John Lee Hooker - Hooker

Not quite hook, line or sinker

On four career-spanning (late 40s to late 90s) CDs, what we get is pretty much two discs of pure genius, followed by a decline into career revivalist trudge. Disc One’s whistle stop tour of Hooker’s 40s and 50s hits home just how influential a figure he has been. Hooker’s raw one-man-and-a-guitar stomp on the likes of Boogie Chillen’ and I’m In The Mood is funky, driving and captivating. Crossing into Disc Two, which takes things up to 1965 (bar a quick leap over to 1970’s I Cover The Waterfront), there’s the ubiquitous Dimples, Tupelo Blues and Boom Boom. Disc Three begins to falter, though. We’re back in the 60s with One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, but early 70s jams with Canned Heat and forays into Hooker’s less essential 80s catalogue have little spark. Come Disc Four’s superstar collaborations, all magic and soul is sucked dry. Santana makes two appearances (alongside Van Morrison, Clapton and Ry Cooder), and Hooker’s style, frankly, has no business mixing with then-Americanised Latino for the burgeoning Starbucks generation. It’s hard to see how this bland, corporate concept of ‘the blues’ can appeal to those who will find something genuinely eye-opening on the first two discs.

SPV | 95942

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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