Search - John Lee Hooker :: John Lee Hooker: Portrait

Outstanding....... but only for fans of early Hooker

Freddie Green | Northeastern New Jersey | 11/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I came across this killer box set while browsing through hundreds of John Lee Hooker cd's on Amazon. With over 600 titles to look at, one could easily get tired or impatient looking at all of them. This one was buried somewhere in the middle of the pack. What struck me about this one was, 1) I had never seen or heard heard of it, 2) The sheer size of it. It has 159 tracks, over 10 cd's,. 3) most importantly, the price. I'm guessing it's out of print because it was only available through Amazon's second party marketplace sellers. What i found is this massive box set for under $25.00. And that's brand new. Unbelievable!. As of this writing (11-25-06), there are still about 6 or so available, some new, some used for under $25.00. I ordered mine through marketplace seller "Reggierecords", and when I received it was the 24 caret gold edition. It was not advertised as one, but that's what I received. Be aware of the guy selling a 24 carat gold edition for $199.00.

The only thing that bugged me about the Amazon site on this box set was that there was no information on the set. No track listing, no sound clips, no nothing, so I wasn't really sure what I was getting. But I figured what the heck, for $25.00 how bad could it be. And who knows, since it's possibly out of print,maybe it will be a collectors item down the road.

And now for the box set itself. Be aware that the bulk of this set is early Hooker. I'm talking about Hooker on guitar and his stomping foot,....period. Some of the recordings are crude. Even though the set boasts "state of the art remastering" there's still only so much a engineer can do, being that most of the master tapes were lost long ago. So you will hear scratches and some skips on some recordings. I myself, is more of a fan of the Hook with a band behind him, but neverless, this is all Hooker and it's all good. And like I said eariler, for $25.00 how could you go wrong. The last cd in the set really struck me because he had Lowell Fulson on second guitar. I knew he had recorded with many people during his 50 year career, but I never knew he did some recordings with Lowell Fulson. Killer stuff!

Like I said eariler, this site gave no track listing, so here is the rundown on each cd, so you know what you're getting.





