[.ca] Hooker 'n Heat

From Amazon.com:
This 1971 collaboration between primal one-part-Delta/one-part-Detroit singer-guitarist John Lee Hooker and Southern California blues revivalists Canned Heat works in large part because all parties involved are a little off. Hooker, the most unsystematic of the major bluesmen of his generation, isn't a good fit for disciplined players; rather, he requires sidemen who play by feel. In harp player-guitarist Alan Wilson, the Crawling King Snake found a particularly sympathetic foil; sadly, Wilson died shortly after these sessions were completed. Roughly divided into spare, gritty Delta exercises and full-on boogie stomps featuring the full band, Hooker 'n' Heat is surely one of Canned Heat's crowning moments, which isn't saying that much. But that it stands as a milestone in Hooker's oeuvre is quite a statement indeed! --Steven Stolder

This is too intense...:
When I first heard it, "Hooker and Heat" blew me away. It still does. It doesn't get any better than this. Separately, Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker both produced excellent blues material, but together, they seemed to work off each other. It seems like the intensity of each got kicked up a level when they went into the studio to record this collection. The recordings are stripped down, raw. My favorites are "Alimonia Blues", "You Talk Too Much" and "Peavine", but the rest of the set is great too. I guess if you're a blues purist or a member of some obscure mutual admiration society, the studio chatter is probably going to be offensive. My personal opinion is that all of the extra stuff adds authenticy to the recordings. That's part of what makes this collection unique. After all, if I wanted to listen to some of the material on this collection without the chatter, I could do so by listening to one of dozens of other Canned Heat or Hooker recordings.

JohnLee Hooker and Canned Heat~ An Awesome combo!:
This is an exceptional piece of Blues, with both John Lee and the Canned Heat crew bringing out the best in each other. I particularly enjoyed John Lee just talking with Canned Heat, on a very relaxed, self-revealing level. MUST HAVE!!

I wore out the vinyl and now have it on disc:
I rank this as one of my top three albums of all time. I include beside it Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" and Lou Reed's "New York". All three albums can be played at any time of the day, in any mood, in any company. They all have a sound that continues from one track to the next. You may have heard other Hooker albums, but this one is raw. You hear him talking in the studio, his foot stompin, his ideas "for when the band comes tomorrow". "I don't know how he's following me, but he does" he says about the harmonica. Highlights: Messin' With The Hook, The Feelin' Is Gone, Send Me Your Pillow, Burning Hell, Peavine, and Boogie Chillen No. 2.

"Hooker 'N' Heat" Best Blues Master, Rock Band Collaboration:
There have been a number of albums produced over the years which match a legendary figure from blues music with some his admirers in well known contemporary rock or blues bands. Blues and other music critics often lambast these efforts and hold them in utmost contempt. Some of these sessions are truly awful but some come off well, such as "Fathers and Sons" with Muddy Waters and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. "Hooker 'N' Heat," released on Liberty Records in 1970, stands as possibly the best example of generational meeting of the minds. Canned Heat was at the top of their popularity and Hooker was fading from the public eye somewhat. This record helped to revitalize interest in Hooker's music. Most of Hooker's best work, out of hundreds of recordings, many under assumed names, is solo, just "The Hook," his left foot and his guitar. On albums where he recorded with full bands or other accompaniment his rough, often uneven style, with a measure count that often varied, didn't mesh well with musicians accustomed to playing arrangements or standard blues classics. Sometimes the clash detracted from the product. The band Canned Heat had no such problems. It was obvious that he loved the band and they loved him! Bob "The Bear" Hite, the band leader, who usually provided the gruff vocals on much of the band's material, was a blues collector and historian and was well acquainted with Hooker's music and the band itself was rough hewn and unpolished but played with feeling and a respect for the music. Hite is not heard on the album. He wisely stood aside and gave the spotlight to Hooker. No band ever backed the Hook better. This was the last album for 'Heat member Alan Wilson, who plays harmonica and piano. Wilson would soon after be dead from poisoning and choking on barbituates while on a camping trip. Wilson plays inspired harp on this album and gets special recognition from Hooker for it. Wilson is one of the under rated harmonica players of our time and this stands as his memorial. With the recent passing of John Lee Hooker this album could be considered among his best work as well.

absolutely classic Hooker diluted by useless studio chatter:
I do not say this lightly: This release has the best John Lee Hooker music--and thus some of the best blues--I've ever heard, period. Unfortunately, in a bizarre quest for "authenticity," the original producers of this release tossed in a lot of studio chatter between tracks. The chatter dilutes the power and the glory of this music and is a total waste of time for all people except "true believers," so I give this collection three stars instead of the five that it rightly deserves. Instead, I must reluctantly recommend that beginners start elsewhere ("Very Best," which includes "Burning Hell" from this collection, or "Legendary Modern Recordings.... On the other hand, if you have heard some John Lee and are ready to get baptized, this collection is among the truly essential. All of the pieces of the Hooker puzzle snap together--Hooker's barbed-wire blues & raspy vocals, superb studio values, a set of musicians who know how to back him better than any other band I've heard, and totally visceral performances to boot...

• Messin' With the Hook
• Feelin' Is Gone
• Send Me Your Pillow
• Sittin' Here Thinkin'
• Meet Me in the Bottom
• Alimonia Blues
• Driftin' Blues
• You Talk Too Much
• Burning Hell
• Bottle up and Go
• World Today
• I Got My Eyes on You
• Whiskey and Wimmen'
• Just You and Me
• Let's Make It
• Peavine
• Boogie Chillen, No. 2