Uncanned! The Best of Canned Heat

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Canned Heat

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One of the best American blues bands from the late '60's, Canned Heat could have even been greater and more successful, except for one thing: they were the original hard-luck boys. On the verge of breaking out after their first album, the Heat was busted in Denver and had to sell the rights to their songs to get out. (To this day, drummer and current bandleader Fito de la Parra relies on live work, not royalties, to help him make ends meet.) Plus, even though most of their songs were sung by the fabulous growl of Bob "the Bear" Hite, their two most famous numbers featured the vocals of Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson. Now, "Blind Owl" was a musical genius, the best harpist in the world according to John Lee Hooker, but some fans feel his falsetto vocals are an acquired taste. Their most famous song, "Going Up the Country," with the equally famous flute solo, might give the casual listener the expectation of a completely different style of music; say, the Grateful Dead at their most tribal, rather than a hard-core blues-boogie band. Wisely, "Blind Owl" is limited to three numbers on this disc (all are excellent). Luckily, "the Bear" is at his most playful and fun-living on his numbers, with "Same All Over," "Let's Work Together" (his only hit as singer), and the morality tale "Amphetimine Annie" the standouts of his seven songs. The album closes with the wonderful jam "Fried Hockey Boogie," featuring a segment from each instrumentalist. Here, Henry Vestine's guitar work will blow your mind, sending it out to orbit the solar system before bringing it back gently to earth. The band would never sound better than this. Sadly, the final reason Canned Heat never achieved the success they deserved is that both Alan Wilson and Bob Hite (and, much later, Henry Vestine) would die too young from their self-destructive lifestyle. Thankfully, they left a pretty good legacy for a band that was kicked in the can by life once too often.