Rating: NNN
Of all the blues artists who’ve ever recorded, John Lee Hooker is probably the one least in need of another compilation. But unlike the many other collections that tend to focus on his recordings for a single label, and he cut records for just about everyone, this four-disc Hooker box attempts to present a balanced overview of his entire career. The folks at Shout! Factory make an attempt to get it right by presenting a chronological sampling of Hooker’s badass boogie breakdowns for each of the many indie labels that released his stuff, pinpointing how his sound evolved through the incorporation of popular song lyrics and stylistic innovations of the era. Because many different sources are involved, the sound quality varies greatly between tracks (the King recordings sound horribly rough), and those hoping to hear some previously unreleased scorchers will be disappointed to find nothing here that hasn’t appeared elsewhere. Of course, toward the latter part of his life, Hooker spiralled into a deadly celebrity duet vortex from which he never returned. This ruins most of the fourth disc, but there’s enough high-quality material from Hooker’s peak years with Vee-Jay, Modern and Riverside to keep fans of his classic guitar boogie happy.
