...producer Norman Dayron asked guitarist Eric Clapton if he would like to do an album with Howlin' Wolf.
Clapton jumped at the idea, Wolf was flown over from Chicago with his lead guitarist Hubert Sumlin, young harmonica ace Jeffrey Carp was called in, and bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones made up the rhythm section.After the first day, Eric Clapton almost walked out, seriously intimidated by a sceptical Howlin' Wolf who had little faith in the abilities of the young Englishmen.
But then Clapton made a gesture which seemingly made Wolf thaw a little: Feeling (or maybe just pretending) that he and the band couldn't get the right sound on "The Red Rooster", he convinced Wolf to play the instantly recognizable main riff for them. The tape was running, and you can hear the resulting "practice session" on disc one...Howlin' Wolf reluctantly agrees to play the guitar, and, refusing the one which is offered to him, he picks up his own instrument, puts on a glass bottleneck, and plays the classic, muscular slide guitar riff which he first recorded in 1961.
That song is one of the highlights of this album, and one of the few of these sixteen re-recordings which truly matches the original.
Wolf was a sick man in 1970, suffering from heart problems and kidney disorder, and the often presented claim that these recordings lack the gritty power of his original Chess sides certainly has some truth to it. But that doesn't mean that "The London Sessions" is a waste of time...Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts form a very convincing bluesy rhythm section, 19-year-old Jeffrey Carp was a tremendous harmonica player, and Eric Clapton refrains from any kind of psychedelic blues-rock excesses like the ones that irreparably destroyed Muddy Waters' completely superflous "Electric Mud" album (and Wolf's own "This Is Howlin' Wolf's New Album", which he himself detested with a vengeance).
Disc I consists of the original London Sessions album plus three cuts from the same session which were left off the 1971 LP, and later released on 1974's weird throwoff "London Revisited".
Among those three are a pretty good "Going Down Slow" (Wolf does all the vocals, unlike the Chess version which had Willie Dixon speaking the first verse), and a rendition of "Killing Floor" which doesn't quite match the awesome original from 1964.
It's still good, though.
Disc I's "Who's Been Talking" is marred by a hideous organ solo, but the arrangements are generally very good, sticking close to the originals, and Steve Winwood stays away from the organ on the rest of the album, playing some good piano parts instead. He shares piano duties with Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart, and Chicago great Lafayette Leake shows up as well, rolling the ivories on "The Red Rooster", "Worried About My Baby", and "Sittin' On Top Of The World".
Also on disc I, Ringo Starr (billed as "Richie") plays drums on a good "I Ain't Superstitious" with a beefy horn arrangement, and the band lay down a really tough, powerful version of "Highway 49", and a slow, grittier-than-usual "Wang Dang Doodle".
Disc II opens with a lean, bare-bones rehearsal take of "Worried About My Baby", followed by a great, swaggering "The Red Rooster" which is at least as good as the one originally chosen.
"What A Woman" (better known as "Commit A Crime") is here in a really good, tough alternate version, and a completely superflous one with an artificial-sounding organ part overdubbed. "I Ain't Superstitious" is included in a horn-less rendition (as well as an alternate mix), and there is a great alternate take of "Highway 49" as well, a muscular alternate take of "Worried About You" (apart from the rehearsal), and a very good, significantly different version of "Poor Boy".
But the highlight on disc II has to be the tough, syncopated "Who's Been Talking" in an organ-free rendition which opens with two minutes of dialogue...Wolf is directing drummer Charlie Watts, and once Watts and bassist Wyman get on the beat, the result is magnificent. Too bad that it ends rather abruptly.
Howlin' Wolf's hoarse voice doesn't quite have the power it did just a few years earlier, but he still sings with conviction and lots of authority, and while this deluxe edition is probably too much for the casual fan, it does have lot of stuff which should interest serious Wolf fans. And the band actually do play the blues...a lot of rock drummers just can't do that, but Charlie Watts in totally convincing, as is the young harpist Carp and of course Wolf's own right hand man, the great Hubert Sumlin.
Not the place to start your Wolf collection (always start with the Chess stuff!), but certainly not one to shy away from, either. Not everybody need to own this two-disc edition, but the London Sessions are definitely worth a listen. This 2003 reissue comes with an interesting essay by Bill Dahl, and the fidelity is excellent, notably better than on the original CD reissue.
4 1/4 - a really fine document for Wolf fans.
The original LP when it came out in the early 1970s made it largely on the back of the various UK superstars who particpiated (Clapton, Watts, Wyman, and an uncredited Starr together with Wolf and his long time guitarist Hubert Sumlin - Winwood per the notes having been added later and not very succesfully it seems).This reissue with a full CD of out-takes none of which are filler, an outstanding sound remix and thoughtful notes by the original producer Norman Dayron epitomises just what excellence a special edition CD can achieve where the basic material is so good. The vocals by Howlin' Wolf, given he was not in the best of health at this age in his life and was it seems initially uncomfortable in the different London recording environment to the one he knew at Chess in Chicago, show his true prowess as a blues legend.
While Dayron's extensive notes are very honest in telling how he had to add keyboards esp. by Chess stalwart session man Lafayette Leake in getting to the final release mix, also underline that this was a very rare opportunity for certain British blues superstars to pay true homage to one of their main heroes by providing such stalwart support on these recordings.
Compared with the lacklustre recordings other US bluesmen made with UK musicians around this time(Sonny Boy Williamson with the Animals, John Lee Hooker with the Groundhogs, Muddy Waters in London and the original Fleetwood Mac sessions recorded at Chess in Chicago) this is the true masterpiece that will beat them all.
