CD $8.53

Like any record company worth their salt, MCA knows a good gimmick when they see it, and when the millennium came around -- well, the 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection wasn't too far behind. Supposedly, the millennium is a momentous occasion, but it's hard to feel that way when it's used as another excuse to turn out a budget-line series. But apart from the presumptuous title, 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection turns out to be a very good budget-line series. True, it'   [ read more ]

CD $9.45

Shout! Factory's 2009 set Anthology: 50 Years is not the first double-disc Hooker retrospect, nor is it likely to be the last. It differs from the previous front runner for best two-disc Hooker set, Rhino's 1991 The Ultimate Collection (1948-1990), by covering the last decade or so of his career, winding up being just one song longer than The Ultimate, weighing in at 32 tracks. Anthology has an even-handed approach, touching on almost every phase of his career -- on the '70s, represe   [ read more ]

CD $23.73

John Lee Hooker's recordings for Virgin/Point Blank may have varied in quality, but never in formula. Once The Healer earned reams of praise and, more importantly, solid sales upon its 1989 release, it was pretty much set in stone that every future Hooker album would be painstakingly constructed and boast a plethora of superstar cameos. The guest stars were designed to bring in a larger audience, who would hopefully be impressed enough to stick around for Hooker's solid stuff, which was us   [ read more ]

CD $9.49

The ten songs on Best of Hooker 'n Heat were originally released as part of a 1971 album (on Liberty 35002); this reissue, despite the lack of historical liner notes, isn't exactly short of value, clocking in at 56 minutes. Canned Heat gets top billing, but really it's John Lee Hooker's show, as he sings all the tracks and takes all the songwriting credits for the material, which includes remakes of classics like "Dimples," "Boogie Chillen," "Burning Hell," and "Bottle Up and Go." Wi   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

CD $13.28

MCA's The Best of John Lee Hooker has a misleading title. All of the 16 selections are taken from his recordings for ABC, which were made at the end of the '60s and beginning of the '70s. During this time, his producers were experimenting with his sound, adding contemporary sonic touches like funk rhythms and wah-wah pedals. Needless to say, this sound didn't sit particularly well with Hooker's lean, haunting blues. However, these songs do take the best material from generally poor albums -- anyone wh   [ read more ]

CD $9.45

A brief, ten-song set of sides originally recorded by Bernie Besman at United Sound Studios in Detroit between 1948 and 1952 and leased to Modern Records in Los Angeles (Besman did release some of them on his own Sensation Records imprint), this is a prototypical sequence of John Lee Hooker being, well, John Lee Hooker, churning out loose-limbed blues boogies on solo electric guitar. Included are "Boogie Chillen'," "Hobo Blues," "Crawling King Snake," "Huckle Up Baby," {&   [ read more ]

CD $7.58

A brief, ten-song set of sides originally recorded by Bernie Besman at United Sound Studios in Detroit between 1948 and 1952 and leased to Modern Records in Los Angeles (Besman did release some of them on his own Sensation Records imprint), this is a prototypical sequence of John Lee Hooker being, well, John Lee Hooker, churning out loose-limbed blues boogies on solo electric guitar. Included are "Boogie Chillen'," "Hobo Blues," "Crawling King Snake," "Huckle Up Baby," {&   [ read more ]

CD $6.63

CD $10.43

There are countless compilations of John Lee Hooker material on the market, issued by a variety of labels under assorted different titles, but you really can't go wrong with this guy -- he always delivered what he was supposed to deliver with no frills and no fuss. This one centers on the recordings that Hooker recorded for Bernie Besman at United Sound Studios in Detroit between 1948 and 1952 (these were then leased to Modern Records in Los Angeles, although Besman did release some of the   [ read more ]

CD $13.28

Recorded at the Rising Sun Celebrity Jazz Club in Montreal, Quebec, on May 5, 1977, Black Night Is Falling finds John Lee Hooker in fine voice and backed by a driving band composed of John Garcia on guitar, Steve Jones on bass, and Larry "Wild Man" Martin on drums, with the end result being an excellent example of live Hooker at his best. Highlights include impressive romps through two of Hooker's signature tunes, "Boom Boom," which simply blazes with raw energy here, and {&"One B   [ read more ]

CD $12.33