Label: Cleopatra, Eagle Rock
Release Date: January 12, 1999
Recording Time: 59 minutes
Styles: Blues-Rock, Boogie Rock, Modern Electric Blues
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
This brief collection features some of the ragged song demos Canned Heat did for Johnny Otis in 1966 before they signed with Liberty Records and released their debut album in 1967. Featuring mostly covers of classic blues songs, the versions aren't bad at all, and while they lack some of the polish (using the word in a relative fashion) and shine of their classic releases, the energy and passion on display here is alluring. These tracks weren't officially released until 1970 when they appeared as a LP from Janus Records under the title Vintage Canned Heat. Since then they have appeared under a variety of different titles from different labels, often with a handful of live tracks from a 1968 show at the Kaleidoscope in Los Angeles tacked on for good measure.
by Steve Leggett
Liner Note Author: Joseph Adair.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Elmore James; Robert Johnson; Willie Dixon; Billy Boy Arnold; Bo Diddley.
Credits: Joseph Adair - liner notes; James C. Bracken - composer; Canned Heat - primary artist; Frank Cook - composer; Bo Diddley - composer; Ahmet Ertegun - composer; Preston Foster - composer; Bob Hite - composer; John Lee Hooker - composer; Elmore James - composer; Skip James - composer; McKinley Morganfield - composer; James Taylor - composer; Larry Taylor - composer; Johnny Temple - composer; Henry Vestine - composer; Hudson Whittaker - composer; Alan Wilson - composer.
Tracks: 1) Big Road Blues; 2) Got My Mojo Working; 3) Pretty Thing; 4) Louise; 5) Dimples; 6) Talk to Me Baby; 7) Straight Ahead; 8) Rollin' and Tumblin'; 9) I'd Rather Be a Devil; 10) It Hurts Me Too; 11) Bull Frog Blues; 12) Sweet Sixteen; 13) Dust My Broom.