Rating:
Genre:
Blues
Release Date: 04/03/2007
John Lee Hooker never abandoned his raw, gut bucket Mississippi-Delta-comes-to-the-city approach to the
blues throughout his fifty-year career, and if he got a tad bit slicker towards the end of that career, it was only a tad and only by degree. There are innumerable
Hooker collections on the market, and this two-disc set wouldn't be anything particularly special except that it actually charts through his entire history, beginning with the ageless
"Boogie Chillen," which was recorded in 1948 and topped the
R&B charts for
Modern Records in 1949, through
"Tupelo," which was recorded in 1993 and released on the
Pointblank LP
Chill Out in 1995. In between these two are most of
Hooker's essential tracks, including 1949's
"Crawlin' King Snake" from
Modern, 1962's
"Boom Boom" from
Vee-Jay Records, 1964's
"One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" from
Chess and
"The Healer" from 1989's
Chameleon Records LP of the same title that paired
Hooker with various musical celebrity guests like
Bonnie Raitt and
Carlos Santana and gave
Hooker yet another opportunity to trot out his amazingly durable song catalog. A single-disc of either
Hooker's
Modern or
Vee-Jay sides would probably deliver more quality
John Lee bang for the buck, but the historical sweep of this collection, which truly spans
Hooker's whole career (which admittedly didn't vary a whole lot), gives it a good deal of added credence.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
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