180 GRAM SOLID BLUE COLOURED VINYL

INCLUDES 4 BONUS TRACKS

Born Chester Burnett (1910-1976), and named after President Chester Alan Arthur, Howlin’ Wolf had blues credentials so authentic they seem parodic. As a teenager in the Mississippi Delta, he really did pester Charley Patton (Mississippi’s seminal blues singer) for lessons, and took on Patton’s grainy voice and powerful, elemental slide guitar style.

In the ‘30s and ‘40s, he became one of the Delta’s many wandering entertainers, using the nom de guerre he derived from a childhood nickname, and he really did team up with Patton and such legendary figures as Robert Johnson and Son House. Presented here is Howlin’ Wolf’s outstanding debut album for Chess Records, Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959) – one of the all-time cornerstones of the genre. It features several of his early hits (“How Many More Years,” “Moanin’ at Midnight,” “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Forty Four,” “Evil,” and “I Asked for Water [She Gave Me Gasoline]”), and is a pretty potent collection in its own right.

PERSONNEL:

• HOWLIN’ WOLF - (vocals and harmonica), plus:

• COLLECTIVE PERSONNEL:
• Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Ike Turner, Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), Willie Steele, Earl Phillips (drums), among others. Recorded in Memphis and Chicago between 1951 and 1961.

TRACKS:

• SIDE A:
• A1. MOANIN’ AT MIDNIGHT
• A2. HOW MANY MORE YEARS
• A3. SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN’
• A4. BABY, HOW LONG
• A5. NO PLACE TO GO (YOU GONNA BREAK MY LIFE)
• A6. ALL NIGHT BOOGIE
• A7. THE RED ROOSTER [aka LITTLE RED ROOSTER] (*)
• A8. SPOONFUL (*)

• SIDE B:
• B1. EVIL (IS GOIN’ ON)
• B2. I’M LEAVIN’ YOU
• B3. MOANIN’ FOR MY BABY
• B4. I ASKED FOR WATER (SHE GAVE ME GASOLINE)
• B5. FORTY-FOUR
• B6. SOMEBODY IN MY HOME
• B7. SO GLAD (*)
• B8. BACK DOOR MAN (*)V

• (*) Bonus tracks