John Lee Hooker: The Best of Friends

In contrast to his often (always?) irascible peer Chester Burnett, aka Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker has long been amenable to collaborations, reciprocal and otherwise. Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, Charlie Musselwhite and Carlos Santana, among others, appeared on The Healer (Chameleon,1989) and all those artists also populate the credits for The Best of Friends. (Santana, the Mexican-born guitar hero, appears with two different iterations of his band).

Fittingly titled, this anthology is a suitable companion piece to Whiskey & Wimmen (Concord Music Group, 2017) and not just because there is some slight overlap in selections, including a new recording of "Big Legs Tight Skirt," here complete with horns. Both function almost equally effectively as primers on the blues genre at large. Yet The Best of Friends—originally issued in 1998 through Virgin Records—finds Hooker sympathetically and enthusiastically supported by a range of artists who've taken inspiration from him and subsequently saw fit to return the favor.

In terms of sound, package design and the content itself, these sixty-eight minutes—now available on CD and double-vinyl LP—is a discernible improvement over the prior version. There is a bonus track, "Up And Down," from a Japanese issue of the album, produced by former JLH band member guitarist Roy G. Rogers and featuring long-time Chuck Berry pianist Johnnie Johnson. No updated credit for mastering appears from the previous compact disc, but the audio is definitely more nuanced, with extra ambiance that benefits a number like "Boogie Chillen" (another of the total of three cuts here not previously released).

Likewise, the graphics on the new slimline sleeve and the enclosed sixteen-page booklet (design courtesy Dale Voelker) are both more eye-pleasing and informative, the latter element due to the addition of Jas Obrecht's insightful essay. As for the music, it runs the gamut of this blues icon's latter-day career, from the dark and spooky likes of "I Cover The Waterfront," with Van Morrison and Booker T. Jones, to the gleeful romp of "Dimples" with Los Lobos.

In combination with the familiar likes of "Boom Boom"—highlighted by the vigorous playing of Jimmie Vaughan—such somewhat unsung selections as "Boom Boom" (once sung by the late Duane Allman with his The Allman Brothers Band), turn this compendium into much more than just a novelty item: it is an object lesson in the malleability of the blues. While the single-chord likes of "Burnin' Hell" might sound monotonous, performances of such material (also in the form of the main artist's solo rendering of "Tupelo") are more often than not mesmerizing.

Plus, there is no denying these compositions constitute some of the most singular and readily identifiable bodies of work in the blues genre even to casual listeners. Often as not, the distinction lies in the deep resonance of John Lee Hooker's guttural vocals. Something of a stylistic trademark of this Mississippi native, the simplicity of such a composition also renders it ripe for ornamentation from Ben Harper's guitar and the aforementioned harp master Musselwhite's readily identifiable playing.

In the end, The Best Of Friends belies its superficial appearance as a slightly redundant re-release of (mostly) previously available recordings. More than simply a point of reference for investigating for exploring John Lee Hooker's discography, this collection can also stand as a point of departure for investigating the oeuvres of the collaborators involved, whether relatively well-known (Ry Cooder), or not so well known,—(Charles Brown),

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