Blind Owl Blues: The Mysterious Life and Death of Blues Legend Alan Wilson

A terrific book. I applaud Rebecca Davis for the work she put in to produce it. It's obvious it was a real labor of love for her. Written in an easy flowing style, nearly every page has new information, stuff that will not be found anywhere else. John Fahey's endorsement of her found on the back cover is on target. The amount of people in Wilson's orbit she tracked down to interview, obscure or otherwise, is most impressive. Taking into account Wilson's personal problems and eccentricities, Davis writes with a sensitivity that perhaps only a woman can bring. Yeah, that's probably sexist. Oops. As to some of the reviewers who complain that there's not much insight into Wilson's creative process, well, you can hardly blame the author that of the four pivotal people in this regard who weren't available for comment (Wilson himself, Hite, Vestine and Taylor) three are dead and one isn't talking. As to the complaints about some typos, I'd be the first to complain - if it was a lousy book. But because it's such a solid piece of work, it's senseless to get your loincloth in a twist over a typo here and there.Regarding the author's comment on page 150 that the Beatles' Indian-influenced recordings culminated with "Love You To" and "Within You Without You," the third and final "Eastern" song not mentioned would be 1968's "The Inner Light,"the B-side to "Lady Madonna," a 45 that likely would have been in Wilson's record collection. With respect to the author stating on page 19 that in later years Wilson's music didn't show any significant jazz influences, I would propose that the very unique staccato lines he would occasionally play on harp would be a direct result of his jazz background, the best examples of which can be heard on the Hooker 'n Heat LP.To wander off on my own for a bit, I believe "Big Fat" to be the only commercially released Canned Heat studio recording during the Wilson era that features someone other than Alan playing harp. It would be Bob Hite, naturally. A few reasons. For starters, it's just way too simple. Nothing Wilson ever played was this basic, and it contains absolutely none of his fingerprints. It's also very easy to hear the obvious overdub for every single harmonica break. Alan could have played this in his sleep and he would never need to do multiple overdubs for such a rudimentary part, so it makes sense that Bear did his vocal first, then overdubbed each separate harp break. The coup de grâce, however, is that Hite can be heard playing the nearly identical riff on "We Like to Boogie," from the bootlegged June 1970 Bath show, while Alan and Harvey are on guitar. So I think "Big Fat" was a Hite vehicle all the way. "Catfish Blues" is one other track that Bear plays harp on during Wilson's life, found on Boogie House Tapes 3, but of course it's a live recording and was posthumously released.But I digress. As usual, I was terribly late in finding this book. I missed it the first go-around in 2007 and was late for this printing. Better late than never, as they say. In a book that has plenty of surprises, possibly the most startling one for me was the discovery that Wilson had absolute, or perfect, pitch. To say the least, he's in, ahem, pretty good company with Mozart, Bix Beiderbecke, Art Tatum and Hendrix. But this is also an important book simply because Wilson was such a beautiful player. Absolute killer tone and throat vibrato - and fearless in his phrasing. He's certainly my favorite player from the sixties - white or black. Expressed differently, as good as he was on guitar and as fabulous he was as a singer, his harp playing is what assures him a certain immortality. Davis' book undoubtedly won't be the last, but it will be hard to top. I'll put it this way. I've had one favorite book separated from the downstairs library that's been sitting on our LR coffee table for going on 10 years. Now I have two books permanently residing there.

