The 16 tracks on this John Lee Hooker compilation were recorded at Joe Van Battle's rather fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants Detroit studio in the late '40s and early '50s and subsequently licensed to and released on King Records. Since Hooker was under contract to LA's Modern Records during this time, these sides were issued under various pseudonyms (often as Texas Slim), but the loose, boogie blues style on display is unmistakably pure John Lee. Unfortunately the sound quality on these recordings is a bit on the rough (and not a good kind of rough) side, and they don't measure up to the still raw but much better recorded material released by Hooker on Modern during the same period. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide