AMG Review of Proper Introduction to Howlin' Wolf: Memphis Days

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

The single disc, 25-track Proper Introduction to Howlin' Wolf anthology traces, in condensed form, Howlin' Wolf's seminal recordings at Sun Studios in Memphis. While other compilations have focused on exhaustively presenting all of the recordings Wolf did for Sun and Chess, and other single discs have picked one label or the other, Proper has decided to combine them in an idiosyncratic and wonderfully listenable way. These cuts are not sequenced chronologically, and the material here is mixed between labels, offering a brilliant cross-section of the material he cut during his seminal early years in the 1950s. "Moanin' at Midnight" is here, as is "How Many More Years," but so are "Baby Ride With Me," "Oh Red," and "Saddle My Pony." In all, sound-wise and price-wise, this is a tough one to beat.