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| Track list: 1. Stomp Boogie 2. My Daddy Was a Jockey 3. Helpless Blues 4. Streets Is Filled With Women 5. Time Is Marching 6. Hobo Blues 7. Wednesday Evening 8. We Gonna Make Everything Alright 9. The Moon Above 10. Rosie Mae 11. I Love to Boogie 12. Rock N Roll 13. Canal Street Blues 14. Wandering Blues 15. The Story of a Married Woman 16. Weeping Willow 17. I Don't Be Welcome Here 18. Goin' to California 19. Miss Lorraine 20. Tennessee Blues 21. Moon Is Rising 22. Nobody Talk to Me Running time: 65 minutes Released: 2013 |
Back to the box to draw out more John Lee Hooker tracks. After finding the time and desire to write an interlude earlier I feel even guiltier for not managing this sooner.
Truth is, my weeks have been hellish of late, so finding time when my mind is in the right place to write up anything (I am now 2 weeks behind with the Albion write-ups) has been a challenge and finding the space to listen to something I am not 100% keen on for an hour was beyond me. Here I am though, and there is Hooker stomping his feet over and over to the point where it must be reallly achey! The Stomp Boogie is kinda nice for the stomping and a very different approach to the guitar than evidenced on previous discs in the Big Box. With the strings freed from percussive duty, and honestly that is my biggest problem with that one form of hook I keep railing against without ever adequately describing, the guitar line can sing and provide interest. Interesting rather than structural. A stomp forward, so to speak.
The same freedom is available on My Daddy Was a Jockey and though less immediately appealing the track comes together alright and these two back to back make it the most interesting start to one of these discs. I know that cannot last - either I'll get bored with the repetition of the freedom or old patterns that I decry will re-emerge, and whilst Helpless Blues does not annoy, neither does it intrigue. This disc's first casualty.
It is a Sunday evening here and on the one hand I have an itch to be playing games online with friends as half-arranged. On the other, I have only just started to feel properly human. Pity about going back to work tomorrow, but at least there's no US working tomorrow - a situation that should make my day quieter, left alone to get on with my own deal - and I have a lot on my plate to handle. The best thing I can say about the fourth track on this disc is that it maintains a difference between tracks, alas like the song that preceded it there is no interest in its chords. The same is not true for Time is Marching though - this has a really classic structure, a nice supporting sound and crackly enchantment, mouth organ and all. It slips into the form of the Blues to which I am instinctively drawn rather than, as much of this collection has been, relying on an interpretation of the term that is actively uninteresting. Hell, lets be fair. The patterns here aren't interesting; they are familiar, warm and innate, but brilliantly performed and so I can overlook the repetition.
Ah, Hobo Blues is the first track that comes close to using that hook. So, really I should try to describe what I mean. One, the guitar forms percussion rather than melody. Two, it often (but not here) is accompanied by a barely sung "yeah" drawn out beyond pleasantries. Three the hook relies on the same note hammered over and over, normally four times or so, then a different note to end and a pause. Four, it is repeated over and over with perhaps some minor embellishments to differentiate but often no change of tone or feel. It's really difficult to construe just what the form is and why it irks me so and to be honest by now I am as sick of typing it as any poor person reading these pages is of reading it. So I am going to resolve not to mention it further unless it really is pertinent.
Huh. We Gonna Make Everything Alright starts more like an impromptu jam. Its an awful recording but feels like they were just pissing about a little. That feeling drops a little when Hooker starts singing but the poor clarity of sound and the unengaged air of the playing makes it a no-go for me and the same goes for the track that follows. An uncharacteristically strong start, then has been followed up by more of the same old sounds, not quite interesting enough to be kept. The distant qualities to Hooker's singing give me a sorta "One More Kiss" feel (from Blade Runner) which is nice, but at the present time puts me to sleep more than it enchants me.
More comfort blues follows, before the recording artefacts rear their head again and give I Love to Boogie a wonderful muted undertone. It is a pity that there isn't a bit more going on in the track itself because this is one of those cases where old recordings really do have more character than the uber-clean and perfect sounds we get these days. Don't get me wrong, most of the time I would take the cleaner sound every time but it is nice to have examples of both approaches and it does add character.
Oh now, that is a different sound, dirtier, sexier blues around Canal Street apparently. It's a slower number and the snatched sounds from the guitar give it a sense of impropriety that makes it much more accessible than a couple of tracks that I have basically just ignored, and then the Wandering Blues introduces a whispering style of lyricism that is a nice switch up but alas the song is plagued and not something I can bear. A real pity that, because I love the hushed tones used for the vocal and find myself wishing the style had been applied a little more over the course of the box set. That said, I have definitely remarked before that I was taken aback by the vocal range of the man, having really only been familiar with one approach from the work that I knew, so it's not like he was static vocally.
The next couple of songs are both kinda alright, but not quite good. Pleasant, enjoyable, but not stand out enough to keep. This frustrates me as each of them has something to recommend it and neither are dismissed for old sins but somehow they never quite grab me. It makes me feel, though, that were the stars to align and all my favourite characteristics of John Lee Hooker tracks ended up in the same song it would be mighty fine. Alas, not to be I suspect. There is, however a bright point; I Don't Be Welcome Here has a great groove to it, a grungy guitar and an atmosphere that holds it together stupendously. It ends a tad disappointingly but otherwise I love it.
More comfort blues follows, but this time despite the band I am not really feeling it as it all just feels a little too distant and not something I want to be any closer to. A bit like California in real terms, then. Into the final stretch of the penultimate disc. This time next week I may be shot of John Lee Hooker on these pages, a few tracks (likely repeats of things I have already heard) contributed to compilations aside. I won't lie, I am looking forward to hearing something a bit more different and varied and ideally presented in more bite-size bundles. Much as these discs have flown by when I actually engage with them, packed as they are with short songs, the 60 minute plus for the listen alone is a mental barrier. 45 minutes is just so much easier to find somehow!
