Hooker N Heat (Remastered)

Everything was just fine, I especially liked the mix. The tracks with John Lee Hooker were extra special. Had me up and dancing like never before. Great recording of a wonderful band and the king of boogie blues..Boogie on down...5 stars

For some reason the album covered being shown for this CD is not correct. The cover shown (guitar and amp) is for a later collaboration album between Hooker and Canned Heat (1978), but Alan Wilson is long gone (RIP1970). The 1971 Hooker and Heat cover should be Hook and the band looking sad in a small room with the picture of their dear departed friend Alan Wilson on the wall behind them. Alan died during the production of the album.A well remastered absolute classic and must have for any hard core Blues fan. Bob Hite steps off stage and into the studio and production side of things, allowing Hook center stage with Alan Wilson, who IMHO was the best ever accompaniment with John Lee. The blues soul of Wilson is so entwined with Hook's that John Lee has to comment......." I don't know how he follow me, but he does"........"you must have listened to my records as a kid". Hook even went so far to say Alan was the best blues harp player ever.......and I agree. Alan Wilson (as were all the members of Canned Heat), were blues junkies and enjoyed researching and playing the blues, transforming the traditional form of Blues into their own style but also sticking with the underlying old blues equations. Hooker was good at playing with other talent......if they could keep up to his keys, timing and style, which made it hard for many harp players and other accompaniment to follow well. But Alan and the rest of the band knock it out of the park here. The piano /guitar duets of Hook and Wilson are raw and beautiful......Wilson has a way of playing that is so creative and emotional yet simple its hard to fathom.......and his Harping (especially on Boogie Chillun #2) is just simply some of the best ever put down. At his peak and at certain moments Wilson is IMHO right up there with the best harp players ever....no matter what colour of skin they may be. Little Walter, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy, Cotton, Slim Harpo, Musslewhite, Butterfield, Carp, all amazing players and Alan Wilson is right there......but his style is even more styling.....if you know what I mean?! He does stuff and creates sounds that most can't do....plus his timing and sense of bluesmanship reaches pinnacles that are seldom created and scaled. His rhythm guitar playing is great on here as well and Vestine lays down some beauty leads and licks too. Larry Taylor had left Canned Heat to join Mayall and the Blues Breakers so Antonio de la Barreda was on Bass , and his buddy la Parra is solid on the skins. To me, this is one of the best combos of the ol' hand and the new young bloods getting together and making it happen......its raw, its Hook, its simple and complex at the same time, and its one of the best hard blues albums ever with some Boogie to spare.Its hard to imagine that just a few weeks after this glorious 2-3 day session with Hooker, Alan Wilson would be dead at the age of 27 just weeks before Hendricks and then later that yr J. Joplin would also be gone at 27 yrs. The Hooker and Heat album was finished up and released just after Wilsons death.The remastering is very good and the liner notes are there.Listen to it......its amazing.

Overall the release is interesting and insightful, however, the experiment might have become more electric if Canned Heat assumed and equally shared the performance's musical forefront.

This doesn't need a review.

