CD $20.88

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

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

CD $38.93

Nine songs recorded double-quick in one session, with Lowell Fulson on lead guitar on most of it -- the rare embellishment on a Hooker release makes for unusually complex and rewarding listening, instrumentally speaking, beneath Hooker's ominous vocals. The textures on this reissue are very crisp and vivid, with a crunchiness that should make this a CD of choice for Hooker's rock fans, much more so than, say, the Canned Heat collaborations -- Hooker and Fulson make a mean team on {&"   [ read more ]

CD $12.33

CD $13.28

John Lee Hooker never abandoned his raw, gut bucket Mississippi-Delta-comes-to-the-city approach to the blues throughout his fifty-year career, and if he got a tad bit slicker towards the end of that career, it was only a tad and only by degree. There are innumerable Hooker collections on the market, and this two-disc set wouldn't be anything particularly special except that it actually charts through his entire history, beginning with the ageless "Boogie Chillen," which was recorded in 1948 and   [ read more ]

CD $18.95

With new John Lee Hooker songs, new versions of old Hooker songs, four duets with and a new song by Van Morrison, Don't Look Back continues the venerable bluesman's string of excellent albums in his '90s renaissance. Produced by Morrison, it also celebrates the 25th anniversary of their first recording together, as Morrison guested on Hooker's seminal Never Get Out of These Blues Alive in 1972. Don't Look Back hits the ground running with a rowdy, thumpin' remake of "Dimples" w   [ read more ]

CD $9.49

Chill Out isn't the superstar blow-out of John Lee Hooker's late-'80s albums, yet it retains that flavor. Featuring some extended soloing from Carlos Santana, Chill Out is filled with long blues workouts, all captured in pristine, state-of-the-art technology. Nothing on the disc captures the raw vitality of Hooker's prime material -- it's all relaxed blues-rock jams. The clean, sterile production doesn't help the basically directionless music. Certainly nothing on Chill Out is outrig   [ read more ]

CD $9.49

CD $10.43

John Lee Hooker won many new listeners with his 1989 star-studded comeback album The Healer, and his 1992 studio album "Boom Boom" was designed as an introduction to his classic songs for this new audience. It wasn't that The Healer or its 1991 follow-up Mr. Lucky avoided either Hooker's signature boogie or several of his signature tunes, but they were tempered by both a slicker production and newly written tunes. In contrast, "Boom Boom" was lean and direct, relying on such staples as    [ read more ]

CD $9.49

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