CD#1 - Sept.-Nov. 1948 Time 53:25

1) Leavin' Chicago 3:51

2) Wendsday Evening 3:57

3) My First Wife Left Me 3:33

4) Sally Mae 3:10

5) War is Over(Goodbye California) 2:43

6) She Was in Chicago 2:56

7) Boogie Chillen 3:07

8) Henry's Swing Club 3:09

9) Stomp Boogie 3:07

10) Who's Been Jiving You? 3:08

11) Black Man Blues 3:29

12) Shake Your Boogie 3:00

13) Poor Slim 3:25

14) Mercy Blues 3:14

15 Boogie Woogie 3:29

16) Helpless Blues 3:38



CD 2 1948-49 Time 50:09

1) Good Buisness 3:35

2) Goin' Mad Blues 3:47

3) Morning Blues 3:04

4) Boogie Awhile 2:40

5) Tuesday Evening Blues 3:05

6) Weeping Willow Boogie 2:48

7) Hobo Blues 3:02

8) Miss Lorraine 3:04

9) Do the Boogie 3:15

10) Do the Boogie 3:11

11) 609 Boogie 3:17

12) Road Trouble 3:11

13) Christmas Time Blues 3:19

14) Drifting From Door to Door 3:01

15) Hobo Blues 3:03

16) Howlin' Wolf 2:39



CD 3 1949 Time 44:57

1) Crawling Kingsnake 3:02

2) Alberta 3:07

3) Wayne County Ramblin' Blues 3:12

4) Talkin' Boogie 3:08

5) I Love to Boogie 3:09

6) Graveyard Blues 2:50

7) Must I Wait Till Your Man Has Gone 3:06

8) Cotton Pickin' Boogie 2:47

9) Hoogie Boogie 2:57

10) Huckle Up Baby 2:48

11) Whistlin' and Moanin' Blues 3:10

12) Momma Poppa Boogie 2:58

13) Burning Hell 2:44

14) Sailing Blues 2:49

15) Black Cat Blues 3:03



CD 4 1949 Time 45:33

1) Miss Rosie Mae 3:02

2)Highway Blues 3:07

3) Don't Go Baby 3:14

4) The Numbers 3:09

5) Weeping Willow Blues 2:51

6) Forgive Me 3:14

7) Howlin' Wolf 2:40

8) Playing the Races 3:15

9) Wendsday Evening 2:59

10) Let Your Daddy Ride 2:41

11) Queen Bee 2:37

12) I'm in the Mood 3:09

13) Tease Me Baby 3:04

14) Turn Over a New Leaf 3:10

15) Women in My Life 3:15



CD 5 1950-51 Time 45:16

1) House Rent Boogie 2:46

2) Woonder Blues 3:02

3) Questionnarie Blues 3:30

4) Real Gone Gal 3:17

5) Feed Her All Night 2:19

6) My Daddy Was a Jockey 3:21

7) Little Boy Blue 2:38

8) I Long Must I Be Your Slave 3:15

9) Ground Hog 2:41

10) Mean Old Train 3:12

11) Catfish 3:11

12) Do My Baby Think of Me 2:55

13) Three Long Year's Ago 3:07

14) Srike Blues 2:41

15) Grinder Man 3:12



CD 6 1950-51-52 Time 46:57

1) Walkin' This Highway 2:21

2) Four Women in My Life 3:15

3) I Need Lovin' 2:58

4) Find Me a Woman 2:43

5) Mad Man Blues 2:48

6) Hey Boogie 2:16

7) Louise 3:07

8) High Priced Woman 2:46

9) Union Station Blues 2:59

10) Ground Hog Blues 3:00

11) Leave My Wife Alone 2:50

12) Ramblin' By Myself 3:22

13) Dreamin' Blues 3:09

14) Just Me and My Telephone 3:24

15) Walkin' the Boogie 2:37

16) Sugar Mama 3:15



CD 7 1952 Time 48:11

1)Please Don't Go 2:32

2) I Don't Want Your Money 3:06

3) Hey Baby 3:31

4) Bluebird 3:04

5) Walkin' the Boogie 2:57

6) Love Blues 3:00

7) Lonely Boy Boogie 3:54

8) Apologize 3:07

9) The Journey 4:23

10) Worried Life Blues 3:08

11) Down at the Landing 2:58

12) You Have Two Hearts 3:18

13) Blues For Big Town 3:14

14) Women and Money 2:59

15) Rock House Boogie 2:54



CD 8 1953 Time 43:35

1) Too Much Boogie 3:01

2) Need Somebody 3:01

3) Please Take Me Back 3:00

4) Gotta Boogie 2:26

5) Stuttering Blues 2:19

6) Pouring Down Rain 2:38

7) Love My Baby 2:39

8) Misbeleving Baby 2:33

9) Wobbling Baby 2:41

10) Goin' South 3:11

11) My Baby Don't Love Me 3:04

12) I Ain't Got Nobody 2:31

13) Real Real Gone 2:28

14) Guitar Lovin' Man 2:43

15) Blue Monday 2:33

16) My Baby Put Me Down 2:38



CD 9 no recording dates or other information available Time 36:39

1) Boom Boom 2:28

2) I Want To Hug You 2:53

3) House Rent Boogie 3:59

4) Want Ad Blues 2:19

5) I'm So Excited 2:52

6) Hard Headed Woman 2:28

7) I Wanna Walk 2:12

8 Onions 2:08

9) What Do You Say 2:28

10) Keep Your Hands to Yourself 2:18

11) Send Me Your Pillow 2:24

12) She Shot Me Down 2:48

13) I Want to Shout 2:22

14) I'm Leaving (Baby) 2:10



CD 10 No recording dates available (Lowell Fulson on second guitar)

1) Baby Baby 4:28

2) I Feel Good 4:09

3) Going Home 3:07

4) We Are Cooking 3:40

5) Looking Back Over My Day 4:34

6) Dazie Mae 4:26

7) Stand Back 5:01

8) Call it the Night 6:25

9) Roll and Rumble 5:08

10) Bottle Of Wine 3:56

11) Baby Don't Do Me Wrong 5:04

Total time on Cd 10 50:08



I hope this information helps whoever may be interested in this magnificent box set. Thanks for reading!!"