Search - Howlin Wolf :: Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog: Chess Collectibles V.2

****1/2. Finally!

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 09/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This wonderful double CD has been unavailable for a while. Get it while you can!



"Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog" should be as easily available as any of Wolf's MCA/Chess compilations...it gathers fourteen previously unreleased recordings which Wolf made for Sam Phillips in Memphis, as well as numerous other rare and unissued performances, alternates, and a handful of acoustic solo recordings featuring just Wolf and his guitar.

And these are certainly not bottom-of-the-barrel scrapings. There are so many fine songs here, rough, tough, electric blues, superbly arranged, and featuring musicians like guitarist Willie Johnson, harpist James Cotton, saxists Billy Duncan, Eddie Shaw and J.T. Brown, several powerful yet swinging drummers, and piano players Hosea Lee Kennard and Johnny Jones. And Hubert Sumlin is here too, of course.



There are too many highlights to mention, really, but I'm going to pick a few anyway, like "Poor Wind That Never Change", co-written by Wolf and Alex Atkins, and utilizing the tune of "Careless Love", and one of the few Willie Dixon-songs on this compilation, "Long Green Stuff".

The vast majority of these 42 songs are written by the Wolf himself, and many of them, like "Decoration Day Blues", "Getting Late" and the instrumental "Wolf In The Mood", display Wolf's prowess on the harmonica much better than most of the better-known Chess sides.

Songs like "Color And Kind", "Highway My Friend", the horn-driven "Oh Red", and the late-60s powerhouses "I Had A Dream" and "The Big House" are all among Wolf's best original compositions, and you have to be impressed by the complex slide guitar riff that he plays on the solo performance of "Rollin' And Tumblin'" - while he is singing, that is.



This is not the place to start appreciating the Wolf, but once you've got his classic Chess sides, make sure you grab this one as well. It is a tremendous addition to his legacy."