Search - John Lee Hooker :: Definitive Coll 1920-2001: Tribute John Lee Hooker

Some of the best band-backed Hooker

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 12/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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!)"