Hooker's own releases in recent years have been mainly superstar guest affairs with lots of appearances by Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, and other grizzled rockers of that ilk. It's nice that Hooker is selling some records this way, but none of that tepid stuff even comes close to what you will hear on this release. For the most part, this is just John Lee Hooker on his own, voice and guitar. There are a few cuts with guitar, piano, and drums as accompaniment, but the man in his prime simply did not need a band live or in the studio. The sound he got with only guitar, voice, and pounding foot -- who needs a drummer when you've got a stomping right foot that the vocal mike picks up most of the time? -- was full, complex, and driving. On his best recordings (and this one would fall into that category), his voice and guitar are inseparable. You can't imagine one without the other.
Hooker sounds good on the handful of songs cut with a band, but his own guitar accompaniment is riveting and all he needs. These 50-year-old recordings are both timeless and more modern than anything Hooker himself has done in decades. And, thank God, there's not a guest artist to be found anywhere on this record.
