Canned Heat - The Boogie House Tapes Vol 3

Love blues? Try this bargain pack for size

When you’ve been around as long as Woodstock survivors Canned Heat, there’s bound to be a slew of unreleased junk in your trunk. This is the last of a series of archive albums, all double-disc sets put together with help from Heat’s friends and fans, reflecting the legendary blues band’s music throughout more than 40 years of existence.

The uncommitted will note live versions of Let’s Work Together and On The Road Again (the latter twice, once with Bob Hite and Al Wilson both singing). These don’t disappoint, but the hidden charms of the likes of Hill’s Boogie, an instrumental from 1971 led by sometime guitarist Joel Scott Hill, are equally memorable. There’s a guitar intro from Wilson, taken from Woodstock, to open, while 10 minutes of John Lee Hooker’s I Feel Good, with the boogie man himself in attendance, closes Disc Two in fine fashion.

An added attraction of these 25 live and (occasional) studio recordings from 1967-78 is the presence of special guests Curtis Mayfield, Sunnyland Slim, Wolfman Jack, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and The Chambers Brothers. There’s an occasional variation in sound quality, but since Ruf are retailing this at a single album price it’s doubtful whether many fans will have a problem.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Ruf RUF | 1146 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Michael Heatley
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