Moanin' in the Moonlight v Howlin' Wolf

[Goat Boy]

Rockin chair, right?

[Charlie O.]

Right.

[naughty boy]

I've never owned nor even heard these albums. I love Wolf tho'.

[Goat Boy]

I've never owned nor even heard these albums. I love Wolf tho'.

You can probably pick em up on one disc.

The first one is good, the second is fantastic

[toomanyhatz]

Love both, but Moanin' might be my favorite blues record ever.

[Spock!]

I don't know the albums but I can only assume they are fucking magnificent as it's the Wolf. I can't think of a Wolf track I don't like.

Heard this album?










They are both magnificent collections. Siamese twins, very hard to separate. My choice would vary daily & so will not express a preference. I hugely enjoy his work at Sun, and play that as much as the classic Chicago sides.

[Matt Wilson]

Both classics.

[fange]

Both brilliant collections, absolute corner stones of my musical DNA as that two-for-one CD was one of the very first i bought. Love them both equally, but if i was trying to be objective the songs on "Rocking Chair" are probably a bit stronger in the conventional songwriting sense. But that's not always the most important thing with the Wolf, or a lot of Blues for that matter.

[Muskrat]

You can probably pick em up on one disc.

The first one is good, the second is fantastic

There is a twofer available (at least in the U.S.) Plenty of good comps, too; most dirt-cheap.

[Muskrat]

You can probably pick em up on one disc.

The first one is good, the second is fantastic

There is a twofer available (at least in the U.S.) Plenty of good comps, too; most dirt-cheap. I also recommend The Real Folk Blues (also originally on Chess).

[take5_d_shorterer]

Very different albums.

Rocking Chair is a thoroughly modern album, almost a prototype for Van's work with Them. It's as if Howlin' Wolf were trying to make a pop album. Somehow he did it without sounding as if he was making any concessions at all.

Moanin' in the Moonlight is really rough-hewn in comparison.

I think a lot of this has to do with his choice of guitarists, Willie Johnson versus Hubert Sumlin. A lot of it also has to do with his ability to span a wide variety of styles. I mean, I like Muddy Waters, but he doesn't have the same stylistic range. His greatest work is always within shouting distance of something like "I Can't Be Satisfied", in other words, electrified Delta blues. Wolf sounds as if he is newer than "Gloria" or "Mystic Eyes".

[Charlie O.]

Another big difference between the two albums is the Willie Dixon factor. Dixon wrote one song on the first album (the great "Evil") - not sure how many he produced; he wrote 9 out of 12 songs on the second, and although Ralph Bass was the credited producer, I'd lay even money that Dixon did as much as if not more than he in that department.

Wolf resented having to do so many of Dixon's songs, but - damn, what fantastic songs they were. (Dixon would sometimes con Wolf by playing a song and then saying "You can't have that one, I'm giving that to Muddy" - whereupon the ever-competitive Wolf would demand to be allowed to record it himself. I'm pretty sure Dixon ran the same con in reverse on Muddy.)

If you like Moanin' you'll want to check out the Ace reissue of Howlin' Wolf Sings The Blues, which is the stuff Wolf cut for RPM Records around the same time (including some of the same songs, very slightly reworked). It has one of my very favorite early Wolf masterpieces, the endlessly quotable "House Rockin' Boogie":

[fange]

If that ain't 9/10s of the DNA of rock and roll i don't know what is.

This is a personal fave from that set for me, listen to that band...


However, the RPM sides have never quite hit me as hard as the ones that came later. Indeed, the Wolf's output well into the early '60s continued to be wonderful, like this gem...

[Goat Boy]

I really wish I picked up the hip-o-select Chess box when it came out.

Anybody recommend a good comp of the 60s stuff?

[Charlie O.]

Anybody recommend a good comp of the 60s stuff?

Any comp is gonna miss some great cuts, but the one called His Best is pretty unimpeachable.

Moanin' At Midnight 2:57
How Many More Years 2:43
Evil 2:56
Forty-Four 2:50
Smokestack Lightnin' 3:09
I Asked For Water 2:53
Who's Been Talkin' 2:24
Sitting On Top Of The World 2:35
Howlin' For My Darling 2:34
Wang Dang Doodle 2:25
Back Door Man 2:51
Spoonful 2:46
Shake For Me 2:18
The Red Rooster 2:30
I Ain't Superstitious 2:56
Goin' Down Slow 4:04
Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy 3:08
Hidden Charms 2:24
Built For Comfort 2:40
Killing Floor 2:50

[take5_d_shorterer]

"This is where the soul of man never dies."

--Sam Phillips

[pcqgod]

MitM has "Smokestack Lightning," "How Many More Years," "Evil" and "All Night Boogie," so that one.