''Howling Wolf Sings the Blues'' is a compilation album by blues musician

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

, which was released by

Crown Records Crown Records was a budget albums record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records in 1957. It has been the name of several different record labels, listed below. Discography Mono Stereo Other Crown Records * United Kingdom ** Crown Reco ...

in 1962.Howlin' Wolf Sessionography
Depanorama.net, accessed September 19, 2019 The original album included eight songs recorded for

Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee ...

between 1951 and 1952, including those tracks that were released as singles by the

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

, and an additional two instrumentals by

Joe Hill Louis Joe Hill Louis (September 23, 1921 – August 5, 1957), born Lester Hill, was an American singer, guitarist, harmonica player and one-man band. He was one of a small number of one-man blues bands (along with fellow Memphis bluesman Doctor Ross) ...

. The album was re-released in 1970 by United Records with the alternative title ''Big City Blues''.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Richie Unterberger called it: "groundbreaking early electric blues, though not quite up to the peaks he'd scale with his best

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

sessions of the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s. The electric guitar had rarely been recorded with as much fuzzy power as it was here, for one thing, and Howlin' Wolf's vocals were already possessed of magnificent, sometimes scary intensity ... This has almost everything Howlin' Wolf cut for

Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

in the early '50s, and is thus an essential supplement to his more celebrated Chess catalog for the serious fan".

Track listing

All compositions credited to Chester Burnett except where noted

Original LP

# "Riding in the Moonlight" (Burnett,

Jules Taub The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers wer ...

) – 3:06 # "Worried About My Baby" – 3:00 # " Crying at Daylight" – 3:56 # "Brown Skin Woman" – 2:43 # "Twisting and Turning" (Joe Hill Louis) – 3:09 # "House Rockin' Boogie" (Burnett,

Joe Josea The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers we ...

) – 4:12 # "Keep What You Got" – 2:24 # "Dog Me Around" – 2:45 # "Morning at Midnight" – 2:43 # "Backslide Boogie" (Louis) – 3:02 Additional tracks on CD reissue #

"My Baby Stole Off" – 3:03 # "I Want Your Picture" – 2:51 # "Passing by Blues" – 2:43 # "Driving This Highway" – 2:55 # "The Sun Is Rising" – 2:45 # "Stealing My Clothes (My Friends)" – 3:03 # "I'm the Wolf" – 3:06 Recorded in West Memphis at KWEM Radio Station in September 1951 (tracks 1 & 7-9), October 2, 1951 (tracks 3, 11 & 12), and in West Memphis on February 12, 1952 (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 13-16)

Personnel

– guitar, vocals, harmonica *

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

– piano * Willie Johnson – guitar, bass *Willie Steel – drums Tracks 5 & 10: *

– vocals, guitar, harmonica, drums

References

{{Authority control Howlin' Wolf albums 1962 albums Crown Records albums