The Very Best of John Lee Hooker [Rhino] (CD - 1995)

Includes liner notes by Mark Humphrey.

Digitally remastered by Bill Inglot and Ken Perry.

Hey, what a concept! A John Lee Hooker compilation with detailed liner notes and discographical documentation! Hats off to Rhino for putting together this well-produced CD, with photos, record label and release date information, and a detailed essay by Mark Humphrey. There's no way to reduce Hooker's 50+-year output to a single album, but Humphrey's essay does a good job of showing how the 16 included cuts trace a thread through the bluesman's prodigious and lengthy career.

The early essentials are here: the solo guitar-and-voice cuts that made Hooker's reputation out of Detroit, singles like "Boogie Chillen'," "I'm in the Mood," and Keith Richards' favorite "Crawlin' Kingsnake." The latter half of this collection runs to band cuts drawn from THE REAL FOLK BLUES, a couple of live recordings, and, coming full circle, a version of Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues" that features Hooker singing to the guitar accompaniment of slide whiz Roy Rogers. Rogers went on to produce Hooker's THE HEALER, the album that brought elder bluesman Hooker back into general circulation in the early '90s. minimize