| The Back Door Wolf | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Recorded | August 14 & 17, 1973 | |||
| Studio | Chess Recording, Chicago | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 39:06 | |||
| Label | Chess | |||
| Producer | Ralph Bass | |||
| Howlin' Wolf chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Back Door Wolf is the final studio album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records in 1973. [1] [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [3] |
In a retrospective AllMusic review, critic Cub Koda wrote: "This, Wolf's last hurrah, is his final studio album. Cut with his regular working band, the Wolf Gang, everything here works well ... Not the place to start a Wolf collection by any means, but a great place to end up". [1]
All compositions credited to Chester Burnett except where noted
Additional track on CD reissue
Howlin' Wolf was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood and became successful, forming a rivalry with fellow bluesman Muddy Waters. With a booming voice and imposing physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists.
The Progressive Blues Experiment is the debut album by American blues rock musician Johnny Winter. He recorded it in August 1968 at the Vulcan Gas Company, an Austin music club, with his original trio of Tommy Shannon on bass guitar and John "Red" Turner on drums. The album features a mix of Winter originals and older blues songs, including the standards "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Help Me", and "Forty-Four".
The Real Folk Blues is a series of blues albums released between 1965 and 1967 by Chess Records, later reissued MCA Records. Each album in the series highlighted the music of one major Chess artist, including John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. The series, overseen by Marshall Chess, was a reaction to the increasing audience for the blues following the British Invasion. Companion discs, titled More Real Folk Blues, were released for many of the artists. Hooker's companion disc was not released until 1991. Beginning in 1999 the albums were re-released as single-disc compilations.
In the Beginning is the second live album by Stevie (Ray) Vaughan and Double Trouble. While the album was released about two years after Vaughan's death in 1990, the actual performance took place on April 1, 1980 at Steamboat 1874 in Austin, Texas, and was broadcast live on KLBJ-FM radio. A 25-year-old Vaughan, still more than three years away from the release of his first studio album, performs with his "Double Trouble" bandmates: Chris Layton, drummer, and Jackie Newhouse, bassist.
Howlin' Wolf is the second studio album from Chicago blues singer/guitarist/harmonicist Howlin' Wolf. It is a collection of twelve singles previously released by the Chess label from 1960 through 1962. Because of the illustration on its sleeve, the album is often called The Rockin' Chair Album, a nickname even added to the cover on some reissue pressings of the LP.
"Goin' Down Slow" or "Going Down Slow" is a blues song composed by American blues singer St. Louis Jimmy Oden. It is considered a blues standard and "one of the most famous blues of all".
"Smokestack Lightning" is a blues song recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1956. It became one of his most popular and influential songs. It is based on earlier blues songs, and numerous artists later interpreted it.
"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon. Music critic Mike Rowe calls it a party song in an urban style with its massive, rolling, exciting beat. It was first recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1960 and released by Chess Records in 1961. In 1965, Dixon and Leonard Chess persuaded Koko Taylor to record it for Checker Records, a Chess subsidiary. Taylor's rendition quickly became a hit, reaching number thirteen on the Billboard R&B chart and number 58 on the pop chart. "Wang Dang Doodle" became a blues standard and has been recorded by various artists.
Reheated is the twelfth album by Canned Heat, released in 1988. It features two members of the band's classic lineup, Fito de la Parra and Larry Taylor. Among the titles, "Bullfrog Blues" was originally on the B-side of the first single recorded by Canned Heat in 1967; "Built for Comfort" by Willie Dixon was popularized by Howlin' Wolf; "Take Me to the River" is a R&B/soul song which has been recorded by artists such as Al Green and Talking Heads.
"Sitting on Top of the World" is a country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. They were core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, who first recorded it in 1930. Vinson claimed to have composed the song one morning after playing at a white dance in Greenwood, Mississippi. It became a popular crossover hit, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
"Forty-Four" or "44 Blues" is a blues standard whose origins have been traced back to early 1920s Louisiana. However, it was Roosevelt Sykes, who provided the lyrics and first recorded it in 1929, that helped popularize the song. "Forty-Four," through numerous adaptations and recordings, remains in the blues lexicon eighty years later.
Eddie Shaw was an American Chicago blues tenor saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He led Howlin' Wolf's band, the Wolf Gang, from 1972, both before Wolf's death in 1976 and subsequently.
His Best is a greatest hits album by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf. The album was originally released on April 8, 1997 by MCA/Chess Records, and was one of a series of releases by MCA for the 50th anniversary of Chess Records that year. Ten years later – on April 17, 2007 – the album was reissued by Geffen Records as The Definitive Collection.
The London Muddy Waters Sessions is a studio album by Muddy Waters, released in 1972 on Chess Records. A follow-up to 1971's The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, the concept was to combine American bluesmen with British blues/rock stars. The album was an attempt to capitalise on the increasing popularity of traditional blues music and blues artists in Britain.
Big Boss Man is an album by blues musician Jimmy Reed released by the BluesWay label in 1968.
The Super Super Blues Band is an album by blues musicians Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley released on the Checker label in 1968.
The Real Folk Bluesis a compilation album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf, which was released by Chess Records in 1965. The album's songs, which were originally issued as singles, were recorded in Chicago between 1956 and 1965.
Live and Cookin', subtitled at Alice's Revisited, is a live album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records in 1972.
More Real Folk Blues is a compilation album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records in 1967. It includes songs that were recorded in Memphis and Chicago between 1953 and 1956.
Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon was an American Chicago blues bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. McMahon played bass guitar in Howlin' Wolf's backing ensemble for over a decade. He also backed a number of other Chicago-based blues musicians on record. His own best known tracks are "Lost in the Jungle", "Special Agent", "Potato Diggin' Man", and "Worried All the Time", which have appeared on several compilation albums.