Roots of Canned Heat: Compilation of 78s from Heat Members’ Collection

September 26, 2015 by Bill Hart

Looking forward to your Canned Heat assessment. I saw the original lineup (Frank Cook et al.) several times at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles, a folk/blues club near my home, as well as at the Monterey Pop Festival, and enjoyed the heck out of them.

I wanted to alert you to an out of print LP compiled by Bob Hite and (I believe) Alan Wilson for the Liberty label: an anthology of obscure R&B 78s from Hite’s collection, called “Rhythm and Blues: The End of an Era.”

http://www.rootsvinylguide.com/ebay_items/rhythm-n-blues-vol-1-uk-liberty-1969-rare-compilation-r-b-album

There are so many absolute classics on this LP, I still marvel at the lineup. This LP was crucial to my teenage development as a fan of postwar R&B, and I’ve always been grateful to the pre-Canned Heat, manic-collector side of Bob Hite that made this anthology possible. Dunno if it was going to figure in your coverage, but wanted to alert you just in case…

Jonathan King

Power to the People-Back Up Generator

Shortly after the Texas "big freeze" in February 2021, I contacted various vendors of back up generators. Some did not bother to respond, a few came out, ostensibly to give me a quote and I never heard from them again. One vendor did send me a blank form with a very high total price, without completing the cost analysis for running gas lines, electrical wiring and the other things that are "adds" to the cost of the generator itself. I kicked this around for a while-- given the heat in Central Texas during the summer--110F for days on end, we got constant warnings last summer (2023) to reduce power consumption, lest we suffer rolling blackouts. And then there's the fact that Austin really isn't "built" for freezing temperatures. Black ice with no road crews, downed power lines, and demand that teeters off the edge of power failure catastrophe. I do not want to go into the power grid … [Read More...]

Incoming-Know what I mean?

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We’re Back! Some fresh content for your consideration. Neil Antin did some modest updates to his seminal book on Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records. Neil did not regard these changes as a “new version” so the download is now 3.1 with a “Record of Changes” at the end. I’ve talked to Peter Ulrich, the drummer from Dead Can Dance a few times over the years because I was fascinated by the group. They hit it big in audiophile circles with “Into the Labyrinth” which became a “demo” record with the MoFi release. I got that, but also sought out an original 4AD pressing, and as I delved into their music, bought more original copies- they were not crazy expensive at the time. When Peter told me he was doing a book on the history of his involvement with the band, I was eager to read it. It offers some great insight into a period when this band was inventing new sounds in the post-punk … [Read More...]

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There Is No “Magic Bullet” in Hi-Fi

There Is No “Magic Bullet” in Hi-Fi No Magic Solutions I’ve spent some time on the audio chat fora over the years. Many popular threads these days are devoted to cheap improvements that can be made using audiophile “tweaks” or repurposed non-audiophile products. These can be applied to isolate gear, enhance the signals or connections or otherwise address some perceived problem that, once solved, offers to raise the level of music reproduction. It’s like a cheap solution to upgrade your system: from audiophile fuses, special wires (beyond simply having a high-quality interconnect, speaker wire or power cable) and other tweaks, to contact fluids and other things that you can attach to power sources, equipment, or place in the room (bowls, various harmonizers or active resonators, noise harvesters, etc.) This is apart from room treatment, which is sui generis; that is, every situation is … [Read More...]