Customer Reviews

Simply The Best

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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John Lee Hooker's younger cousin Earl Zebedee Hooker was a highly skilled slide guitarist, inspired by the great Robert Nighthawk, and possessing the smoothest of fretboard touches.
This collection opens with Muddy Waters' 1961 recording of "You Shook Me", the only time Waters ever relinquished the position of slide lead guitarist to anyone.

Earl Hooker wasn't the best or most exciting singer, and several of these 19 tracks are instrumentals or feature lead vocals by other artists, cousin John Lee among them.
Six instrumentals may be a bit too much for some, but just think of them as long solos...Hooker's playing really is that good! And he is backed by a slew of great musicians, including guitaris/pianist Ike Turner, saxists Donald Hankins and A.C. Reed, and keyboardist Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, who also takes the lead vocal on a couple of tracks (the great "Is You Ever Seen A One-eyed Woman Cry", which featured Walker, is unfortunately missing).

Johnny "Big Moose" Walker also plays a lot of great blues piano on this disc, and Earl Hooker himself sings reasonably well on "Sweet Home Chicago" and the swinging boogie of "Don't Have To Worry". Andrew "Big Voice" Odom does a great "Come To Me Baby" and a good "They Call It Stormy Monday", harpist Sonny Terry performs his own "When I Was Drinkin'", and finally Charles Brown himself guests on a 1969 rendition of his own "Drifting Blues".

There are a couple of duds here, including the weird "Universal Rock" which utilizes electronic gimmicks like wah-wah pedals and distortion units. And even with Hooker's playing, Big Moose Walker's take on "The Sky Is Crying" pales next to Elmore James' original.
But the majority of these tracks are very good, and they go a long way towards explaining why an almost tearful B.B. King once said to Buddy Guy: "Nobody can play a slide that clean!"
Well, except Earl Hooker.

There are three great legendary blues guitarist who I have always felt have never received the recognition that they so justly deserve. Guitar Slim, Magic Sam, and this man Earl Hooker. This could be because these three legends had past away so young and at the pinnacle of what would have been long lasting and exstensive careers. This cd is an historic testament to a remarkable blues man. Earl Hooker is innovator. One of the first in Chicago to use wah and fuzz pedals. Years ahead of the great Jimi Hendrix. Beatiful guitar playing from the soul is what you will find on this cd. Do youself a favor pick it up today.

Way back when, I had quite a few Earl Hooker LP's and have been looking for the Bluesway album "Don't Have To Worry" on CD for a few years but without success. This album, to me, was his best as it had Earl, Big Moose Walker and Andrew Odum at the top of their game. When I came upon this "Simply the Best" CD and found it contained 5 tracks from the above album, I couldn't resist. To my delight I also found that every other track is a gem. I am not a big wah-wah fan but in the hands and feet of Earl Hooker it is transformed into a thing of beauty. He is easily one of the best Chicago blues guitarists of all time and this CD shows you why. He is not the best of singers though, and thankfully he often utilises the vocal skills of those who can. Also, great singers like John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry and Charles Brown used Earl as session guitarist (wise move). About half this CD has Earl as a session player and the the other half as band leader. This is an excellent mix as it spotlights him in a variety of settings and material and not only makes for a great album but allows the first time listener to get a complete overview of his career. From here one can explore the world of Earl Hooker and what a fine world it is. However, as the title suggests, this album is "Simply the Best" and is a great place to start the Earl Hooker experience. It is highly infectious and stands up to repeated listenings. Put this on and you will be boppin' 'round the house or slappin' the dash. As I am writing this review I am listening to the album and cannot stop tappin' my feet to the soulful groove of the King of Slide Guitar. As Cub Koda writes in his review above, Earl Hooker is the Chicago Blues guitarist's guitarist so do yourself a favour and get this album to find out what all the fuss is about; you won't be disappointed.

Blues guitar & slide guitar giant Earl Hooker gets a nice tip of the hat
from MCA with a stunning 19 track collection Simply The Best. This collects
not only his own recordings but recordings with him with other blues
legends Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon & John Lee Hooker, just to name a few.
Any fan of blues guitar will love this CD, while at the same time this
should instantly grab a whole new generation of fans & players! As for a
fave song? Too many! I Iove all this guy's stuff. Fans of both blues-rock
giants Rory Gallagher & Jonny Winter will definetly love this CD. GET IT!
The booklet has great liner notes on Earl's career up to his death in '71
and some nice B&W pixs. All songs are digitally remastered and you can feel
the STING of Earl's slide! A+

Simply put, "The Moon Is Rising" is superior to this record. "The Moon Is Rising" has no dull tracks, whereas, on "Simply The Best", "Don't Have To Worry" and "Come To Me Right Away, Baby", are lazy performances in terms of vocals and lyrics, but certainly not in terms of Earl's stellar guitar work. On "The Moon Is Rising", the songs showcase Earl's instrumental skills even better than this album does, and the two improvisations on the superior album are extended in length so that we can hear Earl's wonderful solo-ing. We are not talking about obnoxious, overblown solo-ing, like the stuff we hear from today's "Blues" performers. Instead, we are talking about intelligent, sexual, subtle guitar solo-ing. This album contains many Hooker essentials, such as the outrageously sensual "You Shook Me", with Muddy Waters on vocals, the brilliant and vibrant "Tanya", and the dark and hilarious "When I Was Drinkin'", thus it is certainly an album worth buying.

I looked for this type of music for a long time, and I finally found it on Amazon. I didn't know what it was called or who played it, but I heard it as background music on TV and kept looking. Now I know that it's "funky" Chicago Blues guitar music played by Earl Hooker, and I can listen and dance to it whenever I have the urge! I'm so happy that I finally found it!I have the feeling that this is just the beginning.

Earl Hooker might be the most overlooked Chicago blues guy out there. He is for the most part electric, with fuzz wah effects and plays very good slide style. This particular disc is nice because it samples several different albums that he played on.

I don't know when the editor's review was written, but I just ordered this CD and it has been remastered very well. All of which helps you to hear the subtle and brilliant innovations of this blues guitar great. Hooker is not a great singer (witness "Sweet Home Chicago"), but songs like "Tanya", "Frog Hop", "Universal Rock" illustrate clearly his picking prowess. This is a great addition to any blues lover's collection.

The late great Earl Hooker can continue to be remembered fondly on this record that dovetails perfectly with his classic "Two Bugs and A Roach."

This is a compilation that shows off Hooker as a frontman and sideman, working with such luminaries as his second cousin, the great John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Charles Brown, and his excellent vocalist on "Two Bugs," Andrew Odom. He thrills on such choice cuts as "Hookin'," "Frog Hop," "Tanya," "Universal Rock," "They Call It Stormy Monday," and others.

Get this one to go with "Two Bugs And A Roach," and appreciate another great bluesman who left us too soon.

another stunning collection by the coolest guitarist in the world--buy it---