| I'm John Lee Hooker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Compilation album by | |
| Released | August 1959 |
| Recorded | 1955–1959 |
| Studio | Chicago |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length | 32:25 |
| Label | Vee-Jay |
| Producer |
|
I'm John Lee Hooker is an album by blues musician John Lee Hooker. Released by Vee-Jay Records in 1959, it compiles seven songs originally released as singles between 1955 and 1958 along with five new tracks recorded in 1959. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings |  [2] |
| The Virgin Encyclopedia of The Blues | [3] |
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings wrote: "When Hooker's Vee-Jay sides first appeared, as singles, they were heartening indications that honest and ungimmicky blues were still being made ... Taken at a draught, decades later they are a little less compelling. Putting Hooker with an efficient band was presumably intended to relieve him of rhythmic chores and give him room to flex vocal or instrumental muscle, but he gains little from it; he is always his most interesting rhythm provider." [2]
AllMusic reviewer Lindsay Planer stated: "I'm John Lee Hooker was first issued in 1959 during his tenure with Vee Jay and is "the Hook" in his element as well as prime. ... Time has, if anything, only reinforced the significance of the album. It belongs in every blues enthusiast's collection without reservation." [1]
All compositions credited to John Lee Hooker.
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often incorporated other elements, including talking blues and early North Mississippi hill country blues. He developed his own driving-rhythm boogie style, distinct from the 1930s–1940s piano-derived boogie-woogie. Hooker was ranked 35 in Rolling Stone's 2015 list of 100 greatest guitarists.
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
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