Monday, October 26, 2009

John Lee Hooker in Person and the Holiday Blues

Originally posted on December 7, 2007

The blues? Seems appropriate in these times. Not for everybody. But hey, it’s the holiday season and people go up and down like those painted ponies in another Joni Mitchell song. If you watch TV, you get bombarded with those diamond ads. You must give your significant other a $5,000 diamond turd, or better yet, a new BMW. Now who ever does that for anybody for Christmas or Hanukkah? OK, if you do it and can afford it, the best to you. The rest of us? Hey, nothing better than a guitar for that special somebody! Or not.

So I have been listening to John Lee Hooker, a wonderful bluesman who played a semi-hollow most of his career. Hooker made a bunch of albums for VeeJay Records. VeeJay was one of the most important black-owned record companies ever. And you know what made them go bust? They got the licensing deal for the Beatles first album and when it hit big they could not keep up with the orders and went into hock trying to press enough. The same thing must have happened to Swan Records, who got the original deal for “She Loves You,” and then disappeared soon after.

I digress. John Lee Hooker’s In Person (Collectibles), was a live Vee Jay release from the early-mid ‘60s and it’s great. The thing about Hooker’s playing is that he might only play one chord throughout the song, and of course sometimes more, but what he did play was just perfect, always. And his singing. He rocks, big time. He’s so good, your personal blues will go away for a little while. He had the “it” that very few have.

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