Canned Heat - Friends In The Can

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Fuel 2000
Catalog Number: 061306
Format: CD
Total Time: 56:29:00

The title of this CD paints the picture for you before you ever pick up the brush and apply it to the canvas. Friends In The Can is a celebration of the band Canned Heat and some of their beloved music friends performing together. Most importantly one Mr. John Lee Hooker, the man that inspired this group to keep on keepin' on playin' da blues in the first place. Granted some of the tracks were 'in the can' so to speak but they sound as alive and vital today and will continue to inspire other blues players for years to come.

The track with Hooker, ?Little Wheel,? chosen from John Lee's The Healer sessions, is one of the better tracks on this album ? no surprise there. I have to say that I was in awe with the consistency of this recording. It is one of those all-star sessions surely, but what is different about it is that there is no glitter and glitz, or pomp and circumstance. This is da blues honey child, and it is electric and rocking straight at you like a silver bullet aimed directly at your blood pump. Some other notables that add their touch to this stunning success of blues recordings are Taj Mahal, Corey Stevens and Harvey Mandel, and many others that demand respect for their craft in all corners of the world.

There is not one dud on this entire CD, it is prime grade "A" musical meat well done and served with plenty of onions and A-1 sauce. People that love the blues will understand the analogy, if you do not just use your imagination a little bit and see where it takes you, and keep in mind what genre I am talking about here. Is there a better way to describe a great blues album?

These may be the ?Same Old Games? but I sure love playing them over and over again. Welcome back again Canned Heat, glad to see you back in the studio and on tour showing us all how it is done. In the name of the blues and John Lee Hooker, God rest his soul, this is the way the blues is supposed to be played!

Tracklisting:
Same Old Games (2:55) / Bad Trouble (performed by Canned Heat / Roy Rogers) (4:48) / Black Coffee (4:17) / Getaway (performed by Canned Heat / Cory Stevens / Mike Finnigan) (4:44) / It Don't Matter (4:25) / Let's Work Together (2:50) / 1, 2, 3 Here We Go Agian (6:17) / That Fat Cat (4:15) / Home To You (performed by Canned Heat / Walter Trout) (5:26) / Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive (performed by Canned Heat / Taj Mahal) (6:41) / Little Wheel (performed by Canned Heat /John Lee Hooker / Henry Vestine) (3:47) / Bonus Tracks: Let's Work Together (performed by Canned Heat / Robert Lucas / Harvey Mandel) (2:47) / Getaway (3:57)

Musicians:
John Lee Hooker - vocals, narrator
Taj Mahal - vocals
Harvey Mandel - rhythm guitar
Mike Finnigan - organ
Robert Lucas - vocals, slide guitar
Larry Taylor - bass, upright bass
Henry Vestine - guitar
Stanley Behrens - flute, harmonica, conga, horn, vocals
Dallas Hodge - guitar, vocals
John Paulus - guitar, rhythm guitar
Walter Trout - guitar, vocals
Fito de la Parra - percussion, drums, timbales

Discography:
Canned Heat (1967)
Boogie With Canned Heat (1968)
Living The Blues (1968)
Hallelujah (1969)
Canned Heat Cookbook (1969)
Future Blues (1970)
Vintage (1970)
Canned Heat '70 Concert Live In Europe (1970)
Hooker 'N Heat (w/ John Lee Hooker) (1970)
Live At Topanga Corral (1971)
Historical Figures and Ancient Heads (1971)
The Best Of Canned Heat (1972/1990)
The New Age (1973)
One More River To Cross (1973)
Memphis Heat (w/ Memphis Slim) (1974)
Gates On Heat (w/ Clarence Gatemouth Brown) (1974)
The Very Best Of Canned Heat (1975)
Human Condition (1978)
Captured live (1980)
Hooker'n'Heat (Live at the Fox Venice Theatre from 1978 w/ John Lee Hooker) (1981)
The Heat Brothers '84 (1984/(1996)
Kings Of The Boogie (1981)
Infinite Boogie (1986)
Boogie Up The Country (1987)
Reheated (1988)
Let's Work Together, The Best Of Canned Heat (1989)
Burnin' Live (1991)
Boogie Assault (1991)
Canned Heat Live (1993)
Internal Combustion (augmented ed. as Gambling Woman) (1994)
Uncanned! The Best Of Canned Heat (1994)
King Biscuit Flower Hour (1995)
Live At Turku Festival (71) (1995)
Canned Heat Blues Band (1996)
Best Of Hooker 'N' Heat (1996)
Straight Ahead (1996)
The Ties That Bind (Recorded in 74) (1997)
House Of Blue Lights (1998)
Boogie 2000 (1999)
The Boogie House Tapes (2000)
Live In Oz (2001)
Friends In The Can (2003)
The USA Sessions w/ Javier Batiz (in '69) (2003)
The Boogie House Tapes Volume 2 (2004)
Under Dutch Skies (3 concerts from '70, '71, '74) (2007)
Christmas Album (w/ E. Clapton, Dr. John) (2007)
The Very Best Of Canned Heat (2007)

Genre: Rock

Origin US

Added: July 27th 2003
Reviewer: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck
Score:
Artist website: www.cannedheatmusic.com
Hits: 2895
Language: english