Forgotten Rock Bands: Canned Heat

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and in this episode of Forgotten Rock Bands, I will feature the blues and rock band from the mid 1960's that went by the name of Canned Heat.

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Transcript

In this episode of Forgotten Rock Bands, I will feature the blues and rock band from the mid 1960's that went by the name of Canned Heat.

The band was formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California by two blues music fans Alan Wilson and Bob Hite. The band’s name was taken from a 1928 song by Tommy Johnson titled "Canned Heat Blues", which was a song about an alcoholic who in desperation began drinking Sterno, which was referred to as Canned Heat. Since his early teens Bob Hite was involved in trading blues records and his home became a meeting place for those interested in music. In 1965 a jug band was formed which initially included Hite as the vocalist, Wilson on guitar, Mike Perlowin on lead guitar, Stu Brotman on bass and Keith Sawyer on drums. However, only a few later both Perlowin and Sawyer quit.

Guitarist Kenny Edwards replaced Perlowin and Ron Holmes served a temporary drummer until a permanent replacement could be found. Henry Vestine, who had been removed from Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, joined the band as the drummer.  Holmes then left the band and went on to form the Stone Poneys along with Bobby Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt.

In 1966 producer Johnny Otis took the band, which consisted of Hite, Wilson, Cook, Vestine, and Brotman into a studio to record songs for the first album. Interestingly, the recordings were not released. It was not until 1970 that they appeared on the album titled Vintage Heat. Also in 1966 Brotman left the band and was replaced by Mark Andes who only stayed with the band for two months. Eventually the band got a permanent bass player Skip Taylor, who joined the band in March 1967. With the new band lineup, recording began in April 1967 for Liberty Records. The first tracks "Rollin and Tumblin’" with "Bullfrog Blues" as the b-side, were covers of old blues songs, and became the band’s fist single. Three months later the album titled Canned Heat was released in July 1967 and reached the #76 position on the Billboard chart.

The band’s first major performance was on June 17th, 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival.  They performed "Rollin’ and Tumblin’" , "Bullfrog Blues" and "Dust My Broom". The Canned Heat gained some notoriety as being the bad boys of rock, due to an incident that happened in Denver, Colorado, when they were arrested and jailed for drugs. In order to pay for the $10,000 bail, the band’s manager had to sell the band’s publishing rights to Al Benner, President of Liberty Records. After the Denver fiasco drummer Frank Cook was replaced with Adolfo de la Parra. On December 1st, 1967 Adolfo first performed with the band at the Long Beach Auditorium appearing with The Doors.

The band’s second album titled Boogie with Canned Heat, was released in 1968 and reached the number sixteen position on the US chart and number five in the UK. The album featured a cover of the 1950's Floyd Jones composition titled "On the Road Again". The single reached #16 in the US and #8 in the UK and Canada. With the success, a Hollywood club was leased and was named the Kaleidoscope.  The Canned Heat then became the house band. Notable bands that also performed at the club included The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield and Sly and the Family Stone.

The band performed before and audience of 80,000 at the first annual Newport Pop Festival in September 1968 and began their first European tour. In October a third album titled Living the Blues was released which included their next single "Going Up the Country" that rose to #11 in the US and #5 in Canada. In July 1969 just before the Woodstock Festival the album titled Hallelujah was released, which featured primarily original compositions. A few days after the album’s release, Vestine left the band after an on stage altercation with Larry Taylor at the Fillmore West auditorium. Harvey Mandel then joined the band as Vestine’s replacement. The band appeared twice at the Fillmore and then at Woodstock in mid August.

Here is The Canned Heat’s first Top 20 single "On the Road Again".

In October 1968, the band released their third album titled Living the Blues that featured "Going Up the Country", which became their best known song. The single reached the #11 position in the US, 19 in the UK and 5 in Canada.

The Canned Heat appeared at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California four times. In October 11th, 1968 they performed with Country Joe and the Fish and The Chicago Transit Authority before the band was renamed to just Chicago.  In February 1st, 1969 they made their second appearance with Creedence Clearwater Revival and Lee Michaels. And in January 9th, 1971 they were the headliner act. Later that year on August 6th, they performed featuring John Lee Hooker. I attended the 1968 and 1969 concerts at the Swing Auditorium, which by that time had become a popular venue for numerous rock bands. 

Here is The Canned Heat and "Going Up the Country".

Prior to starting a European tour in early 1970, they recorded the album titled Future Blues, which features five original songs and three covers and featured pianist Dr. John. "Let’s Work Together", a Wilbert Harrison composition was chosen as the single to be released.  The single reached #26 in the US, #2 in the UK and 15 in Canada.  After the European tour, more personnel changes took place. With a new lineup, they went to a studio to record with John Lee Hooker, which resulted a  double album titled Hooker’n Heat. The album was completed after Alan Wilson passed away at the age of twenty seven, only a few weeks before Jimi Hendrix and then Janis Joplin.

Here is the band’s last single to chart in the Top 30, "Let’s Work Together".

After the death of Alan, the band went through several personnel changes. Various versions of the band also began to experience member disagreements, which led to the decline of The Canned Heat. On April 5th, 1981, Bob Hite passed away at the age of thirty eight.  After Hite’s death, many believed that was the end of Canned Heat. Drummer Adolfo de la Parra kept the band going over the next few years and led it back to a level of prosperity, which included an Australian tour that was a big hit. However, the continuing revolving door of personnel changes continued well into the 2000's. In 2014 the band performed at the Southern Maryland Blues Festival.

In an interview in 1991 de la Parra said quote "Bob Hite and Alan Wilson started Canned Heat in 1966 as a jug band, just to have fun. Both of them were musicologists, record collectors, not musicians."

I’ll conclude this podcast with The Canned Heat’s first single "Rollin’ and Tumblin’".

This has been a look back at The Canned Heat, one of the forgotten rock bands of the late 1960's. And until next time I’m your host Bill Price.