John Lee Hooker remains both a mystery and an object of study. While some, like the author Jacques Demêtre, see the man from the Mississippi as, from a musical point of view, "the roughest and most African of all blues interpreters," others, like the reviewer Net Hentoff, freeze in bewilderment at Hooker's unfiltered power of expression, which could "frighten the unprepared listener.
The pieces lined up here show that Hooker's musical language is at least deeply moving even without the marked 'boom boom'.
Each one is a rough diamond in its own right, which is intended to be perceived unpolished and direct.
Broken, the singer declaims his lute over a violin and only through the meter in "Stuttering Blues".
Dragging and defiant, the inner farewell is announced with exact lyrics ("You Lost A Good Man") and a song without words ("Misbelieving Baby") ponders questioningly in a purely instrumental monologue.
Except for a pinch of boogie ("Pouring Down Rain") Hookers Blues avoids any beautiful sound and sweet harmony.
He remains unembellishedly rough, mercilessly honest, sometimes irreconcilable and denies any thought of any kind of 'back to the roots'.
This sound can only be the root itself.
Recording: 1953 in Cincinnati and July 1961 in Miami
Production: Henry Stone
- This LP is an entirely analogue production!
- Made from the original, analogue mastertapes
- Only the best mastering studios worldwide
- Pure analogue, audiophile mastering
- 180g virgin vinyl pressings from Pallas / Germany