Songs From The Road Canned Heat

• 1On The Road Again05:08
• 2Time Was03:12
• 3Don't Know Where She Went (She Split)04:30
• 4Nighthawk04:38
• 5So Sad (The World's In A Tangle)06:47
• 6Going Up The Country03:10
• 7Oaxaca04:42
• 8Chicken Shack Boogie04:13
• 9Future Blues04:09
• 10Cristo Redentor08:19
• 11Amphetamine Annie06:12
• 12Rollin' And Tumblin'05:09
• 13Let's Work Together04:19
• 14Euro Boogie13:33
• Total Runtime01:18:01

Info for Songs From The Road

The world turns. Fashions change. Bands rise and fall. But you can’t stop the boogie. Fifty years after Canned Heat was founded by blues scholars Bob ‘The Bear’ Hite and Alan ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson in Topanga Canyon, California, the West Coast legends just keep rolling on down the road. “We’re all amazed and thankful that we’re still here,” explain the band, “living our dreams of making a living doing what we all love. Playing the blues, travelling the world and giving a taste of the boogie to audiences everywhere.”

Until they pull up in your town, there’s Songs From The Road. The famous Ruf Records live series has already showcased heavyweights from Luther Allison to Royal Southern Brotherhood. Now, in 2015, this two-album CD set finds the modern Canned Heat lineup on blistering form, shaking Bonn’s Harmonie club with a 16-song set driven by the boogie groove that’s practically a strand of rock ‘n’ roll’s DNA.

Led from the back, as ever, by iconic drummer and guardian-of-the-flame Adolfo ‘Fito’ De La Parra, the rhythm section is given further pedigree by Sixties bassist Larry ‘The Mole’ Taylor. On lead vocals and harp, give it up for New Orleans legend Dale Spalding, while John ‘JP’ Paulus capably covers guitar duties for Woodstock-era bandmember Harvey ‘The Snake’ Mandel (as he recovers from recent health issues). “It’s a capsule,” explains manager and producer Skip Taylor, “of where the band was at on that particular night.”

The Harmonie show might have gone down on March 16th, 2015, but to play Songs From The Road is to step aboard a time machine. As the squall of harp sets up the inimitable strut of “On The Road Again”, you’ll feel the years roll back. When “Going Up The Country” strikes up, you’ll imagine yourself back in the dappled sunshine of Woodstock in 1969, flicking a peace sign, flowers in your hair. From “Amphetamine Annie” to “Let’s Work Together”, few bands make such an evocative sound, so inextricably tied to the summer of love, yet so fresh and relevant in modern times.

Canned Heat’s place in the pantheon of the greats is undeniable, and their importance to the blues inestimable. The LA outfit began in 1965, born not from commercial interests, but from a deep love of the genre, as Hite and Wilson evolved from their roles as vinyl collectors and blues aficionados to lead the nascent lineup. As slide god and super-fan Sonny Landreth recently noted: “Canned Heat were, like, the ultimate white-blues aficionados. These guys, they were so into the blues, way ahead of other people.”

Even as timeless hits like “On The Road Again”, “Going Up The Country” and “Let’s Work Together” catapulted Canned Heat from hippie favourites to global stars in the late-’60s, the band stayed true to their roots, and fiercely protective of their beloved genre. Hite and Wilson became renowned for their habit of tracking down long-forgotten legends like Skip James and Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, then putting them back on mainstream festival bills.

The respect ran both ways. As they strode through successive decades with a ferocious live reputation and a growing catalogue of classic albums, Canned Heat were given the nod of approval by their forebears, invited to collaborate with everyone from John Lee Hooker (the original boogie man) to Brit-boom godfather John Mayall. They could be found rocking A-list venues from Madison Square Garden to the Royal Albert Hall, yet never lost their common touch, still holding the record for playing the most biker rallies.

Nor could Canned Heat be derailed by the cruel fate that rocked the lineup. Wilson, then Hite, then much-loved guitarist Henry Vestine would all be lost in tragic circumstances, yet the band always weathered the storm, drafting members with the musical chops and mindset to keep Canned Heat rolling as a cohesive unit. “I think Bob, Alan and Henry would be happy and impressed that the band, and mainly Fito and Larry, have kept the Canned Heat legacy alive,” says Skip Taylor. “And are still allowing people around the world to hear and feel Canned Heat, and the boogie music we all love.”

