Alone

John Lee Hooker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 19, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000032F8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,009 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #40 in Music > Blues > Regional Blues > Detroit Blues

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. I Miss You So

2. I'm Bad Like Jesse James

3. Dark Room

4. I'll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive

5. Boogie Chillen'

6. When My First Wife Left Me

7. Boom Boom

8. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

Disc: 2

1. Feel Good

2. Some People

3. T.B. Blues

4. Baby Please Don't Go

5. Momma Killed a Chicken

6. Hobo Blues

7. Tired of Being Your Doggie

8. All Night Long

9. Crawlin' King Snake

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

This brooding lesson in the "Three D's" of the blues--despair, death, and desire--is a window into the melancholy soul of Hooker's art. Each of the two discs are separate sets from a '70s solo concert at New York City's Hunter College. And by the time Hooker asks "How deep and how low can you git?" near the performance's end, we already know. It's not merely the profound darkness of these tales--in which Hooker becomes a killer, a TB victim, an abandoned lover--but the pain with which he suffuses his pinched, red-clay voice. Then there's his guitar, constantly working idiosyncratic variations on his patented boogie; sliding and snapping out replies to the tense lyrics of "Jesse James" or his improvised lonesome wail "Tired of Being Your Doggie." Throughout, Hooker exercises his command of tension and drama. --Ted Drozdowski

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD

Suffering from insomnia? Here's a guaranteed cure-two discs' worth of soporific latter-day Delta John in a 1970s concert at a New York college. Hooker's 'Boogie Chillun" was once urgent personal testimony; here it's a rugged endurance test. The preponderance of sloppily played slow blues is a literal drag. (B.D.) -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong solo Hooker, July 11, 2001

By 

Tim Weber (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone (Audio CD)

The two-disc "Alone" somehow manages to be folksy, menacing, spare and anarchic at the same time. Recorded live at New York's Hunter College in 1976, "Alone" is one of Hooker's last real solo statements. It works. You may have noticed the above review by the Grove Press Guide to the Blues savages this album. That's ridiculous, but does make a couple good points. "Alone" is not for everyone. Those with very short attention spans beware. Hooker is in live, solo, folk mode, often hushed and unhurried, and there are many, many silences on this album between the vocals and the occasional guitar bursts. Folkish, yes, but, as I said, there is menace afoot here. "Dark Room", "Jesse James" and "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive" from the first disc and most of the second disc are slow, moody, haunting blues. Great stuff. CD #1, called "The First Show" is better and has more life to it. CD #2 seems to be in front of an even smaller crowd and a mysterious harmonica makes a late and ghostly (and not very competent) appearance on the last three tracks. One note: the previous reviews make it sound as though Hooker is not playing electric guitar; he is, and it sounds awesome. In fact, the sound is very good for a 1976 live recording, much better than the full-band "The Cream" released on Tomato shortly after this one. (It's a better album overall, too). "Alone" also is available on two separate discs on Blues Alliance, I believe, but get this.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing album by an amazing artist!, September 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] Dan Wenzel (Denver, Cololrado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone (Audio CD)

John Lee Hooker has been bringing us his own style of delta blues for over forty years. He has revolutionized two types of blues: emotional 'blues from the heart," and fast paced electric boggies. Alone features the master signing from his heart. The lack of a band, or the lack electric boggie blues does not lesson the impact of this album. The listener experiences the heart-felt emotion of the singer on each song. Hooker has a special interplay with his small audience, even praising a fan who accompanies him on blues harp on one track. I highly recommend this double disk to all fans of John Lee Hooker!