CANNED HEAT/HENRY VESTINE
''HUMAN CONDITION REVISITED/I USED TO BE MAD! (BUT NOW I'M HALF CRAZY), DISC TWO''
OCTOBER 2 2006
114:19
**********
DISC ONE (CANNED HEAT)
1 Human Condition 5:38
2 Strut My Stuff 2:51
3 Hot Money 3:35
4 House Of Blue Lights 3:36
5 Just Got To Be There 4:08
6 You Just Got To Rock 3:19
7 She's Looking Good 3:19
8 Open Up Your Back Door 3:44
9 Wrapped Up 3:14
10 Kings Of The Boogie (Live) (Bonus) 3:29
11 Refried Hockey Boogie (Live) (Instrumental) (Bonus) 23:03
*****
DISC TWO (HENRY VESTINE)
1. Dust My Broom 4:37
2. Searching For My Baby 3:03
3. Sunflower Blues 2:44
4. Johnny B. Goode 3:33
5. Ninety Nine And A Half 4:19
6. High School Dance 3:29
7. Loquismo (Instrumental) 7:25
8. The Stumble (Instrumental) 3:22
9. Let's Work Together 3:27
10. I Need A Hundred Dollars 5:19
11. Kings Of The Boogie 3:24
12. On The Road Again 5:09
13. LSD Boogie (Instrumental) 4:32
**********
Adolfo De La Parra /Drums
Mike "The Mouth" Halby /Guitar, Vocals
Mike Halby "The Mouth" /Guitar, Vocals
Bob Hite /Harmonica, Vocals
Richard Hite /Bass Guitar
Ricky Kellogg /Harmonica, Vocals
Harvey Mandel /Guest Artist, Guitar
Chris Morgan /Guitar
Ernie Rodriguez /Bass Guitar, Vocals
Mark Skyer /Guitar, Vocals
Walter Trout /Guest Artist, Guitar
Henry Vestine /Guitar
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Greg Prato
Canned Heat's 1978 release, Human Condition, was an important one in the band's overall discography, as it was the last studio effort to feature original singer Bob Hite fronting the band (Hite would pass away in 1981). In 2006, the album was expanded with a pair of live tracks from 1985 and retitled Human Condition Revisited, and was packaged as a double disc that also featured the overlooked 1981 solo effort by Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine, I Used to Be Mad! (But Now I'm Half Crazy). Although disco, arena rock, and punk were the most in-demand musical styles during the late '70s, Canned Heat stuck with their bluesy approach on Human Condition, as evidenced by such uptempo rockers as the album-opening title track and "House of Blue Lights," while Hite's underrated harmonica blowing on "Hot Money" shows where John Popper may have gotten some of his inspiration. The compilation's second disc proves to be just as bluesy and vibrant as the first -- nearly everybody else in the rock world may have been cutting their hair and introducing synthesizers into their music, but not Vestine, as such standouts as "Dust My Broom" and "Sunflower Blues" could easily be mistaken for Canned Heat tracks. For fans who may have lost track of Canned Heat sometime in the '70s, Human Condition Revisited/I Used to Be Mad! (But Now I'm Half Crazy) proves that they were still rockin' and rollin' far beyond Woodstock.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Bruce Eder
A hard-luck blues band of the '60s, Canned Heat was founded by blues historians and record collectors Alan Wilson and Bob Hite. They seemed to be on the right track and played all the right festivals (including Monterey and Woodstock, making it very prominently into the documentaries about both) but somehow never found a lasting audience.
Certainly their hearts were in the right place. Canned Heat's debut album -- released shortly after their appearance at Monterey -- was every bit as deep into the roots of the blues as any other combo of the time mining similar turf, with the exception of the original Paul Butterfield band. Hite was nicknamed "The Bear" and stalked the stage in the time-honored tradition of Howlin' Wolf and other large-proportioned bluesmen. Wilson was an extraordinary harmonica player, with a fat tone and great vibrato. His work on guitar, especially in open tunings (he played on Son House's rediscovery recordings of the mid-'60s, incidentally) gave the band a depth and texture that most other rhythm players could only aspire to. Henry Vestine -- another dyed-in-the-wool record collector -- was the West Coast's answer to Michael Bloomfield and capable of fretboard fireworks at a moment's notice.
Canned Heat's breakthrough moment occurred with the release of their second album, establishing them with hippie ballroom audiences as the "kings of the boogie." As a way of paying homage to the musician they got the idea from in the first place, they later collaborated on an album with John Lee Hooker that was one of the elder bluesman's most successful outings with a young white (or black, for that matter) combo backing him up. After two big chart hits with "Goin' Up the Country" and an explosive version of Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together," Wilson died under mysterious (probably drug-related) circumstances in 1970, and Hite carried on with various reconstituted versions of the band until his death just before a show in 1981, from a heart seizure.
Still, the surviving members -- led by drummer Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra -- continued touring and recording, recruiting new vocalist Walter Trout; he was replaced in 1985 by James Thornbury, who fronted the band for the next decade. After Thornbury exited in 1995, Canned Heat tapped Robert Lucas to assume lead vocal duties; they soon recorded The Canned Heat Blues Band, which sadly was Vestine's last recording with the group -- he died in Paris in October 1997 in the wake of the band's recent tour. Boogie 2000 followed two years later.
