John Lee Hooker was one of the great musical forces of the twentieth century, and the contents of this album are among the greatest music ever made. There is no better male blues singer to be heard; there may be no better blues guitarist (despite or perhaps because of the limitations of his technique). He created his own style and used it with complete and utter mastery, for decade after decade.
I've no idea what happened to the artwork for this album, or even which album it is really: there appear to be multiple releases under the same name. There are more John Lee Hooker albums than there are years to listen. Many are repackaged compilations. This one happens to approximate the one I first heard when I was 15, so it seems like the best to me. But any John Lee Hooker before 1990 is probably going to be a wonderful listening experience. (The end-of-life stuff filled with celebrity guests isn't terrible either, but it is what it is- star-studded retreads, and watered down).
What he does best is angst, of a particular male and almost macho variety that's helped fuel some of the terrible blues cliches adopted by suck-ass imitators (but don't blame him for them). His specialty is brooding depression, or bottom-of-the-pit woe. He does anger well too, of the simmering-rage variety though in most cases not as well as he does the real fixin-to-die misery. When he mixes in some growly dissatisfied lust, well, that's the blues all wrapped up in a bundle, and nobody does it better.
Even better: what you hear once you get past that surface (and it's okay if you don't-- it's a damn good surface, after all) is some unexpected depth: bits of bitter humor, slowed-down party-time intensity, and occasional moments of sweetness or fragility float by. But the ouvre is mostly deep and dark and miserable.
Enjoy!
(link's in two parts; just unzip to one folder and proceed with however you usually do this sort of thing from there)
