The Best of Hooker 'n Heat

Performer: John Lee Hooker
Engineer: Dino Lappas; Kevin Reeves...
Producer: Bob Hite; Skip Taylor; Steve Kolanjian (Compilation)...
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: John Lee Hooker (vocals, guitar); Canned Heat. Recorded at Liberty Studios, Los Angeles, California on May 25, 1970. Digitally remastered by Kevin Reeves (Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood, California). Liner Note Author: Steve Kolanjian. Recording information: Liberty Studios, Los Angeles, CA (05/25/1970). Photographer: Tom Tucker. Unknown Contributor Roles: John Lee Hooker; Canned Heat. They say it only could have happened in the '60s, but here it is: the collaboration between electric blues legend John Lee Hooker with youngish, grungy white boy jamsters Canned Heat. The pairing isn't as incongruous as it may first seem however, since Hooker's down-home gutbucket style, leathery voice and rock-influenced guitar work are backed quite nicely by the garagey punch of the band. The compositions, all Hooker originals, cover the traditional range of blues topics: good women ("Just You And Me"), bad women ("You Talk Too Much"), women ("Let's Make It") and whiskey and women ("Whiskey and Wimmen"). Although purists may miss the looser, conversational style Hooker has when playing solo, the energy Canned Heat brings to these performances, complete with soulful mouthharp, burbling bass, full trap kit and occasional boogie-woogie piano, makes this disc worth a listen.

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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