Release Date: 20 October, 1998
Audio CD
Tracks
- Boogie Chillen'
- This Is Hip
- Healer
- I Cover the Waterfront
- Boom Boom
- I'm in the Mood
- Burning Hell
- Tupelo
- Baby Lee
- Dimples
- Chill Out (Things Gonna Change)
- Big Legs, Tight Skirt
- Don't Look Back
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Rating 4.5
***1/2. Polished latter-day HookerAuthor Stephen Thomas Erlewine once said something like this about "The Best Of Friends":
"This is for people who like to think they like Hooker, but really just want to hear Eric Clapton wail away."
A blues purist's point of view, perhaps, but one with a lot of truth to it. Many people who aren't attracted to John Lee Hooker's raw, gritty 40s, 50s and 60s recordings will certainly find these guest star-heavy re-recordings much more accessible, and who knows...maybe some of those who got to know John Lee Hooker when he suddenly popped up on MTV at age 73 can use this music as a "gateway" to the REAL blues.
This is a compilation of songs from the Hook's last five guest star-heavy albums (plus a couple of previously unreleased recordings). There is really nothing here to match Hooker's magnificent VeeJay-recordings, his best ever band backed material, but this is certainly not bad music...with the possible exception of two stylistically challenged numbers, "Chill Out" and "The Healer".
Van Morrison appears on two numbers, "I Cover The Waterfront", and a slow, soulful "Don't Look Back", playing guitar and singing a verse or two, and his contributions are really the only ones which add something new to the songs.
Eric Clapton plays relatively restrained guitar on a pretty good "Boogie Chillen", and "This Is Hip" and "Dimples" get a nice swaggering groove going, although neither of them come anywhere close to surpassing the original recordings.
"Burnin' Hell" is marred by the monotonous guitar playing of Ben Harper, and "Baby Lee" and "I'm In The Mood" are too slick, but "Tupelo" is classic John Lee Hooker, just the Hook himself and his guitar and a piece of plywood to stomp on! And "Big Legs, Tight Skirt" is really good as well, although not as good as Hooker's definitive rendition which he cut for VeeJay in the mid-50s.
This is a pretty good album, especially for "casual" blues listeners, but it does fall a little flat when compared to the gritty and powerful waxings Hooker made when he was in his prime.Super CDAbsolutely a gem no doubt about it. You will not go wrong with this cd.Some Blues Greatness HereIf you love the electric blues and blues slide guitar, this is a must-have album for your collection. Many of the songs are instantly recognizable blues patterns that have set the style for generations of blues and rock superstars. John Lee Hooker is on a par with B.B. King, Robert Johnson and other classic great blues artists. The repertoire of session musicians from the likes of Carlos Santana, Jimmy Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, and Eric Clapton are not to be missed. John Lee Hooker set a blues standard - get this album. |
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