| The Healer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1989 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 41:43 | |||
| Label | Chameleon | |||
| Producer | Roy Rogers | |||
| John Lee Hooker chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Healer is a blues album by John Lee Hooker, released in 1989 by Chameleon. The album features collaborations with Bonnie Raitt, Charlie Musselwhite, Los Lobos and Carlos Santana, among others. The album was a critical and commercial success and was important for Hooker's later career.
The Healer peaked at number 62 on the Billboard 200 and "I'm in the Mood" won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Performance. The album was produced by Roy Rogers of the Delta Rhythm Kings, [1] and executive produced by Mike Kappus, [2] who conceived the idea for the project pairing Hooker with a variety of guest musicians. [3]
The video for "The Healer" featuring Carlos Santana and John Lee Hooker was filmed in the Chameleon warehouse in Hawthorne, CA amidst stacks of Hooker's old vinyl LPs, and live on stage at "The Palace," a Hollywood nightclub across from Capitol Records on Vine St. A video for "In the Mood" that featured footage of Bonnie Raitt was in rotation at MTV and VH-1, along with a video that Robert Cray appeared in for "Baby Lee". [3]
John Lee Hooker was 73 years old when the album was released. It was his first Grammy win and was the album that had placed highest on the Billboard charts in his forty-year career. [3] The album had such success that it "permitted John Lee Hooker to live out the end of his life in comfort". [4] Powers recounts with joy sending a large royalty check to Hooker, and the deep gratitude he felt for the opportunity to help him to finally achieve the recognition he deserved.
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2023) |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
| The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings |  [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [1] |
| The Village Voice | B+ [8] |
In a 2023 overview of Hooker's life and career, Tony Russell of Mojo considers this new recording of "In the Mood" a key song in Hooker's catalogue, calling it a "steamily erotic dialogue" with guest artist Bonnie Raitt. [3] It was voted number 424 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). [9]
All tracks are written by John Lee Hooker, except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Guest musician(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Healer" | Hooker, Roy Rogers, Carlos Santana, Chester D. Thompson | Carlos Santana and the Santana Band | 5:36 |
| 2. | "I'm in the Mood" | Hooker, Bernard Besman | Bonnie Raitt | 4:30 |
| 3. | "Baby Lee" | Hooker, James Bracken | Robert Cray | 3:43 |
| 4. | "Cuttin' Out" | Canned Heat | 4:35 | |
| 5. | "Think Twice Before You Go" | Los Lobos | 2:58 | |
| 6. | "Sally Mae" | Hooker, Bracken | George Thorogood | 3:15 |
| 7. | "That's Alright" | Charlie Musselwhite | 4:23 | |
| 8. | "Rockin' Chair" | 4:09 | ||
| 9. | "My Dream" | 4:02 | ||
| 10. | "No Substitute" | 4:07 | ||
| Total length: | 41:18 | |||
Credits adapted from the album liner notes:
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA Charts) [10] | 17 |
| Chart (1990) | Rank |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA Charts) [10] | 78 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [11] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Netherlands (NVPI) [12] | Gold | 50,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
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 that he developed in Detroit. 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, and has been cited as one of the greatest male blues vocalists of all time.
Nick of Time is the tenth studio album by the American singer Bonnie Raitt, released on March 21, 1989. It was Raitt's first album released by Capitol Records. A commercial breakthrough after years of personal and professional struggles, Nick of Time topped the Billboard 200 chart, selling five million copies, and won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, which was presented to Raitt and producer Don Was. In 2003, the album was ranked number 229 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, then was re-ranked at number 230 on the 2012 list. As of September 2020, it is ranked at number 492. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2022, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Chameleon was a record label formed by producer, music entrepreneur and former Capitol Records A&R executive Stephen Powers, in association with Bob Marin, Managing Director of alternative rock importer Sounds Good, and Richard Foos, co-founder of Rhino Records.
Robert William Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards.
Charles Douglas Musselwhite is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s. He has often been identified as a "white bluesman".
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