Malo]] – [[Audio engineering|recording engineer]]
* [[Ron Malo]] – [[Audio engineering|recording engineer]]
* Jeff Leowenthal – [[photography]]
* Jeff Leowenthal – photography


==Chart positions==
==Chart positions==
Line 120: Line 108:
|align="center"|49<ref name="Billboard"/>
|align="center"|49<ref name="Billboard"/>
|}
|}

==See also==
*''[[Electric Mud]]''


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}



{{Howlin' Wolf}}
{{Howlin' Wolf}}
⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howlin' Wolf Album, The}}


{{Authority control}}
⚫
[[Category:1969 albums]]

[[Category:Chess Records albums]]
⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howlin' Wolf Album, The}}
⚫
[[Category:1969 debut albums]]
[[Category:Cadet Records albums]]
[[Category:Cadet Records albums]]
[[Category:Howlin' Wolf albums]]
[[Category:Howlin' Wolf albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Charles Stepney]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Charles Stepney]]
[[Category:English-language albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Marshall Chess]]

Latest revision as of 23:43, 21 October 2024

The Howlin' Wolf Album
Text reading "This is Howlin' Wolf's new album. He doesn't like it. He didn't like his electric guitar at first either."
Studio album by
Howlin' Wolf
Released1969 (1969)
RecordedNovember 1968
Genre
Length40:59
LabelCadet Concept/Chess
Producer
Howlin' Wolf chronology
The Super Super Blues Band
(1968) 		The Howlin' Wolf Album
(1969) 		Message to the Young
(1970)

The Howlin' Wolf Album is the first studio album by Howlin' Wolf, released in 1969. It features members of Rotary Connection as his backing band.[1] The album mixed blues with psychedelic rock arrangements of several of Wolf's classic songs. Howlin' Wolf strongly disliked the album, which is noted on the album's cover art. The album peaked at number 69 on Billboard magazine's "Black Albums" chart.

Production

[edit]

In 1967, Marshall Chess formed Cadet Concept Records as a subsidiary of Chess Records. The label's first release was the self-titled debut album of the psychedelic band Rotary Connection, whose members Chess described as "the hottest, most avant garde rock guys in Chicago".[2] As a result of the album's success, Chess felt that he could revive the career of bluesmen Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf by recording two albums of experimental, psychedelic blues with members of Rotary Connection as the backing band for the singers, producing the albums Electric Mud and The Howlin' Wolf Album.[3] Chess hoped the new albums would sell well among fans of psychedelic rock bands influenced by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.[4]

In place of Howlin' Wolf's regular musicians were Gene Barge, Pete Cosey, Roland Faulkner, Morris Jennings, Louis Satterfield, Charles Stepney and Phil Upchurch.[5] Cosey, Upchurch and Jennings joked about calling the group "The Electric Niggers".[5] Marshall Chess liked the suggestion, but Leonard Chess refused to allow the name.[5]

The album incorporates use of wah-wah pedal and fuzzbox.[6] Marshall Chess augmented the rhythm of Howlin Wolf's live band with the use of electronic organ and saxophone.[6] Blues purists criticized the album's psychedelic sound.[4] Howlin' Wolf disliked the sound, which he did not consider to be blues.[7] According to guitarist Pete Cosey, during the recording sessions, Howlin' Wolf "looked at me and he said 'Why don't you take them wah-wahs and all that other shit and go throw it off in the lake – on your way to the barber shop?'"[7]

Release and reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]

Marshall Chess referred to Howlin' Wolf's dislike of the arrangements on the album's cover.[7][10] Howlin' Wolf took exception to the blurb, as he had enthusiastically adopted the use of electric guitar, and had led the first entirely electric blues combo in West Memphis in the early 1950s.[3] Howlin' Wolf stated that the album was "dog shit".[3][11] According to Chess, the album's cover hurt its sales. Chess states that "I used negativity in the title, and it was a big lesson: You can't say on the cover that the artist didn't like the album. It didn't really sell that well. But it was just an attempt. They were just experiments."[7]