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''HUMAN CONDITION REVISITED/I USED TO BE MAD! (BUT NOW I'M HALF CRAZY), DISC TWO''
OCTOBER 2 2006
114:19
**********
DISC ONE (CANNED HEAT)
1 Human Condition 5:38
2 Strut My Stuff 2:51
3 Hot Money 3:35
4 House Of Blue Lights 3:36
5 Just Got To Be There 4:08
6 You Just Got To Rock 3:19
7 She's Looking Good 3:19
8 Open Up Your Back Door 3:44
9 Wrapped Up 3:14
10 Kings Of The Boogie (Live) (Bonus) 3:29
11 Refried Hockey Boogie (Live) (Instrumental) (Bonus) 23:03
*****
DISC TWO (HENRY VESTINE)
1. Dust My Broom 4:37
2. Searching For My Baby 3:03
3. Sunflower Blues 2:44
4. Johnny B. Goode 3:33
5. Ninety Nine And A Half 4:19
6. High School Dance 3:29
7. Loquismo (Instrumental) 7:25
8. The Stumble (Instrumental) 3:22
9. Let's Work Together 3:27
10. I Need A Hundred Dollars 5:19
11. Kings Of The Boogie 3:24
12. On The Road Again 5:09
13. LSD Boogie (Instrumental) 4:32
**********
Adolfo De La Parra /Drums
Mike "The Mouth" Halby /Guitar, Vocals
Mike Halby "The Mouth" /Guitar, Vocals
Bob Hite /Harmonica, Vocals
Richard Hite /Bass Guitar
Ricky Kellogg /Harmonica, Vocals
Harvey Mandel /Guest Artist, Guitar
Chris Morgan /Guitar
Ernie Rodriguez /Bass Guitar, Vocals
Mark Skyer /Guitar, Vocals
Walter Trout /Guest Artist, Guitar
Henry Vestine /Guitar
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Greg Prato
Canned Heat's 1978 release, Human Condition, was an important one in the band's overall discography, as it was the last studio effort to feature original singer Bob Hite fronting the band (Hite would pass away in 1981). In 2006, the album was expanded with a pair of live tracks from 1985 and retitled Human Condition Revisited, and was packaged as a double disc that also featured the overlooked 1981 solo effort by Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine, I Used to Be Mad! (But Now I'm Half Crazy). Although disco, arena rock, and punk were the most in-demand musical styles during the late '70s, Canned Heat stuck with their bluesy approach on Human Condition, as evidenced by such uptempo rockers as the album-opening title track and "House of Blue Lights," while Hite's underrated harmonica blowing on "Hot Money" shows where John Popper may have gotten some of his inspiration. The compilation's second disc proves to be just as bluesy and vibrant as the first -- nearly everybody else in the rock world may have been cutting their hair and introducing synthesizers into their music, but not Vestine, as such standouts as "Dust My Broom" and "Sunflower Blues" could easily be mistaken for Canned Heat tracks. For fans who may have lost track of Canned Heat sometime in the '70s, Human Condition Revisited/I Used to Be Mad! (But Now I'm Half Crazy) proves that they were still rockin' and rollin' far beyond Woodstock.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Bruce Eder
A hard-luck blues band of the '60s, Canned Heat was founded by blues historians and record collectors Alan Wilson and Bob Hite. They seemed to be on the right track and played all the right festivals (including Monterey and Woodstock, making it very prominently into the documentaries about both) but somehow never found a lasting audience.
Certainly their hearts were in the right place. Canned Heat's debut album -- released shortly after their appearance at Monterey -- was every bit as deep into the roots of the blues as any other combo of the time mining similar turf, with the exception of the original Paul Butterfield band. Hite was nicknamed "The Bear" and stalked the stage in the time-honored tradition of Howlin' Wolf and other large-proportioned bluesmen. Wilson was an extraordinary harmonica player, with a fat tone and great vibrato. His work on guitar, especially in open tunings (he played on Son House's rediscovery recordings of the mid-'60s, incidentally) gave the band a depth and texture that most other rhythm players could only aspire to. Henry Vestine -- another dyed-in-the-wool record collector -- was the West Coast's answer to Michael Bloomfield and capable of fretboard fireworks at a moment's notice.
Canned Heat's breakthrough moment occurred with the release of their second album, establishing them with hippie ballroom audiences as the "kings of the boogie." As a way of paying homage to the musician they got the idea from in the first place, they later collaborated on an album with John Lee Hooker that was one of the elder bluesman's most successful outings with a young white (or black, for that matter) combo backing him up. After two big chart hits with "Goin' Up the Country" and an explosive version of Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together," Wilson died under mysterious (probably drug-related) circumstances in 1970, and Hite carried on with various reconstituted versions of the band until his death just before a show in 1981, from a heart seizure.
Still, the surviving members -- led by drummer Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra -- continued touring and recording, recruiting new vocalist Walter Trout; he was replaced in 1985 by James Thornbury, who fronted the band for the next decade. After Thornbury exited in 1995, Canned Heat tapped Robert Lucas to assume lead vocal duties; they soon recorded The Canned Heat Blues Band, which sadly was Vestine's last recording with the group -- he died in Paris in October 1997 in the wake of the band's recent tour. Boogie 2000 followed two years later.
**********
TO THE TOP
**********