Album of the Day — October 6
John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat — Hooker n’ Heat
John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat — Hooker n’ Heat
06.October.2020
John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat
Hooker n’ Heat
1971
Blues fans, and those who aren’t, may know the name John Lee Hooker (if you’ve seen The Blues Brothers, then you’ve seen him, he’s the “Boom Boom” guy).
I suspect it’s only hippie baby boomers or music nerds know about Canned Heat (although, you may have heard their 1968 hit “Goin’ to the Country” in a Geico motorcycle ad or random movie.)
Beginning with the typical trendsetters, Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde and The Beatles, The White Album, double albums became popular. For some reason, in the 1970s, artists releasing double albums seemed to be a “thing.” Since only a few actually pulled it off, see Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road or Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, many of the others are just self-indulgent.
Then, just as now, most of the double album dreck can be attributed to either record company greed or drug induced self-indulgence …probably both.
For all intents and purposes, Hooker n’ Heat isn’t four sides of the collaboration. The first disc is John Lee Hooker playing mostly unaccompanied on side one and much of side two, only accompanied by Canned Heat guitarist Alan Wilson. The full Canned Heat band shows up on sides three and four.
There is an intimacy to Hooker n’ Heat that shows up in Hooker’s playing and in the clips between some of the songs where producer Skip Taylor or Bob Hite (Canned Heat vocalist) talks to the guitarist.
On “Send Me A Pillow,” you hear Hooker noodling around on the guitar while chastising Johnny Rivers before being prompted by either Taylor or Hite saying, “How about a little boogie?” and Hooker goes right into it.
When the band comes in on “The World Today,” the focus is still on Hooker’s playing and singing. It’s still the foot-tapping blues-style you’ve heard on the previous two sides and the sound you’d expect from a master like John Lee Hooker. It just becomes a little more textured with Wilson’s playing and the band.
“Whiskey and Wimmen” is a great little jam that fully realizes both of Hooker’s and the Canned Heat’s skills. In short, it’s the perfect exemplar of what Hooker n’ Heat is all about.
It’s not the only one. The album is loaded with incredible examples that highlight the skills of both John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat. “Just You and Me” is another example, and you hear Heat’s Henry Vestine blistering guitar work alongside Hooker.
“Let’s Make It” is a stomp in the same vein as Hooker’s classic “Boom Boom”…with just a bit more energy and fun injected into an already fun romp.
This album would be John Lee Hooker’s first album to chart, as Hooker n’ Heat made it to #78 on the Billboard chart.
This double album was just another stop on the Delta Blues masters career. John Lee Hooker would continue to make albums well into the 1990s and rightfully become one of the most revered musicians.
John Lee Hooker has:
Been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
Received the National Heritage Fellowships (the highest honor for folk and traditional arts) in 1983.
Received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Sold millions of albums, and his songs are on numerous “Best of” and “Must-listen” lists.
And he even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Unfortunately, Canned Heat wasn’t able to use Hooker n’ Heat to jump-start their career, but their presence here is no less important. As much as the album is Hooker’s show, the band showed just how good they could be on the last half of the album.
The almost twelve-minute closing jam session “Boogie Chillen No. 2” does what any great blues album should do, it gives everyone a chance to shine. It’s one of the album’s highlights …it’s also one of the genre’s highlights.
CRITICS:
Lindsay Planer of AllMusic wrote: “The full-fledged collaborations shine as both parties unleash some of their finest respective work. While Canned Heat gets top bill — probably as it was the group’s record company that sprung for Hooker ‘n Heat — make no mistake, as Hooker steers the combo with the same gritty and percussive guitar leads that have become his trademark.”
The album sounds like a fun jam session that happened to get recorded. Hooker n’ Heat provides a degree of intimacy that lets you feel like a fly on the wall.
While the album could make a strong argument for the ingestion of something to get you into an altered stated, it’s in no way required to hear the confluence of both pure joy and blues that make up Hooker n’ Heat.