Boogie Chillun [Charly]

Performer: John Lee Hooker
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: John Lee Hooker (vocals, guitar). All tracks recorded on November 2 & 3 and 8-10, 1962. Tracks 1-10 originally released as LIVE AT SUGAR HILL on Galaxy (8205). Tracks 11-19 originally released in 1972 on the album BOOGIE CHILLUN on Fantasy (24706). Includes original release liner notes by Tony Glover. Since maximum playing time of a single CD could not accommodate the entire length of the original double-album release, one selection ("Matchbox") has been deleted. This version of BOOGIE CHILLUN, originally a live album recorded in 1962, also includes the disc LIVE AT SUGAR HILL, also recorded live in that same year. These two solo concerts are from the beginning of Hooker's "rediscovery" period. The early-'60s folk boom brought blues artists of Hooker's generation back into vogue and gave them a new audience. For Hooker it was more than a chance to cash in on his reputation. He took the opportunity to pare his music down to its essential elements for a harder, more focused sound than that of his '50s band recordings. Hooker's voice is deeper and richer, full of hard-earned wisdom, and his trenchant guitar accompaniment is all that's required for the delivery of these hard-hitting tunes. The bleakness of "T.B. Is Killing Me" and "This World" are offset by the randiness of "I Like to See You Walk" and the world of endless possibility presented in "I Got the Key to the Highway." The ability to balance the good and the bad in this manner is the earmark of a blues genius, a title Hooker undoubtedly deserves.

John Lee Hooker is the most elemental of the electric blues giants. His spooky musical minimalism--plaintive yet powerful vocals coupled with guitar work alternately haunting and toe-tapping--has inspired countless artists, from contemporaries like Slim Harpo to acolytes the Rolling Stones. Few, however, can summon up the inexplicable erotic charge at the heart of Hooker's best performances. The patented "boogie" rhythm upon which seemingly every blues-rock and hard rock band of the 1970s wrought variations was virtually invented by Hooker. One of the most-recorded post-war bluesmen, Hooker released records on countless labels, working much of the time in Detroit and Chicago. He kept working well into his eighties, his style growing ever more refined and penetrating.

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