I have a question about Wang Wang Wang Doodle. It was covered on Chess a few years later by KoKo Taylor the first version I heard probably in 1970. Was that a hit? Why did you skip it?
"Skip it" as in "not mention it"? well, I suppose if I started listing and discussing all the hit versions of these songs, the review would become even huger as it is. Koko's version is fine, but has very little to do with the original musically (I think that it adapts Willie Cobbs' 'You Don't Love Me' instead), taking the song into a whole other direction like Sam Cooke's 'Little Red Rooster' does.
Actually, the fact that it is the Koko Taylor version rather than the Howlin' Wolf original that was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame feels somewhat disgraceful to me (unless it is a strict requirement there that all the induced songs should have been commercial hits). She delivers a much more "polite" take.
I mean anybody sounds polite and tame next to Wolf, but I think the performance is sufficiently fiery and sharp to be impressive and noteworthy. But it is much more of a conventional in a “tough and growing blues-soul female singer” vein, so I obviously prefer Wolf’s version and agree it is the definitive one (the piercing guitar work alone is terrifying)
It's a good enough cover, I guess, but I think Willie knew what he was doing when he said he wrote the song specifically with Wolf in mind (even though Wolf himself allegedly hated it when he first heard it, but I don't think he would have recorded it if he kept hating it). The funny thing is that Wolf is always quoted as saying that it sounded "like an old levee camp number", but in this version, it sounds like classic garage-rock before classic garage-rock was even invented.
One interesting cover of "Wang Dang Doodle" I know (actually, the first time I heard this song) comes from Mishouris Blues Trio: https://my.mail.ru/music/songs/mishouris-blues-trio-wang-dang-doodle-7a42cff8155d1a6db44a69feb98991d0 They slow the tune a bit, and strip it down, and it makes it even more menacing. Well, the strange sax solo in the middle might be going a bit too far, but overall, I love this version.
George I’ve been waiting for you to get to this album! So excited to read this! One of my favorite albums of all time
I have a question about Wang Wang Wang Doodle. It was covered on Chess a few years later by KoKo Taylor the first version I heard probably in 1970. Was that a hit? Why did you skip it?
"Skip it" as in "not mention it"? well, I suppose if I started listing and discussing all the hit versions of these songs, the review would become even huger as it is. Koko's version is fine, but has very little to do with the original musically (I think that it adapts Willie Cobbs' 'You Don't Love Me' instead), taking the song into a whole other direction like Sam Cooke's 'Little Red Rooster' does.
Actually, the fact that it is the Koko Taylor version rather than the Howlin' Wolf original that was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame feels somewhat disgraceful to me (unless it is a strict requirement there that all the induced songs should have been commercial hits). She delivers a much more "polite" take.
I mean anybody sounds polite and tame next to Wolf, but I think the performance is sufficiently fiery and sharp to be impressive and noteworthy. But it is much more of a conventional in a “tough and growing blues-soul female singer” vein, so I obviously prefer Wolf’s version and agree it is the definitive one (the piercing guitar work alone is terrifying)
It's a good enough cover, I guess, but I think Willie knew what he was doing when he said he wrote the song specifically with Wolf in mind (even though Wolf himself allegedly hated it when he first heard it, but I don't think he would have recorded it if he kept hating it). The funny thing is that Wolf is always quoted as saying that it sounded "like an old levee camp number", but in this version, it sounds like classic garage-rock before classic garage-rock was even invented.
One interesting cover of "Wang Dang Doodle" I know (actually, the first time I heard this song) comes from Mishouris Blues Trio: https://my.mail.ru/music/songs/mishouris-blues-trio-wang-dang-doodle-7a42cff8155d1a6db44a69feb98991d0 They slow the tune a bit, and strip it down, and it makes it even more menacing. Well, the strange sax solo in the middle might be going a bit too far, but overall, I love this version.