Search - Howlin Wolf :: Moanin in the Moonlight & Howlin Wolf

Chilling, Electrifying and Awful Damned Good

Ken Douglas | Landlocked in Reno | 02/19/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though it's been a couple decades since I've played "Moanin' in the Moonlight", I'm playing it as I'm writing this and it's all coming back. I'm a whole lotta years older now than when this came out. Back then I couldn't' believe this music. Not what my friends were listing to. I was a middle class white kid in the burbs, but my dad was in the music biz and he brought strange, different and wonderful stuff home and when I first heard this I knew I was gonna be a fan forever, not only of the man with the gravelly voice, but the blues too.



Something about the way Howlin' Wolf does "Little Red Rooster", that sends chills up your spine, that guitar, brrr he's good. "Spoonful" has that beat, just makes you want to shake it. "Just a little spoon of your precious loves, satisfies my soul." Yeah, a "spoonful of your precious love is good enough for me," but do you think there's a little double entendre going on here?



"Down in the bottom," will get you jumping. Got me jumping. It's getting me jumping again and I'm not a kid anymore. My favorite song on this record is "Back Door Man." Damn Howlin' Wolf's singing through the gravel on this one. He's singing the blues and he's singing them true.



This Record is Number 2 on my list of the Best Thirteen Records of 1959."