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Alan Wilson - The blind owl
Alan Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970) was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues band Canned Heat. He sang and played harmonica and guitar with the group live and on recordings. Wilson was the lead singer for the group's two biggest U.S. hit singles: "On the Road Again" and "Going Up the Country".
During his time performing in Cambridge, Wilson met American guitarist John Fahey. From Fahey, he acquired the nickname "Blind Owl" owing to his extreme nearsightedness, roundish facial features and scholarly nature. In one instance when he was playing at a wedding, he laid his guitar on the wedding cake because he did not see it. As Canned Heat's drummer, Fito de la Parra, wrote in his book: "Without the glasses, Alan literally could not recognize the people he played with at two feet, that's how blind the 'Blind Owl' was." With Fahey's encouragement, Wilson moved with Fahey to Los Angeles with the aim of having Wilson assist Fahey with his UCLA master's thesis on Charley Patton. In Los Angeles Wilson met Bob Hite, a fellow blues enthusiast and record collector who later established Canned Heat with Wilson.
With Canned Heat, Wilson performed at two prominent concerts of the 1960s era, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. Although Canned Heat's live performance was cut from the original theatrical release of the Woodstock film, they were featured in the 25th anniversary "Director's Cut." The studio version of "Going Up The Country" was featured in the Woodstock film.
Wilson also wrote and sang the hit record "On the Road Again". In an interview with DownBeat magazine he remarked, "... on 'On The Road Again' [second LP] I appear in six different capacities – three tamboura parts, harmonica, vocal, and guitar, all recorded at different times." On the double album Hooker 'N Heat (1970), John Lee Hooker is heard wondering how Wilson is capable of following Hooker's guitar playing so well. Hooker was known to be a difficult performer to accompany, partly because of his disregard of song form, yet Wilson seemed to have no trouble at all following him on this album. Hooker concludes that "you [Wilson] musta been listenin' to my records all your life". Hooker is also known to have stated "Wilson is the greatest harmonica player ever."
On September 3, 1970, Wilson was found dead on a hillside behind bandmate Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon home; he was 27 years old. An autopsy identified his manner and cause of death as accidental acute barbiturate intoxication.
Genre : Blues
Format : FLAC
Tracks:
CD 1:
1.01 - On the road again
1.02 - Help me
1.03 - An owl song
1.04 - Going up the country
1.05 - My mistake
1.06 - Change my ways
1.07 - Get off my back
1.08 - Time was
1.09 - Do not enter
1.10 - Shake it and break It
1.11 - Nebulosity / rollin' & tumblin' / five owls
CD 2:
2.01 - Alan's intro
2.02 - My time ain't long
2.03 - Skat
2.04 - London blues
2.05 - Poor moon
2.06 - Pulling hair blues
2.07 - Mean old world
2.08 - Human condition
2.09 - Childhood's end
All in MP3 @ 320kbps
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