John Lee Hooker - The Best Of Friends

Top blues grumbler’s duets compiled

This compilation, originally released in 1998, collects highlights from the guest-saturated albums Hooker released in his later years, plus a few new tracks. Perhaps surprisingly, most still stand up as quality 80s and 90s blues. It all starts brilliantly with a raucous take on Boogie Chillen, with Hooker’s mumbled vocals and Eric Clapton’s fizzy guitar sounding great together. It’s one of the better collaborations. Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite’s contributions are welcome too, but neither Bonnie Raitt nor Van Morrison’s appearances generate much chemistry, with the latter dispersing most of the atmosphere in the otherwise stunning gospel number I Cover The Waterfront. The only real stinkers are Chill Out and The Healer, which are practically embalmed by shiny 80s production and widdly guitars. Funnily enough, Carlos Santana’s to blame on both counts. This reissue also adds a 1991 recording of Up & Down, previously only heard on the Japanese edition.

If anything, these recordings reveal how Hooker’s solo material didn’t need these superfluous flourishes to be engaging. To prove it, the finest moment here is Tupelo, where Hooker is accompanied by nothing more complicated than his guitar and his tapping foot. It’s a reminder that, even in his 70s, he still possessed that trademark brooding magnetism.

SPV | 49342 CD

Reviewed by Mat Croft
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