Ruf (label)
10 August 2015 (released)
28 July 2015
The latest in the award winning ‘From The Road’ series from Ruf and this one is a celebration of 50 years of Canned Heat.
Although only ‘Fito’ De La Parra (drums) and Larry ‘The Mole’ Taylor (bass) are still there from the classic line ups although Harvey Mandel, who joined the band in time for Woodstock is still part of the band but recovering from a recent illness so he is subbed by John ‘JP’ Paulus and the lineup is rounded out by Dave Spalding on vocals and mouth harp. All of these guys have their own set of skills and there aren’t any makeweights in evidence.
The performance lacks some of the fire of the original band but the music is still played brilliantly and the classic numbers such as ‘On The Road Again’ and ‘Going Up The Country’ are pretty fine renditions – Fito taking on Bob Hite’s vocal duties and doing a fair job of it while the rest of the band cooks and Dave Spalding’s harp is excellent.
Oddly, when the band plays the harder driving numbers (‘So Sad (The World’s In A Tangle)’) they sound more convincing and on ‘Chicken Shack Boogie’ you see real evidence of the classic band in the DNA of the band.
‘Future Blues’ cooks with De La Parra really enjoying himself on drums and John Paulus playing an excellent solo.
‘Amphetamine Annie’ was always one of my personal favourites and the version here is brilliant with the band entirely in sync.
A stirring ‘Rollin’ And Tumblin’’ is followed by the classic closer ‘Let’s Work Together’ and the slide works just fine. Finally the set finishes with a boogie in the classic manner – here called ‘Euro Boogie’ and virtually worth the price of the set on its own.
It is a fascinating set, probably not one for those who heard the classic lineups but standing pretty well as it is.
The crowd in Bonn were giving a lot of positive feedback to the band and they seemed to respond.
Not the best of the ‘From The Road’ releases but pretty fair and a must for Canned Heat completists.
