This Vinyl Passion double album gathers Howlin' Wolf's first two Chess long players into a single set, with a dozen bonus sides drawn from the same era. Record one is Howlin' Wolf, the 1962 album widely known as the rockin' chair album, and record two is Moanin' in the Moonlight, his 1959 debut. Both were built from Chess singles rather than conceived as studio albums, and between them they hold most of the songs that carried Chicago blues into rock and roll.
Record One: Howlin' Wolf (1962)
Released on 11 January 1962 as Chess LP 1469, Howlin' Wolf collected twelve singles issued between June 1957 and December 1961. Willie Dixon wrote most of the material, including "Spoonful", "The Red Rooster", "Back Door Man", "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Shake for Me", while "Who's Been Talkin'" and "Tell Me" came from Wolf himself and "Going Down Slow" from St. Louis Jimmy Oden. Ralph Bass produced, with Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Dixon on bass, and Otis Spann and Lafayette Leake among the pianists. The sleeve illustration by Don S. Bronstein gave the record its nickname, and Rolling Stone placed it at number 238 on its 2012 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Record Two: Moanin' in the Moonlight (1959)
Wolf's debut album, issued by Chess in 1959 as LP-1434, drew on singles recorded between 1951 and 1959 at the Memphis Recording Service and at Chess Studios in Chicago. Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon and Sam Phillips all took production duties across those sessions. It opens with "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" from the 1951 Memphis sessions, and takes in "Smokestack Lightnin'" from 1956 alongside Dixon's "Evil". Rolling Stone ranked it number 477 on the 2020 revision of the same list.
Bonus Tracks
Twelve further recordings are appended to the two original running orders, six at the end of each record. The second side of record one closes with "Howlin' Wolf Boogie", "Mr. Highway Man", "I'm the Wolf", "Rockin' Daddy", "Who Will Be Next" and "The Natchez Burning". The second side of record two closes with "Sitting on Top of the World", "I Better Go Now", "Howlin' for My Darling", "I've Been Abused", "Just Like I Treat You" and "I Ain't Superstitious".
This Pressing
Vinyl Passion catalogue number VP 80713, issued in 2014 and made in the EU, with the compilation copyright held by BCD B.V. The original recordings were remastered for this edition, the sides were cut using DMM (Direct Metal Mastering), and the records were pressed by Record Industry. The sleeve carries a cover photograph supplied by Getty, with artwork by Elian, Emst-Holland.
Track Listing
Record 1, Side A (Howlin' Wolf): Shake For Me; The Red Rooster; You'll Be Mine; Who's Been Talkin'; Wang-Dang Doodle; Little Baby; Spoonful; Going Down Slow; Down In The Bottom
Record 1, Side B: Back Door Man; Howlin' For My Baby; Tell Me; bonus: Howlin' Wolf Boogie; Mr. Highway Man; I'm The Wolf; Rockin' Daddy; Who Will Be Next; The Natchez Burning
Record 2, Side A (Moanin' In The Moonlight): Moanin' At Midnight; How Many More Years; Smokestack Lightnin'; Baby, How Long; No Place To Go; All Night Boogie; Evil; I'm Leavin' You; Moanin' For My Baby
Record 2, Side B: I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline); Forty-Four; Somebody In My Home; bonus: Sitting On Top Of The World; I Better Go Now; Howlin' For My Darling; I've Been Abused; Just Like I Treat You; I Ain't Superstitious