No doubt, they’d be impressed by Songs From The Road: a snapshot of this iconic band taking yet another audience for the ride of their lives. “Yeah, we got a crowd tonight, boys,” notes Spalding, as the Harmonie club erupts and the band launches into Time Was. Somehow, you know they always will.

Canned Heat
rose to fame because their knowledge and love of blues music was both wide and deep. Emerging in 1966, Canned Heat was founded by blues historians and record collectors Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite. Hite took the name “Canned Heat” from a 1928 recording by Tommy Johnson. They were joined by Henry “The Sunflower” Vestine, another ardent record collector who was a former member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Rounding out the band in 1967 were Larry “The Mole” Taylor on bass, an experienced session musician who had played with Jerry Lee Lewis and The Monkees and Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra on drums who had played in two of the biggest Latin American bands, Los Sinners and Los Hooligans.

The band attained three worldwide hits, “On The Road Again” in 1968, “Let’s Work Together” in 1970 and “Going Up The Country” in 1969 became rock anthems throughout the world with the later being adopted as the unofficial theme song for the film Woodstock and the “Woodstock Generation.”

They secured their niche in the pages of rock ‘n roll history with their performances at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (along with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who) and the headlining slot at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. The band can boast of collaborations with John Mayall and Little Richard and later with blues icon, John Lee Hooker, the musician that they initially got much of their musical inspiration from in the first place. This union produced the spirited and revered album, “Hooker ‘n Heat.” The band is also credited with bringing a number of other forgotten bluesmen to the forefront of modern blues including Sunnyland Slim, who they found driving a taxi in Chicago, Skip James, who they found in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi and took to the Newport Festival, Memphis Slim and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown with whom theyrecorded in France and Albert Collins.

On September 3rd, 1970, the band was shattered by the suicide of Alan Wilson. His death sparked reconstruction within the group and member changes have continued throughout the past three decades. On April 5th, 1981, at the Palamino in Los Angeles, gargantuan vocalist,Bob Hite, collapsed and died of a heart attack and on October 20th, 1997, Henry Vestine died in Paris, France following the final gig of a European tour. In 2008, singer/harmonica frontman Robert Lucas passed away from a drug overdose.

Despite these untimely deaths and assorted musical trends, Canned Heat has survived. They have performed at world-renowned venues such as Paris’ Olympia, both Fillmore Auditoriums, The Kaleidoscope, Carnegie Hall (with John Lee Hooker), Madison Square Garden and even Royal Albert Hall and have played more biker festivals and charity events than any other band in the world. They and/or their music have been featured on television (In Concert, David Frost, MervGriffin, Midnight Special, Playboy After Dark, etc.), and in films (“Woodstock,” “Flashback,” and “Forrest Gump”) etc. Their legend has recently been heard and felt in various television commercials (“On The Road Again” for Miller Beer, “Goin’ Up The Country” for Pepsi, Chevrolet and McDonalds, “Let’s Work Together” for Lloyd’s Bank, England’s Electric Company and for Target Stores along with other songs for 7-Up, Levi’s and Heineken Beer).

Now, more than forty-five years later and with thirty-eight albums to their credit, Canned Heat is still going strong. They have been anchored throughout the past forty years by the steady hand of drummer/band leader Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra. Joining “Fito” is original bassist Larry “The Mole” Taylor and New Orleans legend, Dale Spalding on harmonica, guitar and lead vocals. Chicago great Harvey Mandel is the regular guitarist but has been temporarily replaced by John “JP” Paulus while “The Snake” deals with serious health issues.

Fito’s book, “LIVING THE BLUES” tells the complete and outrageous Canned Heat story of “Music, Drugs, Death, Sex and Survival” along with over 100 captivating pictures from their past and is available through the band’s website at www.cannedheatmusic.com and at most popular book outlets.

Booklet for Songs From The Road