Sam Phillips, whose Sun Records spawned the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison, considered Chester "Howlin' Wolf" Burnett his greatest discovery. Not so much stylist as raw, unbridled force of nature, the Wolf had all the musical subtlety of the enraged, 300-pound linebacker he so closely resembled. The tracks here were originally collected from his rich Chess Records catalog for a pair of albums that belatedly tried to cash in on the '60s folk boom. But in eschewing many of the Willie Dixon-penned songs ("Spoonful," "The Red Rooster," "Wang Dang Doodle," et al.) that built his career and later inspired the likes of Eric Clapton and (especially) Mick Jagger and the Stones, the albums collected here lean heavily on Burnett originals, many of which (like "Killing Floor" and "Louise") rework staples of his early days in the Mississippi Delta. The riveting mid-'60s band performances (highlighted by the fiery licks of protégé-sideman Hubert Sumlin) that make up much of this collection's first half represent some of the most compelling blues recordings. While more primitive recordings from the early '50s dominate the second half, they offer a compelling glimpse of Burnett's sound stripped to its elemental core on tracks like the haunting dirge "No Place to Go" and the buoyant "Neighbors" and "Rockin' Daddy." --Jerry McCulley