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Topic: Blues Bash Music Review: John Lee Hooker Return to archive
2nd November 2006 09:19 PM
Ten Thousand Motels Blues Bash Music Review: John Lee Hooker - Hooker
Written by El Bicho
Published October 31, 2006
Part of Blues Bash-Blogcritics.org

John Lee Hooker’s first hit single, 1948’s “Boogie Chillen’,” is a song about a young man’s love for boogie-woogie. Papa came to his defense as he told mama, “it's in him, and it got to come out.” That same line could very well apply to Hooker and the blues, which came out in a career that spanned more than 30 labels, 50 years, and 100 albums. Shout Factory presents his first career retrospective in a four-CD box set.

Hooker had a perfect upbringing to play the blues. He was born near Clarkdale, Mississippi in 1917, and his father was a Baptist preacher and a sharecropper. After his parents separated, his mother married blues singer William Moore, who introduced him to the guitar. Moore is referenced on “Teachin’ The Blues,” a song that finds Hooker providing his autobiography and guitar instruction.

This collection is filled with the familiar panorama of the blues, an array dealing with life’s troubles, money and women, sex and death. Some songs are pleadings made to a lover, a rival, or the Lord to ease those burdens, albeit in different ways. When Hooker sings the blues, they are authentic regardless if he truly lived them or if they are a performance. When The Beatles sing “Money (That's What I Want),” it doesn’t have the same power as when Hooker sings the same song, titled as “I Need Some Money.” The Beatles want it, but you believe Hooker’s survival depends on it.

Because the pay was so poor for a black musician, Hooker went round to different studios looking for work. He recorded under different names so as to not to break his recording contract. This set features three tracks by Texas Slim, two by John Lee Booker, and one by Johnny Williams. The work is definitely that of Hooker, but the audio quality is not up to the standards of the other material.

A good many tracks are created just from the three-part combination of Hooker’s voice, his electric guitar, and the tapping of his foot to keep the beat. There is something irresistible and charming in the simplicity of his music. Yet he shows the versatility of his skills on “Huckle Up Baby.”

His trademark sound is also presented in a variety of arrangements and small combos. A set of spoons or spurs creates a jangle on “Weeping Willow Boogie.” He overdubbed his voice three times to create an interesting effect on “I’m In The Mood.” “Frisco Blues” finds him backed by female singers a la The Raelettes. Disc Three concludes with four tracks where an organ is more prominent than guitar. They are “Bluebird”, “Early One Morning”, “We’ll Meet Again”, and “Loving People.”

Hooker’s influence on the music world is presented. We get the originals of “Crawlin' King Snake,” covered by The Doors, and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” covered by George Thorogood, who also included a bit of “John L's House Rent Boogie” into his version. Hooker recorded with Canned Heat in 1970, creating a double album appropriately titled Hooker ‘N Heat. It was Hooker’s first time on the Billboard charts. Three tracks are from those sessions, “Burning Hell,” which includes 90 seconds of Hooker banter at the open, “Peavine,” and “I Got My Eyes On You.”

Disc four showcases Hooker’s collaborations in his later years when many artists came to pay tribute. Robert Cray is the most frequent guest at three appearances. Bonnie Raitt turns “I’m In The Mood” into a wonderful duet. Charles Brown plays piano on “Kiddio.” Los Lobos gets things rockin’ on “Dimples.”

Unfortunately, it’s the weaker disc of the bunch because very few songs come close to the originals. “Boom Boom” with Jimmie Vaughan and “Boogie Chillen’” with Eric Clapton are all right, but there’s no reason to listen to them over the originals. Some are very different arrangements that appear to be Hooker sitting in rather than collaborations. The two songs with Van Morrison are almost too lush and Hooker’s voice has too much echo; however, taken as Morrison songs, they work. The two songs with Santana are Latin jazz/rock and Hooker’s voice doesn’t fit at all.

Forget Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and the rest of that pharmaceutical nonsense. Instead, take two CDs from Hooker and call me in the morning. Your blues are sure to disappear.
2nd November 2006 09:33 PM
Ten Thousand Motels Daughter remembers John Lee Hooker
By Fred Shuster, Music Critic

John Lee Hooker, master bluesman and undisputed father of boogie, recorded for more than 30 labels over 50 years, but never had a definitive career box set.
That changes today with the release of "Hooker" (Shout! Factory; $59.98), an 84-track, four-CD set that culls material from all eras of his lengthy career, produced in conjunction with his estate to serve as the definitive tribute.

The material ranges from a primitive 1948 recording of "Boogie Chillen' " to a version of the same song recorded exactly 50 years later in 1998 with Eric Clapton.

Born in 1917 to Mississippi sharecroppers, Hooker first heard blues on a wind-up Victrola and on a radio station broadcasting from Helena, Ark. Migrating to Memphis, and then to Detroit, where he supported himself and his family playing rent parties, Hooker cut 78s and 45s for labels like Fortune, Modern, King, Staff, Regal, Deluxe, Chess, Crown, Vee-Jay and Sensation.

In the late '60s, Hooker's audience began to include white fans when boogie disciples Canned Heat brought him to the attention of their fan base with the 1970 double album "Hooker 'N Heat." He

went on to make a series of albums for ABC BluesWay, Impulse, Tomato, Pausa, Chameleon and Virgin/Pointblank. In 1989, "The Healer," which included collaborations with Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt, earned Hooker the first of four Grammy Awards and brought him to the attention of a new generation of fans.

Hooker passed away in June 2001 at his longtime home in the Oakland hills at the age of 83.

We reached Hooker's daughter, singer Zakyia Hooker, who controls her dad's estate, for the lowdown.

Q: After all those hundreds of records John Lee Hooker made, why has there never been a solid overview until now?

A: It was an enormous task to figure out who owns what, where the tapes were, who has the rights, and things like session information. Finding the music was not a problem, but pulling it all together and doing the paperwork was a major issue.

Q: What was most revealing to you?

A: It was hearing that voice I grew up with and how it changed in his later years. There's a flood of memories in that high-pitched tenor voice — it was almost chilling. I never thought of the transition that voice made. But his singing held up, it never broke or cracked because he never screamed. He wasn't a screamer or shouter.

Q: What was John Lee Hooker like around the house?

A: He was funny, he had a great sense of humor. I loved to hear him laugh. When Daddy laughed, he laughed. On the other hand, he could be a very serious person. When you came to him with a problem, he'd take it seriously. And he was illiterate and very close to nature. And that beauty and rawness was the joy people got from him.

Taken from http://www.dailynews.com/music/ci_4575123


3rd November 2006 06:36 AM
Steel Wheels I miss John Lee.

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