Canned Heat - '1967-1976: The Boogie House Tapes'

"Crying, mama, mama, mama, you know, canned heat killing me."
Tommy Johnson's Canned Heat Blues

Canned Heat started as 1960s West Coast "heavy" blues band, and they're still around today with one 1960s member, drummer Fito De La Parra after 50 years.  At their best, the late 60s version of the band, with Bob The Bear Hite, Alan Wilson, Larry Taylor, Fito De La Parra, and either Henry Vestine or Harvey Mandel on guitar, was an unstoppable force, churning out their grungy brand of high octane blues’n’boogie. 

Because Canned Heat were blues purists at heart, and the original members were all collectors of blues 78’s, even when they were engaged in 40 minute fuzzed-out jams, there was always a blues base, and everything was always blues-drenched, no matter how far out they went, many of their tunes were “extensions” of 1930s Blues material.

Canned Heat's '1967-1976: The Boogie House Tapes' is a 2CD set, assembled by drummer Adolfo de la Parra and Walter De Paduwa aka "Dr. Boogie".  

Let me point out right from the start, this collection is aimed at long time fans of "The Heat".  If you're unfamiliar with Canned Heat, or a casual fan, these two CDs are not for you, but don't worry, I've got you covered below.

Here's Adolfo de la Parra liner notes:

"In the town of Overijse, Belgium. There is a very special place called The Boogie House'.  It is not a public location, but the home of musicologist, radio personality Walter De Paduwa aka 'Dr. Boogie'.  He has turned his home into a private museum, dedicated to the preservation of Boogie music.
This unique place is always 'hot' with shuffles and boogies roaring through the speakers, in contrast with the rest of the area, which is cold, cloudy and quiet like a good old middle class suburb in the center of Europe.
On occasion, Dr. Boogie has some strange guests. It is part of a ritual for a chosen group of local and inter-national Blues musicians, to visit the Boogie House and
rock with the Dr. until late hours of the night.
That's how we, as members of Canned Heat, eventually met the Dr. and were invited for the first time to the Boogie House after a show in Louvain-La-Neuve.
What a pleasant surprise, to discover that most of his museum was dedicated to us. It resulted in a life long friendship and a bond in our passion for this music and way of life.
This cd package is a collection of previously un-released tapes that Dr. Boogie and myself managed to collect and preserved throughout the years. With painstaking attention to detail and historical content we salvaged some of these very old tapes and mastered them digitally for this release.
This is the very last collection of Canned Heat music from the 60's and 70's you are likely to hear. We don't know of anymore tapes in existence from this era.
To welcome the 21st century we celebrate this great band's legacy and hope that you, the Blues and Boogie audience, will enjoy hearing this music as
much as we have enjoyed playing it...'Don't forget to Boogie'"

I'm also including in the freeload, 'The Very Best of Canned Heat' from 2005, it has sweet audio, and is a great place to start if you're unfamiliar with "The Heat", or if you just want a nice overview of the band.

 
For the freeload, make up a name for a blues band, from a title or line from old blues record.