Des petits blancs avec le vent en poupe qui donne un coup de main à un vieux maître un peu oublié ou l'adoubement d'une formation prometteuse par un pape du genre ? Quoiqu'il en soit, la rencontre mythique de Canned Heat et John Lee Hooker vaut le détour !Dans les faits, Hooker 'n Heat est une drôle de créature tricéphale où voisinent performances solo du vieil Hooker, quelques duos entre le vieux maître et Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, et des performances incluant les deux précités ainsi que tout le line-up, le nouveau line-up avec les arrivées du guitariste Henry Vestine (un retour en fait) et du bassiste Antonio de la Barreda suite à une double défection au profit des Bluesbreakers de John Mayall, de Canned Heat.Souvent intensément laidback, la sélection coule comme un Mississipi paresseux vers son delta, roots en diable, authentique et dépourvue de tout artifice de modernité comme, évidemment, la première partie, 9 titres tout de même, entièrement dévolue à Hooker et à son blues si typique avec des hauts (l'intense The Fellin' Is Gone en pinacle suivi de près par un Burning Hell tout près des étoiles) et d'autres de qualité aussi si un peu routiniers (Send Me a Pillow ou Drifter) qui viennent un marginalement tempérer l'enthousiasme pour la partie solo du vieux maître. Suivent les duos entre Hooker et Blind Owl, trois au total, où la jeune pousse supporte aptement le bluesman de son piano (sur l'entraînant Bottle Up and Go, le talking blues The World Today, un des musts de l'album) ou à la guitare (I Got My Eyes on You, une version ainsi nouvellement titrée, pour des raisons de droit sans doute, du classique de John Lee, Dimples). Last, but certainly not least, viennent les pleines collaborations entre Hooker et le Heat, enfin ! Et c'est un festival de 5 titres où la joie du jeu est non seulement audible mais communicative avec, en sommet himalayen de blues suant et dansant, un Boogie Chillen de plus de 11 minutes... Légendaire !Alors, certes, la rencontre ne se fait que brièvement, on le regrettera, mais comme le reste est beau, blues et beau, que le tout fait une collection de blues de qualité si supérieure qu'on ne devrait même pas avoir à le recommander. Oui, carrément.CD 11. Messin' with the Hook 3:232. The Feelin' Is Gone 4:323. Send Me Your Pillow 4:484. Sittin' Here Thinkin' 4:075. Meet Me in the Bottom 3:346. Alimonia Blues 4:317. Drifter 4:578. You Talk Too Much 3:169. Burning Hell 5:2810. Bottle Up and Go 2:27CD 21. The World Today 7:472. I Got My Eyes on You 4:263. Whiskey and Wimmen' 4:374. Just You and Me 7:425. Let's Make It 4:066. Peavine 5:077. Boogie Chillen No. 2 11:33John Lee Hooker - vocals, guitar (all)Alan Wilson - guitar, harmonica, vocals (CD 1 10, CD 2)Adolfo de la Parra - drums (CD 2 3-7)Henry Vestine - guitar (CD 2 3-5, 7)Antonio de la Barreda - bass (CD 2 3-7)

Bringing veteran blues men into the recording studio with younger rock musicians has rarely led to successful collaborations but this is one exception that proves the rule. One of the reasons is that Canned Heat who were a blues band through and through, had obviously listened to and respected a lot of John Lee Hooker’s music. Another successful ingredient was the amps used to recreate that classic Hooker sound from the 1950’s.Originally released on the Liberty label in 1971, BGO reissued this in 2005 with John Tobler’s useful booklet notes on Canned Heat and Hooker. Much of the album is Hooker playing on his own and as the album progresses Hooker loosens up and becomes more confident. The studio chatting is fascinating – on one occasion Bob ‘The Bear’ Hite reassures Hooker that as he has recorded several tracks then they can make a triple album: Hooker swiftly responses that if that is the case then he is expecting triple money.The album highlight’s are when harp player Al Wilson joins Hooker on some memorable tracks such as ‘Drifter’, (the liner notes mistakenly describe Hooker playing solo on this track) ‘You Talk Too Much’, and the excellent ‘Burning Hell’. The rest of the band (minus Hite) join Hooker and Wilson for the last three rocking tracks culminating in a rousing ‘Boogie Chillen No. 2’. This is one of the best blues albums ever recorded and over 40 years later it still sounds fresh and exhilliarating.

Doble álbum publicado en 1970 que, aunque no tuvo en su día el reconocimiento que se merecía es, sin duda, uno de los mejores discos de la década. John Lee Hooker, con más de 20 años de carrera, se reunió con uno de los grupos de rock emergentes en aquella época, Canned Heat. Mención especial también para Alan "El Búho Ciego" Wilson que hace un trabajo excepcional en este disco, tanto en la guitarra como sobretodo a la armónica. Una pena que no pudiese vivir para ver el resultado, porque cuando fue hallado muerto el álbum todavía no había sido publicado.Blues y boogie por los cuatro costados. Demoledor. Obra maestra."Messin' with the Hook" – 3:23"The Feelin' Is Gone" – 4:32"Send Me Your Pillow" – 4:48"Sittin' Here Thinkin'" – 4:07"Meet Me in the Bottom" – 3:34"Alimonia Blues" – 4:31"Driftin' Blues" – 4:57"You Talk Too Much" – 3:16"Burnin' Hell" – 5:28"Bottle Up and Go" – 2:27"The World Today" – 7:47"I Got My Eyes on You" – 4:26"Whiskey and Wimmen'" – 4:37"Just You and Me" – 7:42"Let's Make It" – 4:06"Peavine" – 5:07"Boogie Chillen No. 2" – 11:33

