While Universal Music makes no attempt to hide it, it’s important for the informed consumer to look closely at the single-disc
Rarities Edition series. These CDs are usually the bonus discs packaged inside the double-disc slipcased Deluxe Editions of the albums they represent; they do not contain the original album even though the cover art is the same. This disc is a bit of an anomaly in this series in that it contains all 12 tracks from the
London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions Deluxe Edition bonus disc -- made up of alternate takes, rehearsals, and different mixes of session tracks. That said, preceding these are three more songs compiled from a 1974 follow-up album on Chess with
Muddy Waters (who also did a London session) called
London Revisited. These three songs, versions of
Howlin' Wolf standards “Goin’ Down Slow,” “Killing Floor,” and “I Want to Have a Word with You,” feature the second day’s musicians
Eric Clapton,
Hubert Sumlin,
Bill Wyman,
Charlie Watts, and
Jeffrey M. Carp. For those who already purchased the Deluxe Edition, buying this for an additional three cuts might seem a bit heady, but it does finally complete the legendary two-day recording sessions represented by the original albums.
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Thom Jurek, Rovi