Music |
Canned Heat
By
Published: Sep 26, 2022
Category:
Blues
If the creation of beauty is its own reward, then Canned Heat is in the Pantheon of Gorgeousness.
Canned Heat was a late ‘60s California blues band. All white. Its founders were “Big Bear” Bob Hite and “Blind” Alan Wilson, who were as much historians of early African-American music — they cadged their name from a 1928 recording — as they were gifted musicians. They took classics, reshaped them, turned the blues into a drone. John Lee Hooker said Al Wilson was the best he ever heard. And Wilson had a voice.
Wilson’s voice. There’s none like it. High, thin, delicate — a choirboy singing the blues. And watch. Have you ever seen less stage presence? Here he is, centerpiece of a boogie band, and it looks as if merely showing up requires a career effort. Here’s the video of “On the Road Again.”
The band made its first record in 1967. A month later, they went on tour — and were busted in Denver for possession of marijuana. They got off with probation, but the price was high. To pay their lawyer, they had to sell half of their publishing rights for $10,000. A pity — here’s the video of “Going Up the Country.”
1968. Woodstock. If you were there, you saw a commanding performance. If you saw the movie, you saw no Canned Heat. The film was overlong, you see, so Warner simply cut every group not on the Warner label. Here’s a video from Woodstock.
1970. Alan Wilson committed suicide. He was just 27.
The band staggered on. But in 1981, Bob Hite had a fatal heart attack at the Palomino club in Los Angeles. In 1997, the band’s other guitarist, Henry Vestine, died in Paris. There’s still a Canned Heat, but nothing new comes from it — it’s essentially a tribute band. [To buy the “Very Best Of” CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
So what is there to praise that’s not obvious?
A handful of songs. If they sound simple, that’s deceptive — “On the Road Again” required Al Wilson to play six different parts: three tamboura parts, harmonica, vocal and guitar, all recorded at different times. .
It’s not much. But how very great. Watch a boogie from Woodstock.
In a just world, Canned Heat would be mainstream music. In ours, it’s esoteric. Which means you now know more than The Others. [To buy “The Best of Canned Heat” CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
BONUS
Nobody was looking, no one much cared when Canned Heat made a record with John Lee Hooker. “Hooker ‘N Heat” is said to be the best work Hooker recorded with a white band. Some say it’s better than that. A few call it “seminal.” I think we can agree on one point: It, too, is esoteric. [To buy the CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