I've had the double album of this recording from the time it first came out and have been looking for the CD for a while now. The performances by Hooker as a soloist on the first 5 or 6 tracks reveal an artist at the height of his powers. JLH is still as vigorous and dynamic as a young man yet measured and sensitive as a veteran. They miked his right foot for the whole album so his stomping out the boogie beat adds to his strong vocals and masterful guitar work. Messin' With the Hook, Send Me Your Pillow are up tempo boogies while The Feeling Is Gone and Sittin' Here Thinkin" are soulful reflective blues.When Alan Wilson joins him for the next half dozen tracks, you can hear two gifted musicians playing off one another. The Blind Owl accompanies JLH on harp, slide guitar and piano. In between cuts JLH talks about his approach to the album and his amazement at Wilson's ability to follow along and play off his guitar. You Talk Too Much and Burning Hell are my favorites. In the latter track you can feel the hellfire blazing. This was Alan Wilson's last recording session before his untimely death. That's why his photo appears on the wall behind the rest of the players on the cover art.The last 5 cuts are with the band backing JLH. Whiskey & Wimmen, Let's Make It and Boogie Chillin No.2 are my favorites. In all of the band work they play with restraint that goes to prove that what you don't play can reveal the mastery of your musicianship more than what flashy embellishments you could throw into the mix. Sometimes I think that Henry Vestine overdid it with flashy lead guitar licks but that's not the case on this album. He shows that he's capable of adding spice to the stew without making it too hot to handle.

よくジョン・リー・フッカーのブルーススタイルは、独特な為後継者がなく”ワン＆オンリー”と言われていますが、キャンド・ヒートが一番近い存在と思います。従ってこのアルバムは、他のアーティストのこの類のアルバムとしては一番出来が良い。ディスク１の１～６までが弾き語りがメインとなっており、ハープのアル・ウィルスンはじめメンバーの度をわきまえた控えめの演奏が気持ちよく。ジョンリー自身も評価していたアルバムです。

There have been a number of albums produced over the years which match a legendary figure from blues music with some his admirers in well known contemporary rock or blues bands. Blues and other music critics often lambast these efforts and hold them in utmost contempt. Some of these sessions are truly awful but some come off well, such as "Fathers and Sons" with Muddy Waters and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. "Hooker 'N' Heat," released on Liberty Records in 1970, stands as possibly the best example of generational meeting of the minds. Canned Heat was at the top of their popularity and Hooker was fading from the public eye somewhat. This record helped to revitalize interest in Hooker's music. Most of Hooker's best work, out of hundreds of recordings, many under assumed names, is solo, just "The Hook," his left foot and his guitar. On albums where he recorded with full bands or other accompaniment his rough, often uneven style, with a measure count that often varied, didn't mesh well with musicians accustomed to playing arrangements or standard blues classics. Sometimes the clash detracted from the product. The band Canned Heat had no such problems. It was obvious that he loved the band and they loved him! Bob "The Bear" Hite, the band leader, who usually provided the gruff vocals on much of the band's material, was a blues collector and historian and was well acquainted with Hooker's music and the band itself was rough hewn and unpolished but played with feeling and a respect for the music. Hite is not heard on the album. He wisely stood aside and gave the spotlight to Hooker. No band ever backed the Hook better. This was the last album for 'Heat member Alan Wilson, who plays harmonica and piano. Wilson would soon after be dead from poisoning and choking on barbituates while on a camping trip. Wilson plays inspired harp on this album and gets special recognition from Hooker for it. Wilson is one of the under rated harmonica players of our time and this stands as his memorial. With the recent passing of John Lee Hooker this album could be considered among his best work as well.