The Howlin' Wolf Album did not sell as well as Electric Mud.[7] The Howlin' Wolf Album peaked at number 69 on Billboard magazine's Black Albums chart.[12] The album's single, "Evil", peaked at number 43 on the R&B Singles chart.[12]

In 2007, a digitally remastered compact disc edition was released as a limited edition in Japan. Because of an error in remastering, the CD version cut 34 seconds from the last song, “Back-Door Man.” Instead of a fade out, the song ends abruptly at 6:31. On March 22, 2011, Get On Down Records reissued the CD in the US with the same mastering error.[13] The reason for the error is that the printed time for "Back-Door Man " printed on the back cover is 6:17, but this excludes the spoken intro. The correct timing for the full song with the spoken intro is 6:51. The album has never been released on CD in its complete form.

The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums.[14] In 1998 The Wire included the album in a list of groundbreaking albums, where Sasha Frere-Jones wrote of how Chess' wish to put "the greatest shouter of all time" against an electric band to recut several of his early hits unusually resulted in a group that "was capable of outdoing both Funkadelic and The Meters at their own game, and unafraid to get very foreground and doubly black." He wrote that the same group's albums with Muddy Waters "came close to the majesty" of The Howlin' Wolf Album, but that ultimately "there's no topping Howlin's polytonal bellow. Combine that voice with the rhythm and noise here and you have evidence of the greatest rock group that never was."[15]

Track listing

[edit]

Titles, writer's credits, and running times are taken from the original Cadet LP record cover and may differ from other releases.

All tracks written by Willie Dixon, except "Smokestack Lightning" and "Moanin' at Midnight," written by Howlin' Wolf.

Side 1
No.TitleLength
1."Spoonful"3:48
2."Tail Dragger"4:20
3."Smokestack Lightning"3:54
4."Moanin' at Midnight"3:13
5."Built for Comfort"5:07
Total length:20:49
Side 2
No.TitleLength
6."The Red Rooster"3:48
7."Evil"4:06
8."Down in the Bottom"2:43
9."Three Hundred Pounds of Joy"2:34
10."Back Door Man"6:51
Total length:20:09

Personnel

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Technical

Chart positions

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Chart (1969) Peak Position
Black Albums 49[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Howlin' Wolf Sessionography accessed September 19, 2019
  2. ^ Shannon, Tim (December 2006). "Muddy Waters: His most hated, misunderstood album". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
  3. ^ a b c Murray, Charles Shaar (1991). "Blue are the Life-giving Waters". Crosstown traffic: Jimi Hendrix and the post-war rock'n'roll revolution. Macmillan. p. 134. ISBN 0-312-06324-5.
  4. ^ a b Humphrey, Mark (1996). Electric Mud (liner notes). Chess/MCA. OCLC 779181053. UPC: 076732936429.
  5. ^ a b c Cohodas, Nadine (2001). "Final Tracks". Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records. p. 289.
  6. ^ a b Moon, Tom (September 20, 2006). "A Blues Icon Who Rocks Unwillingly". NPR. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  7. ^ a b c d e Segrest, James; Hoffman, Mark (2005). "Change My Way". Moanin' at Midnight. Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 248. ISBN 1-56025-683-4.
  8. ^ Leggett, Steve. "This Is Howlin' Wolf's New Album - Howlin' Wolf". AllMusic. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  9. ^ Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John, eds. (1983). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 554. ISBN 0394721071.
  10. ^ Gioia, Ted (2008). "Smokestack Lightnin'". Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-393-06258-8.
  11. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (2004). "Howlin' Wolf". The Great Rock Discography. Canongate. p. 711. ISBN 1-84195-615-5.
  12. ^ a b c "Charts and awards for The Howlin' Wolf Album". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  13. ^ "Howlin' Wolf - The Howlin' Wolf Album". Discogs.com. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  14. ^ Simmons, Ted (February 26, 2013). "Bilal's 25 Favorite Albums". Complex. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  15. ^ "Appendix to 100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)". The Wire. No. 176. October 1998.
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