CD 1: 01. Boogie Chillen' (3:09) 02. Sally Mae (3:12) 03. Hobo Blues (3:02) 04. Crawlin' King Snake (3:02) 05. Black Man Blues (3:37) 06. Goin’ Mad Blues (3:46) 07. Who’s Been Jiving You (3:10) 08. (Miss Sadie Mae) Curl My Baby’s Hair (2:50) 09. Hoogie Boogie (2:58) 10. Burnin' Hell (2:41) 11. Weeping Willow Boogie (2:51) 12. Moaning Blues (3:04) 13. Huckle Up Baby (2:50) 14. Goin' Down Highway 51 (2:30) 15. John L's House Rent Boogie (2:58) 16. I'm In The Mood (3:08) 17. Two White Horses (3:21) 18. 33 Blues (2:07) 19. Sugar Mama (3:15) 20. Wobbling Baby (2:40) 21. Stuttering Blues (2:16) 22. I’m A Boogie Man (2:20) 23. Down Child (2:55) 24. Odds Against Me (Aka Backbiters And Syndicators) (3:11) 25. Shake, Holler And Run (2:59)
CD 2: 01. Unfriendly Woman (Aka Stop Now) (3:25) 02. Mambo Chillun (2:46) 03. Time Is Marching (3:05) 04. Dimples (2:08) 05. Little Wheel (2:36) 06. I Love You Honey (2:38) 07. Drive Me Away (2:55) 08. Maudie (2:17) 09. When I Lay My Burden Down (2:41) 10. Tupelo Blues (3:23) 11. Good Morning Lil' School Girl (3:42) 12. I Rolled And Turned And Cried The Whole Night Long (3:51) 13. No More Doggin' (2:48) 14. Dusty Road (2:19) 15. No Shoes (2:27) 16. My First Wife Left Me (3:34) 17. Crazy About That Walk (3:03) 18. Want Ad Blues (2:16) 19. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (2:31) 20. I'm Going Upstairs (2:59) 21. I Lost My Job (2:55) 22. Don’t Turn Me From Your Door (2:48) 23. Grinder Man (3:56) 24. Meat Shakes On Her Bone (2:53)
CD 3: 01. Boom Boom (2:30) 02. Blues Before Sunrise (3:47) 03. She’s Mine (2:24) 04. Frisco Blues (2:47) 05. Good Rockin' Mama (2:28) 06. I'm Leaving (2:12) 07. Birmingham Blues (2:54) 08. Don't Look Back (2:57) 09. Big Legs, Tight Skirt (2:17) 10. It Serves Me Right (3:39) 11. Money (2:24) 12. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (3:02) 13. The Motor City Is Burning (2:57) 14. Mean Mean Woman (3:24) 15. Doin' The Shout (3:31) 16. Homework (4:31) 17. Early One Morning (4:10) 18. Rockin' Chair (4:10) 19. Hittin' The Bottle Again (2:22) 20. Deep Blue Sea (4:08) 21. Spellbound (3:57)
CD 4: 01. The Hobo (Live) (3:12) 02. Maudie (Live) (2:39) 03. Shake It Baby (Live) (4:12) 04. Boogie Chillun (Live) (3:04) 05. Bottle Up & Go (Live) (3:20) 06. Crawlin' King Snake (Live) (4:45) 07. The Mighty Fire (Live) (4:39) 08. You’ve Got To Walk Yourself (Live) (4:54) 09. I'm Bad Like Jesse James (Live) (5:26) 10. Boogie Everywhere I Go (Live) (8:31) 11. She's Gone (Live) (4:13) 12. It Serves Me Right To Suffer (Live) (6:52) 13. Boom Boom (Live) (4:17) 14. Hi-Heel Sneakers (Live) (4:08) 15. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (Live) (4:39)
CD 5: 01. I Got Eyes For You (With Little Eddie Kirkland) ( 2:40) 02. Mai Lee (With The Groundhogs) ( 3:39) 03. Peavine (With Canned Heat) ( 5:06) 04. Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive (With Van Morrison) (10:14) 05. Five Long Years (With Joe Cocker) ( 6:03) 06. The Healer (With Little Carlos Santana) ( 5:39) 07. I'm In The Mood (With Bonnie Raitt) ( 4:33) 08. Sally Mae (With George Thorogood) ( 3:16) 09. Mr. Lucky (With Robert Cray) ( 4:43) 10. Up And Down (With Warren Haynes) ( 4:52) 11. Boom Boom (With Jimmie Vaughan) ( 4:20) 12. You Shook Me (With B.B. King) ( 5:00) 13. Don't Look Back (With Van Morrison) ( 6:44) 14. Dimples (With Los Lobos) ( 4:04) 15. Boogie Chillen' (With Eric Clapton) ( 4:36)
John Lee Hooker was one of the greatest figures to rise from post-war blues, but he always stood out from other artists in the genre. The minimalism of his style drew a clear line from the pioneering figures of Delta blues, but the hypnotic insistence of his song structures and the unrelenting stomp of his boogie rhythms took those influences to another time and place. Hooker's music could speak of joy or menace with equal force, and with remarkably few changes. And while 12-bar was the unyielding template for nearly every other blues artist, Hooker followed no rules beyond his own muse, embracing rhythmic structures and chord changes that seemed chaotic on paper but sounded brilliant when executed by Hooker. While clearly a bluesman, he was a subgenre unto himself, a musician with a singular approach that many followed but no one could duplicate with the same gravity. In addition to being unique, Hooker was also prolific, recording literally dozens of albums for many different labels in a career that stretched from 1948 to 1997, and compiling a set that accurately represents the length and breadth of his catalog is no simple task. 2017's King of the Boogie is a five-disc set compiled with the cooperation of Hooker's estate and attempts to skim the cream from his massive body of work. The first three discs comprise a (relatively) concise summary of his studio material, while disc four is devoted to live recordings, and disc five is a sampler of his collaborations with other artists, which dominated many of his latter-day albums. Given the very distinct stages of Hooker's career -- his early acoustic sides, his later electric material, his evolution into working with a full band, and the polished, star-sprinkled late period sides -- it's very much a matter of the taste of individual fans that will determine how much they like the three-disc career summary. That said, the track selection delivers most of the acknowledged classics, offers an accurate balance of the various phases of his career, and throws in a few surprises ("Shake, Holler and Run" takes an obvious "Shake, Rattle and Roll" lift and turns it into something very much its own once Hooker is done with it). The live tracks demonstrate his strength and charisma as a live performer, and if the duets are not for many Hooker purists, the fact artists as gifted as Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, and Los Lobos were eager to work with him speaks volumes about how respected he was. It's probably impossible to assemble a truly definitive John Lee Hooker collection, but King of the Boogie leaves no doubt of his talent, his unique vision, and the lasting importance of his music. Add a well-designed package with plenty of rare photos, fine liner notes from Jas Obrecht, and well-detailed track annotation, and you have a splendid sampler that should please loyal fans and dazzle those who have never been introduced to Hooker's music. ~by Mark Deming
