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Canned Heat: Live At Montreux 1973 (1973)

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DVD

PG No Notes

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The combination of the Montreux Jazz Festival and Canned Heat unites two musical trademarks of quality. And when the band pitched up to make their one and only appearance at the legendary Festival in 1973 there was an understandable sense of anticipation among the audience.

While many blues bands of the 1960s would turn more and more to rock as time passed, the Heat, formed in California in 1965, were unashamed blues purists. This was largely thanks to the rigorous leadership of Bob 'The Bear'Hite and Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson, their two contrasting frontmen. Bearded man mountain Hite, a former record shop manager with a personal collection of 60,000 records, had a gravelly voice and extrovert character, not
to mention an encyclopedic knowledge of the blues, while Wilson was a gifted musician, writer and arranger who hid shyly behind the pebble-lens glasses that won him the affectionate nickname 'Blind Owl'. He contributed not only distinctively high-pitched vocals, which contrasted effectively with Hite's rough-hewn, bluesy bluster, but also harmonica and slide guitar to the sound.

Sadly, Wilson died, aged just 27, in September 1970 on the eve of the Heat's third tour of Europe, leaving Hite to lead the band alone. But for this Montreux gig three years later the inevitable on stage gap is filled admirably by special guest Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, whose exuberance and showmanship rivals the mighty Bear himself.