Howlin' Wolf - need more than a single compilation

I have The Definitive Collection by Howlin' Wolf and want to get some more.
I see all kinds of cheap 2 or 3 CD compilations. What do they sound like?
Am not an audiophile but I don't want over compressed music.
Should I even worry about the sound of his recordings?

 

I'm very partial to this one.


Howlin' Wolf - Howlin Wolf: The Chess Box - Amazon.com Music

 

Have read about this set but it's out of my price range right now.
I think I saw it used for 75 bucks...

Was considering this set. Any thoughts?


The Complete RPM & Chess Singles As & Bs, 1951 - 1962

 

Another vote for The Chess Box. From my experience with other Chess artists, I wouldn't trust later masterings to sound as good.

 

I have this and like it very much. It's inexpensive too, which is a big plus.

 

Dirt cheap, good SQ and while technically not a comp in traditional sense, it is his first 2 LPs on one CD:

Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf / Moanin' in the Moonlight - Amazon.com Music

 

Have also seen this, dirt cheap. Am sceptical...

 

I like the Chess box also, but there are two volumes of the His Best discs on Chess that would give you 40 tracks of the Wolf. These generally go for less than $10 each.

 

I strongly disagree. I have this disc, and while the first half sounds just fine, the sound quality of the second half is very poor.

 

That's partly because the second half was recorded about 8+ years earlier than the first half so there may be limits to how improved it can be. It's true that there may be a better mastering of the Moanin In The Moonlight tracks though - I'm not a Howlin Wolf expert.

 

I have some of those tracks on other discs and they sound much better.
Even someone who does not pay attention to sound quality could easily hear it. I don't think it is the mastering, but the source tapes. They are bad.
Real bad.

 

Any pointers for where that material sounds better?

 

There is a music album guide - I can't recall which - that downgrades the Chess Box to one star based on its sound quality.

 

I can't recall exactly which tracks (not at home to check) but there are a couple of tracks on the 4CD set "Chess Blues" (which is a various artists comp)
That sound substantially better there.
There are also some on the Howlin Wolf Chess box.

 

You need this one:

 

The Chess Box is out of print??? That's terrible news if true. Easily one of the 5 greatest box sets ever.

I would say the RPM/Chess set mentioned above would be a good bet. The 80's MCA 2-fer is such a bargain it's not even funny. I wouldn't worry about sound quality when it comes to Wolf.

 

Depends on your other interests but as you're here at this forum you might like blues/rock from the 60s, you should definitely look at the London Sessions.

 

Where Wolf teaches Clapton how to play the guitar.

 

How about Memphis Days 1 & 2 (Bear Family)







and Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog (Chess rarities)? I think they both sound great!



I think these would complement the OP's already acquired Wolf best. No idea if the price has been driven up since they were released though.

 

If you want the Modern/RPM variations the place to go on CD would be Ace's Howlin' Wolf Sings The Blues...

 

. . . and his first two LPs were indeed comps in their own right.

 

Right, I just assumed that 'Moanin' sounded that way due to the sources. I mean the recordings on that record are ancient. If there are better source tapes out there, I'd love to check them out. But I honestly don't think it sounds as bad as street legal does. Then again, I listen to a lot of Delta blues artists from much earlier sources than that (20s and 30s), so I'm accustomed to poor audio quality on my blues records. But what is attractive about the twofer CD is that it is absolutely dirt cheap and so far as I can tell, it's not futzed with in any way. Meaning I don't hear any no noising or much if any audible compression on it. That's probably largely due to the fact that the CD was pressed in the mid-80s.

Good point. Of course you can say the same thing about most blues LPs from the 50s.

 

These are all great!

I love the acoustic bits on Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog (Chess rarities).

I wish there was a whole LP of him playing Acoustic guitar.

 

I've been a fan of the Wolf since the early 1960's and have just about everything I could get my hands on including the infamous Charly Box set, bootleg outtakes and some nasty sounding live tapes. Personally, I like the Wolf when he sounds nasty, with some screaming, distorted Willie Johnson guitar in the background. Also, the best sounding live Wolf is from a really lousy bootleg from Cambridge in 1966. It's hard to hear, but it's a magnificent performance.

 

The best sound is on the Charly box and the Bear Family cds. For a three disc sampler I much prefer the sound of The Complete RPM & Chess Singles As & Bs, 1951 - 1962 over The Chess Box.

My preferred version of the "rocking chair" album - in mono and very well mastered - is the one that's paired with Moanin' In The Moonlight on the Japanese twofer.