Varese Records
1969
Canned Heat Cookbook
About This Album
This initial best-of package, Canned Heat Cookbook, was released rather quickly in 1969 after the band's initial burst of creativity resulted in four albums and two hit singles between 1967 and 1968. Friend/manager/producer Skip Taylor lists tons of the band's engagements from 1966 on the gatefold of the album, which constitutes its only liner notes. Dozens and dozens of gigs, from the Monterey International Pop Festival to Club 47, the Boston Tea Party, and what they call the Woodstock Pop Festival, are all listed, and this is a staggering resumé suited well to a greatest-hits package. There are baby photos of the five bandmembers (and the obligatory thanks to their moms for providing them), as well as a very cool cover design by Dean Torrence, which features his artistic rendition of each performer along with a couple of butterflies. They look somewhat like the Band here, and their rocking blues were actually somewhat similar to the dudes who backed up Bob Dylan. But the sound of their records differed from that other ensemble, and Al Wilson's personality shines through on "Goin' up the Country" and "On the Road Again," two blasts of '60s pop which were quite different from anything else on the radio at the time.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,7 and 11)

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