John Lee Hooker – Sensation

Description

Artist: John Lee Hooker |Label: Ace |Format: LP |Genre: Blues | Album Condition: New | Cover Condition: Sealed

John Lee Hooker
Sensation
Ace HIQLP 137

John Lee Hooker is not an artist who plays by the rules that govern what we generally accept as traditional blues musiche very rarely plays in 12-bar format when he performs his songs. On his most popular tune, Boogie Chillen, his lyrical and musical phrases last anywhere as short as nine or ten, or maybe fifteen or even nineteen measures long, depending on how long he wants to boogie on his guitar riffs that roll and tumble between his patented vocal phrases.Hookers lyrical approach is more akin to what one might expect of a jazz musician he is literally improvising on the spot, taking any given subject matter and shape-shifting the words to paint a picture instantaneously. I Got Eyes For You is a great example of extemporaneous vocal alchemy. On Burnin Hell, Hooker pounds out a rhythmic chord pattern while singing lyrics that reveal his mama and daddy telling him to go ask Deacon Jones to pray for him: Aint no burnin hellwhere I go, nobody [can] tell
Like a jazz saxophonist, hes improvising the lyric as hes telling a story repeating the phrases, describing his feelings, grunting, agreeing, cajoling, using words to create verbal tension before the rhythmic vocal thrust explodes into instrumental ecstasy that inevitably follows. Listen to how he weaves his way through the lyrics of Tease Me Baby (aka Tease Me Over Baby).
Hooker never uses a pick on his right hand only his bare fingers to get the sound that creates such propulsive energy in every one of his performances. His thumb is his bass player, which he uses exclusively to play amazing walking bass lines and low-register countermelodies, while his index finger does the heavy lifting for all the single-note solo lines, as can be heard on Grinder Man. His middle and ring-fingers are his simultaneous harmony-keepers and rhythm makers. Often, he combines them together in a pattern using fast-flickering alternation between thumb and index finger, as demonstrated in Black Cat Blues.
Hooker can hit a chord and ring it to death with that intense, repetitious wrangling that is the most joyful blues noise ever heard. He generally uses two primary tuning setups one is a normal E tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E, from low string to high string); Walkin This Highway is a one-chord blues vamp in the key of E. The other is an open A tuning where he raises the pitch on the D, G, and B strings up a whole step to create a resonant, sonorous (E-A-E-A-C#-E) harmony, which is ideal for right-hand, open-chord strumming. This can be heard on the splendid alternate take of Boogie Chillen [on side one].”
And then, of course, theres that non-stop, ever-present clap-clap-clap of his footwork the unflappable drummer in this wondrous one-man band. Hes literally stompin the blues just listen to the groove on How Can You Do It, as well as on Roll N Roll, which later had a direct influence on Muddy Waters own version, called Rollin And Tumblin.
In a moment rarely captured on tape, Hooker does a bit of scat-singing on The Story of a Married Woman after he exclaims, Im in love with the woman, scared to call her name, shes a married woman may get somebody killed. Also rare is the piano accompaniment (by James Watkins) on Let Your Daddy Ride, one of the few recorded tracks that doesnt solely feature Hookers guitar work.
Recorded by Bernard Besman for the Sensation label between 1948-1952, this unique collection of songs captures the unique style of John Lee Hooker which forever changed the soundscape of American music. –Dr. Wayne E. Goins

Includes:
Burnin’ Hell
Walkin’ the Highway
Ginder Man
Black Cat Blues
How Can You Do It
Boogie Chillen’ #2
Boogie Chillen’
Roll ‘n’ Roll
The Story of a Married Woman (alt take)
Tease Me Baby (Tease Your Daddy (aka Tease Your Daddy)
I Got Eyes For You
Let Your Daddy Ride

NEW SEALED import LP