In 1968 Canned Heat played the Fillmore West in San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury was the centre of the counterculture universe. Concert posters like the one by Lee Conklin for that concert came out of that time and scene. I didn't get there until 35 years later and by then, 2003, the street signs kept getting stolen, the psychedelic shops were few and far between and Fillmore West was a car dealership. All I came away with was a t-shirt.
In the early 80's when Canned Heat played Australia, I had moved back to New Zealand. Sometimes you just can't catch a break.
Back to those 1968 days when Canned Heat had their 2 best known and signature hits 'On the Road Again' and 'Going Up the Country' was when they had what was referred to as their "Classic Line-Up". It was also the time when nicknames were introduced for the band members, so we had Bob "The Bear" Hite, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine, Larry "The Mole" Taylor and Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra.
Heading to Woodstock in 1969 'Going Up the Country' became a sort of unofficial anthem for the festival.
The band got their name from a prohibition era song, the 1928 'Canned Heat Blues' by Tommy Johnson. Due to the lack of alcohol, alternatives were found, one of them being Sterno, the campground fuel, known by it's drinkers as 'canned heat'.
By the time of this Australian tour the band had changed quite a bit, particularly with the recent death of Bob "The Bear" Hite.
The only 'Classic' member on this recording is "Fito", but "The Sunflower" kept coming and going. In fact after the tour Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine went into a studio in New Zealand and recorded a solo album, "I used to be Mad (but now I'm half Crazy)". I've seen 2 different covers for the album. One just lists him as solo artist and is based on the Harley-Davidson logo (he owned 11 of them and had a long association with Hell's Angels) and the other cover credits the album to Henry Vestine and the Heat Bros, because in fact it really is a Canned Heat recording, all the band were there. If you can find it, grab it. It was released as a CD in 2002.
This 'Boogie Assault' album captures some of the atmosphere of those 1981/2 Australian concerts and also presents me with a bit of a puzzle.
My copy is printed in Australia and has the cover shown below, black with white and red lettering. With few exceptions all the other covers I've seen for this album show a cartoon drawing of an old Australian outback pub with kangaroos being blown out through the roof.
There's an interesting comment on the Canned Heat website about this recording, written by Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra ..
"Recorded live in Australia during 1982. This was supposed to be a release for Australia and New Zealand only. But Mr. Noble (the producer) licensed the record worldwide violating our agreement and causing all kinds of problems that culminated in a lawsuit I started against him. It is an unauthorized release and one of my least favorite Canned Heat."
Despite his comments, the album puts together some excellent live versions of Heat hits .. 'On the Road Again', 'Up the Country' as well as 'Let's Work Together', the Wilbert Harrison song changed and re-recorded by Bryan Ferry as 'Let's Stick Together'.
The full side 2 of the LP is taken up with a 23 minute rollocking stomping 'Refried Hockey Boogie'.
Canned Heat are still boogying on, but after many years of a revolving door membership, the current line-up only has "Fito" on drums from the original or classic eras. Ever popular with the biker crowd, and perhaps most popular still in Australia, Canned Heat are forever part of the history of the blues.
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