Reviewed by Tom Mott
Released: 1981 Canned Heat Kings Of The Boogie (AKA Dog House Blues) Genre: Boogie Blues Rating: 3.1 out of 5 Highlights: Doghouse Blues "Boogie music has a pretty sound, It might even turn your head around ..." Bob Hite and Alan Wilson were blues obsessives. Hite had over 15,000 blues 78s in his collection by 1970. As co-lead singers of Canned Heat, Hite was the 300lb rambunctious "we're gonna have a good time" boogie blues singer. Wilson was the introvert from old, weird America, with the frail falsetto, guitar drone tones, and eerie slide playing. He lived the blues of the Sterno-drinking dispossessed. After Wilson died in 1970, Canned Heat effectively became a boogie band. Ain't nothing wrong with that. It just means they weren't going to break new ground. But they still knew their shit, and this 1981 album has three-fifths of the classic Canned Heat lineup. There's Bob "The Bear" Hite, Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra on drums, and Henry "Sunflower" Vestine (another quasi-weirdo) on guitar. This album is goodtime blues, meant to be played loudly at a Hells Angels house party. A double-bill with Commander Cody at the Palomino would be a tonic. Mostly no surprises, except the one big one: the best song "Doghouse Blues" is by M. Mothersbaugh, G. Casale, and B. Casale. Shortly after this album, Bob "The Bear" Hite snorted a vial of heroin handed to him at a gig and immediately collapsed. Two lines of coke failed to revive him, and he died in the wee small hours. "Boogie music has a pretty sound, It might even turn your head around, It might turn your head around, When I heard it on the radio, You know I fell out on the floor, I fell out on the floor" Livin' the blues. Worse ways to go.
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