Canned Heat es una banda de blues-rock/boogie formada en Los Ángeles en 1965. La importancia de este grupo no sólo reside en su música basada en el blues, sino también en sus esfuerzos para reintroducir y revivir las carreras de algunos grandes bluesmen, así como sus habilidades para la improvisación. El grupo lo lideraban Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson -"Búho Ciego"- (guitarra, armónica y voces) y Bob Hite ("The Bear" -El Oso-) (voces y armónica). Henry Vestine (alias "Sunflower" -Girasol-), ex miembro de The Mothers of Invention, de Frank Zappa, se encargaba de la guitarra. Larry Taylor ("The Mole"-El Topo-) (mejor conocido hasta entonces como el bajista de The Monkees), era su bajo de estudio hasta que acabó uniéndose al grupo por completo durante los setenta junto con el batería Frank Cook, posteriormente se incorporo definitivamente al grupo el baterista mexicano Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra. Canned Heat cogió su nombre de "Canned Heat Blues". Esta canción de Tommy Johnson, creada en 1928, habla de un alcohólico que ha empezado a beber desesperadamente Sterno.
Alan Wilson ayudó a redescubrir al cantante de blues Son House, acompañándole en su álbum de retorno en 1965. El grupo, que también se encontraba bien equipado, buscaba un contrato con la compañía Liberty Records, a través de la personalidad de Albert Collins, conocido bluesero.
El álbum con el cual debutaron, Canned Heat, se grabó poco después de su aparición en 1967 en el Festival Pop de Monterrey. Adolfo de La Parra (8 de febrero de 1946, Ciudad de México) remplazó a Frank Cook en la batería para su segundo álbum, Boogie with Canned Heat. Este álbum fue más exitoso, debido al hit «On the Road Again». En 1969 realizaron el inconsistente álbum doble Livin' the Blues. A pesar de ello, les dio un nuevo éxito, «Going Up The Country», una canción construida alrededor del tema de Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas de los años 20, llamado "Bull Doz Blues"(frecuentemente citado como el "Bulldozerblues"). El guitarrista Harvey Mandel remplazo a Henry Vestine de 1969 a 1970. La banda apareció en agosto de 1969 en el ya legendario Festival de Música y Arte de Woodstock, participando en el filme y el álbum.
El siguiente año fue el punto musical culminante del grupo original. Trajeron a John Lee Hooker a grabar el álbum doble Hooker'N' Heat, en mayo de 1970. Fue el primer álbum de Hooker en figurar en las listas de popularidad, llegando a la posición 73 en febrero de 1971. Desafortunadamente, Alan Wilson murió de una sobredosis de droga en un "aparente suicidio" en septiembre de 1970, antes de la salida del álbum. Los resultados de la autopsia eran inconcluyentes y él no dejo nota o recado suicida, por lo que las circunstancias de su muerte siguen sin aclararse. Leer más.....
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, who took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called "canned heat". After appearances at Monterey and Woodstock, at the end of the 1960s the band acquired worldwide fame with a lineup consisting of Bob Hite, vocals, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, guitar, harmonica and vocals, Henry Vestine (or Harvey Mandel) on lead guitar, Larry Taylor on bass, and Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra on drums. The music and attitude of Canned Heat afforded them a large following and established the band as one of the popular acts of the hippie era. Canned Heat appeared at most major musical events at the end of the 1960s and they were able to deliver on stage electrifying performances of blues standards and their own material and occasionally to indulge into lengthier 'psychedelic' solos. Two of their songs - "Going Up the Country" and "On the Road Again" - became international hits. "Going Up the Country" was a remake of the Henry Thomas (blues musician) song "Bulldoze Blues" recorded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1927. "On the Road Again" was a cover version/re-working of the 1953 Floyd Jones song of the same name, which is reportedly based on the Tommy Johnson song "Big Road Blues" recorded in 1928.
Since the early 1970s numerous personnel changes have occurred and today, in the fifth decade of the band's existence the band includes Fito de la Parra and Larry Taylor from the "classic" 1960s lineup as well as Harvey Mandel. For much of the 1990s and 2000s de la Parra was the only member from the band's 1960s lineup. He has written a book about the band's career. Larry Taylor, whose presence in the band has not been steady, is the other surviving member from the earliest lineups. Harvey Mandel, Walter Trout and Junior Watson are among the guitarists who gained fame for playing in later editions of the band. British blues pioneer John Mayall has frequently found musicians for his band among former Canned Heat members.
Canned Heat was started within the community of blues collectors. Bob Hite had been trading blues records since his early teens and his house in Topanga Canyon was a meeting place for people interested in music. In 1965 some blues devotees there decided to form a jug band and started rehearsals. The initial configuration comprised Bob Hite as vocalist, Al Wilson on bottleneck guitar, Mike Perlowin on lead guitar, Stu Brotman on bass and Keith Sawyer on drums. Perlowin and Sawyer dropped out within a few days, so guitarist Kenny Edwards (a friend of Alan Wilson) stepped in to replace Perlowin, and Ron Holmes agreed to sit in on drums until they could find a permanent drummer. Read more....
