Blues backwards: On the Road Again

Of course everyone knows that "On the Road Again" is a blues standard made famous by Canned Heat in 1968:

But I didn't know that in the 80s; my first encounter with it was on synth band (or what in retrospect is referred to as "minimal wave") Schleimer K's debut album from 1981:

I love the stuttering kick drum in this version, you won't hear that beat anywhere else.  Probably.  The organ noodling by Dominique Brethes is also nice.  What does it say about me that my favorite song on this album turned out to be an old blues cover?  Obviously my musical tastes were not as esoteric as I once thought they were.  I'm fine with that now, but it was a rather embarrassing bit of self-discovery when I finally heard the Canned Heat song for the first time.  (And even that is a cover of sorts, based on a much older song by Floyd Jones, which in turn is based on an even older song.  I lack the fortitude to track down the whole provenance.)  This Schleimer K album is one of the many I sold during the 90s, thinking I would never listen to it again, so why keep it?  Ten years later my life is completely different, and I do want to revisit the music I used to like, and thanks to Mutant Sounds and Phoenix Hairpins I can.  And I still like it!

Finally, since every song reminds me of another song, I'll mention that Schleimer K singer Michael Wolfen's offhand, half-spoken vocal style was used extensively by Nik Fiend on Alien Sex Fiend's second (and best) album, Acid Bath.  The atmospheric quality and midtempo beat of "Breakdown And Cry (Lay Down and Die...Goodbye) make it a good pairing with "On the Road Again"--

Some other time I'll relate how Alien Sex Fiend almost played in Adelphi, Maryland.