Customer Reviews

Definitive Collection

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Yet another "Definitive" compilation which isn't, "The Definitive Collection" only covers John Lee Hooker's time with Vee-Jay Records from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s.

But it must be said that Hooker made some of his best and most approachable music at Vee-Jay, and almost all of it is here, including "This Is Hip", "It Serves Me Right To Suffer", "Time Is Marching", "I Love You Honey", and Vee-Jay versions of "Dimples", "Boom Boom" and "Crawling King Snake".

A few good Vee-Jay waxings are still missing, however, "Onions", "Old Time Shimmy" and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" among them, and even though this is a good Vee-Jay overview, Tomato's "The Early Years" is better. The double-disc version is no longer available, but the same 31 songs have been reissued, with similar cover art, as "The Early Years vol. I" and "The Early Years vol. II".
(If you're a collector you should get all three CDs, actually, since there are also several songs on this album which isn't on the Tomato compilations. Yeah, it's tough!)

I have poured out kudos to the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Skip James, Son House, Bukka White and an assortment of other legendary male acoustic and electric blues guitar players in this space. I have not, until now, mentioned the name of the legendary blues artist John Lee Hooker, although he belongs up there with those other above-mentioned names. Why? Well, frankly, it is a question of tastes. Other than an occasional song here or there John Lee Hooker does not "speak" to me, a term that means something to me in the blues context. Sure his guitar smokes when he is on. He always had more than enough black and white bands (Canned Heat, for one) clamoring to back him up and certainly his lyrics (with a few "politically incorrect" exceptions common to the genre) drove his message home. But we never connected at that "soul" level the way Wolf, Son House or the recently discovered (by me) Bukka White do. This happens. But I know enough about the blues to know that John Lee Hooker will "speak" to others. Legends are like that.

So given the above comments what is classic here, according to my tastes. Well, hell "Boogie Chillen" is one of those here or there songs Hooker songs I mentioned above that I liked. How about the power of "Boom Boom" and "Hard Headed Woman" and the classic Hooker lines of "She's Long, "She's Tall".

Like many compilations, this one suffers not from a lack of material, but a poorly edited and uninformative booklet. This is a collection of the late John Lee Hooker, but nothing close to "definitive".

THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION consists of 24 songs, which seem to have been recorded 1956-1964. Disc packaged in clear jewel case; total running time: 64:56. Booklet includes several black & white photographs, some factoid paragraphs about John Lee Hooker's life & career, and songwriting credits. There is no discography or individual track information such as recording dates, musician personnel, chart positions, etc. Sound quality is good.

This collection is far from "definitive"; John Lee Hooker had a long and distinguished career that spanned decades, and this compilation seems to encapsulate only about eight years of it.

Other than the collection's lack of perspective and the booklet's lack of basic information, the music itself is enjoyable. There is "Boom Boom" (used to promote the TV film version of Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God") and "I'm Mad Again" (which would years later morph into "Just Like Jesse James").

Music: 4 stars
Packaging/comprehensiveness: half star

This is a great collection of blues from a great blues artist. You can really feel the spirit and power in each song.