No JOHN LEE HOOKER thread? Ever? Really??

cosign, that's a bad ass record

he really goes in on the one chord thing, it's kinda meditative, droney, there's something really cool about it too, a lot of the moody stuff on ISYRTS reminds me of Dylan's "Highlands"

funny when he plays "Money" I could have sworn that song had more chord changes

I remember reading years and years ago that early in his career Hooker had a real problem finding a drummer, because nobody could lock in with his idiosyncratic rhythm; that's why a lot of his records have him just stomping on a wooden box as percussion.

funny when he plays "Money" I could have sworn that song had more chord changes

obviously what the song required was less chords and more trombone solos

haha, indeed

Got to see him in the late 80s where a white guitar player was almost noodling through most of the set. & I don't think he was playing much guitar himself. Which sounds like sacrilege really.

I'd like to renew the request above: which recordings feature him solo on (dark & eerie) electric guitar? For example, I have in mind some of what he has on The Hot Spot soundtrack.

― Pataphysician, Tuesday, September 25, 2018 12:18 PM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i picked up a record today with six cuts of just solo electric JLH:

https://www.discogs.com/John-Lee-Hooker-The-Folk-Lore-Of-John-Lee-Hooker/release/2505976

apparently all six of those tracks come from a single chicago recording date on january 4, 1961. i'm trying to find out if there's more from that session and, if so, whether anybody ever put it all on the same disc.

(the notes on the discogs page are incorrect btw.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0-kSKibcLU

It's not exactly solo, but I really like the album "Don't Turn Me From Your Door" which is raw and basic. It combines 6 songs from 1953 with 6 songs from 1961.

I hadn't noticed it initially myself, but I came across a passing remark that you could see the influence of this album on Hendrix's '"Voodoo Chile", and it's true I think.

Don’t think I have heard that album. Will check it out

I had that one a long time ago - late '80s, early '90s - and I remember liking it quite a bit because the 1961 tracks were solo electric guitar, not acoustic, and Hooker's playing was really stark and out. It's on Spotify.

This was one of the tracks that melted my brain (I was 18, 19 at the time):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WIz-Uiinxc

Great thread. My fave that hasn't been mentioned: Never Get Out of These Blues Alive, with several shades of blues---title track and "TB Sheets," which has Michael White's electric violin like a trapped bird up in the cobwebs, but also "Boogie With The Hook" "Get...hiiigh...", White incisive and rolling right along, Elvin Bishop, Van Morrison, coming in elsewhere, quite a house party weekend overall.
And somewhere I've got a solid promo box set of later collabs: Robert Cray seems to understand him best.

Charles Shaar Murray's book on Jimi Hendrix, Crosstown Traffic, is by far my favorite book on Hendrix, and probably one of my very favorite books covering some historical or critical aspect of popular music, on par with Deep Blues, Mystery Train and Hellfire. Re-reading it now, it's astonishingly timely. So I just started reading his authorized biography on Hooker based on Christgau's belated but glowing review, and it may be just as good. Though the style and approach are similar, the Hendrix book was more focused cultural history and criticism while summarizing Hendrix's short life in a single chapter - here he's written a very thorough biography.

So far, my favorite anecdote may be his experience in the military. In the late '30s, he actually joined the army. Even all-out war was looming in Europe, Hooker wasn't worried about the U.S. getting involved - and to be fair, most of the country didn't seem to be either. He joined to get WOMEN. He had a girlfriend who left him for a guy in uniform, and observing the success they were having, he joined up. He had nothing but great memories, and then five months later, they found he lied about his age (you needed parental consent if you were under 21, and there was no way he was getting that). He made up some bullshit that "he wanted to serve his country," and that got to them, because all they did was discharge him. That may have saved him, because even though he was underage, the discharge meant he couldn't be drafted, so when the U.S. DID join the war and Hooker was in his 20s, he was never called up.

As he tells it, the war years were especially good because the shortage of men greatly improved his dating life (he actually married twice in that short time) and he got plenty of paid work even though he was constantly fired from playing clubs at night and barely staying awake for his day job - if he got fired, he'd just walk over to the next company and land a job there. Anyway, pretty crazy how WWII could have robbed him of the life he had, and instead it helped prop him up until his breakthrough thanks to an impulsive decision.

* more focused on cultural history
* Even though all-out war
* they found out he lied
* fired as a result of playing clubs at night

I need to proof-read before I post

Agree about Crosstown Traffic; I read it when I was writing my Miles Davis book. It rules. You should maybe check out Greg Tate's Midnight Lightning, too; the two books are kind of spiritually kin, and the Tate is a quick read.

It's been a while since I read them, but both books are excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWgitcFCHi0
this is heavy