Customer Reviews

From Clarksdale to Heaven: Remembering John Lee Hooker

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This tribute to John Lee Hooker is filled with stars from across the pond such as Jack Bruce, Gary Moore, Jeff Beck, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Mick Taylor and Clem Clemson. Hooker's daughter, Zakiya also puts in an appearance on the discs opening track. While there are some excellent performances here including "Bad Like Jessie James" and "I'm Leaving" the disc suffers from the inconsistencies in style and qualities that often plaque tribute discs. On the bright side, the disc contains a 4 minute 56 second, previously unreleased track of "Red House" featuring John Lee Hooker and Booker T. Finally, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this disc is being donated to the John Lee Hooker Foundation. Buy it for the few gems and help the foundation in the process.

I enjoyed listening to different interpetions of Hooker's work from various artists. I think Gary Moore's touch on Serve Me Right To Suffer was great. Peter Green on Crawlin' King Snake was a nice touch. Of course having Hooker himself on Red House was worth the price of the CD.

Many great stars try to copy him on this cd. But what a pity, only Jack Bruce/Gary Moore and Peter Green can bring you in the real mood with their wonderful interpretations. The third star is for the master himself in a lovely duet with Booker T. Conclusion: Hooker is not to copy! He was so much more than only music. For instance listen to The Hot Spot, where he is only murmling. Only one of the greatest can do that. I'm ending with his words: "Once I'll die, but my music never will."

This a nice blues "tribute" with a lot of diversity, guaranteeing you that you'll love some stuff and hate others. I warn you: some of this material sounds strange!

Overall, however, the good stuff will make you come back time-and-again to play this CD, if only to hear a handful of the 14 songs, many done in a unique style.

My choices are "I'm In The Mood," "Bad Like Jesse James," "This Is A Hip," "Hobo Blues" and `Red House."

From a child of his body and the children of his music, this is a chance to pay respects to the man who made his guitar a blacksmith's anvil and pounded out rhythms of sorrow. Look for Jack Bruce's Ozzy Osbourne-like sneer on "I'm in the Mood," along with Gary Moore's Godzilla footsteps on guitar. That's Jeff Beck playing robot-metallic notes on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Hobo Blues," and Peter Green's vocal sounds like a decaying zombie obeying his master on "Crawling King Snake." John Lee himself paints a "Red House" with something other than crimson pigment, and I've got to credit Robert Hunter's composition, "The Business," by Greggs Eggs vocalist Suzanne Sterling for giving the old man that special smile with a posthumous kiss.