This book has helped me gain a deeper understanding of the life of the late co-founder/leader of Canned Heat and blues man, Alan Wilson. For a reader like me, someone totally new to the "Blind Owl", it is a really good primer about his character, background, and artistic drive. The biography does come up a bit short on artistic analysis so if you, good reader, are already well versed on Wilson -and artistic analysis is an important feature to you- you may find this book wanting. That's not to say that this is a shallow read. The book states in the introduction that it "...is not an in-depth musicological study; rather, it is a biographical tribute." I feel it delivers as a tribute and promotes his music and awareness of his interests. Additionally, my understanding is that this is a self-published, self-financed first book; a culmination of years of research where many would-be prospective interviewees were unavailable for whatever reason. The pool of insights to draw from has been narrowed. I imagine this would make for quite challenging research efforts. Despite these hurdles, I feel that this biography delivers what it sets out to do. It is a key resource in learning more about the Blind Owl in a world where amplified information on him seems scant.Other salient points: the book, as other reviews have mentioned, has it's fair share of typos and some unnecessary repetition in places relating to Wilson's personal habits. As I awaited my second edition to arrive, I anticipated these first edition typos would be corrected. However, the typos are still there in the second edition waving at you. Apparently, photos were abundant in the first edition but in this second edition there are none. I am wondering why that is the case.I found the book to be engrossing. From everything I have gathered through this biography and what I could find on the internet, Blind Owl is sadly all-around under appreciated and underrated. I have been alive for almost the exact length of time Wilson has been gone and this year (2014) is the first I am learning about him? He is a most fascinating character with much to learn from so it is a shame. I have a feeling that his obscurity is due to wider cultural reasons, at least in-part. A documentary or biopic (a-la Daniel Johnston?) would be great to see...seems unlikely, but who knows...Despite these aforementioned flaws I think it is a good -if somewhat basic- biography that does what it purports to do. Yes, it has it's limitations but still serves as a good introduction on the life of Alan Wilson.

Quick shipment great condition

I LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE BOOK AND THANKYOU REBECCA DAVIS ALAN WAS A TRUE GENIUS AND A BRILLANT YOUNG MAN SADLY HE IS IN THE 27 GLUB BUT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT ALAN MOST PEOPLE TODAY DONT KNOW WHO HE WAS AND THATS SAD HE GREW UP IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS MY PART OF THE WORLD BUT I WAS WAY TO YOUNG TO EVEN KNOW WHO HE WAS CANNED HEAT WAS A BAND MY OLDER BROTHER GOT ME INTO AS SOON AS I HERD GOING UP THE COUNTRY AND ON THE ROAD AGAIN AND OTHERS I TOO WAS HOOKED GOD BLESS ALAN WILSON AND THE OTHERS WHO HAVE JOINED HIM BLUES HEAVEN WHAT A PLACE IT MUST BE THANKS AGAIN REBECCA DAVIS

Great in depth read about Alan Wilson, a true musical genius who should be recognized as a driving force of the blues explosion in the 60s. A very deep intellectual who also had a very lonely life.

Me quedé fascinado por la personalidad y el talento de este genial músico. Sus amplios conocimientos musicales. La labor que hizo para recuperar a "viejos" bluesmen. Sus conocimientos de música hindú y además por ser amante de la naturaleza. Después de leer el libro estoy absolutamente convencido de que su muerte no fue un suicidio sino accidental por ingesta de pastillas (se tomó "una de más"). Nos queda disfrutar de su música y de esa maravillosa e "inusual" voz.

Well researched a tribute to a forgotten musical genius. A rare insight into the origins of one of the great blues bands of any age RIP alan you are sorely missed

excellent

After reading this book you should come to realise that Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson was one of the best ever blues/rock guitarists. He is also probably one of the most unlikely as his story makes you realise. It is an absolutely fascinating story of basically an academic who found himself thrust reluctantly into the spotlight and had no idea how to deal with this. As a self-published book it was very hard to get hold of in the first edition, fortunately the expanded new edition is more widely available. Rebecca Davis has done a superb job telling essentially a very sad story of a person out of place in the world he got into. A long time ago I realised that the music business was a cruel unforgiving place, but Al got much of the success that he richly deserved, but then found that it meant very little to him in many ways. He found solace in nature and his many eccentricities here make for hilarious reading. When I read the term 'musical genius' I usually think, 'oh dear, here we go again', but in the Blind Owl's case I do agree. Not only did he have perfect pitch, he could accompany the notoriously hard to follow John Lee hooker, he could transcribe music - he helped John Fahey with his thesis on Charlie Patton, but he was also a harmonica and slide guitar player nonpareil, who also mastered non-western instruments with ease! Absolutely fascinating book, and one of the best biographies I have ever read.

Priceless book... tells the real thing! Here we really get the inside view of Alan. Needs to be proofread though! I thought all books were proofread before going to print. This one wasn't.