Tennessee sounds fun. Whilst staid, this track has a light touch to it, a positivity not often associated with the Blues, that makes it nice and digestible. The last two tracks don't offer that though, and form a run-of-the-mill lead out and I am relieved when the final chord falls silent. I have observed my duty, not let it fall below 1 a week, and pushed through almost to the close of the big box. Just one more marathon left to manage somehow before the future brightens, at least in a musical sense.
Truth is, my weeks have been hellish of late, so finding time when my mind is in the right place to write up anything (I am now 2 weeks behind with the Albion write-ups) has been a challenge and finding the space to listen to something I am not 100% keen on for an hour was beyond me. Here I am though, and there is Hooker stomping his feet over and over to the point where it must be reallly achey! The Stomp Boogie is kinda nice for the stomping and a very different approach to the guitar than evidenced on previous discs in the Big Box. With the strings freed from percussive duty, and honestly that is my biggest problem with that one form of hook I keep railing against without ever adequately describing, the guitar line can sing and provide interest. Interesting rather than structural. A stomp forward, so to speak.
The same freedom is available on My Daddy Was a Jockey and though less immediately appealing the track comes together alright and these two back to back make it the most interesting start to one of these discs. I know that cannot last - either I'll get bored with the repetition of the freedom or old patterns that I decry will re-emerge, and whilst Helpless Blues does not annoy, neither does it intrigue. This disc's first casualty.
It is a Sunday evening here and on the one hand I have an itch to be playing games online with friends as half-arranged. On the other, I have only just started to feel properly human. Pity about going back to work tomorrow, but at least there's no US working tomorrow - a situation that should make my day quieter, left alone to get on with my own deal - and I have a lot on my plate to handle. The best thing I can say about the fourth track on this disc is that it maintains a difference between tracks, alas like the song that preceded it there is no interest in its chords. The same is not true for Time is Marching though - this has a really classic structure, a nice supporting sound and crackly enchantment, mouth organ and all. It slips into the form of the Blues to which I am instinctively drawn rather than, as much of this collection has been, relying on an interpretation of the term that is actively uninteresting. Hell, lets be fair. The patterns here aren't interesting; they are familiar, warm and innate, but brilliantly performed and so I can overlook the repetition.
Ah, Hobo Blues is the first track that comes close to using that hook. So, really I should try to describe what I mean. One, the guitar forms percussion rather than melody. Two, it often (but not here) is accompanied by a barely sung "yeah" drawn out beyond pleasantries. Three the hook relies on the same note hammered over and over, normally four times or so, then a different note to end and a pause. Four, it is repeated over and over with perhaps some minor embellishments to differentiate but often no change of tone or feel. It's really difficult to construe just what the form is and why it irks me so and to be honest by now I am as sick of typing it as any poor person reading these pages is of reading it. So I am going to resolve not to mention it further unless it really is pertinent.
Huh. We Gonna Make Everything Alright starts more like an impromptu jam. Its an awful recording but feels like they were just pissing about a little. That feeling drops a little when Hooker starts singing but the poor clarity of sound and the unengaged air of the playing makes it a no-go for me and the same goes for the track that follows. An uncharacteristically strong start, then has been followed up by more of the same old sounds, not quite interesting enough to be kept. The distant qualities to Hooker's singing give me a sorta "One More Kiss" feel (from Blade Runner) which is nice, but at the present time puts me to sleep more than it enchants me.
More comfort blues follows, before the recording artefacts rear their head again and give I Love to Boogie a wonderful muted undertone. It is a pity that there isn't a bit more going on in the track itself because this is one of those cases where old recordings really do have more character than the uber-clean and perfect sounds we get these days. Don't get me wrong, most of the time I would take the cleaner sound every time but it is nice to have examples of both approaches and it does add character.
Oh now, that is a different sound, dirtier, sexier blues around Canal Street apparently. It's a slower number and the snatched sounds from the guitar give it a sense of impropriety that makes it much more accessible than a couple of tracks that I have basically just ignored, and then the Wandering Blues introduces a whispering style of lyricism that is a nice switch up but alas the song is plagued and not something I can bear. A real pity that, because I love the hushed tones used for the vocal and find myself wishing the style had been applied a little more over the course of the box set. That said, I have definitely remarked before that I was taken aback by the vocal range of the man, having really only been familiar with one approach from the work that I knew, so it's not like he was static vocally.
The next couple of songs are both kinda alright, but not quite good. Pleasant, enjoyable, but not stand out enough to keep. This frustrates me as each of them has something to recommend it and neither are dismissed for old sins but somehow they never quite grab me. It makes me feel, though, that were the stars to align and all my favourite characteristics of John Lee Hooker tracks ended up in the same song it would be mighty fine. Alas, not to be I suspect. There is, however a bright point; I Don't Be Welcome Here has a great groove to it, a grungy guitar and an atmosphere that holds it together stupendously. It ends a tad disappointingly but otherwise I love it.
More comfort blues follows, but this time despite the band I am not really feeling it as it all just feels a little too distant and not something I want to be any closer to. A bit like California in real terms, then. Into the final stretch of the penultimate disc. This time next week I may be shot of John Lee Hooker on these pages, a few tracks (likely repeats of things I have already heard) contributed to compilations aside. I won't lie, I am looking forward to hearing something a bit more different and varied and ideally presented in more bite-size bundles. Much as these discs have flown by when I actually engage with them, packed as they are with short songs, the 60 minute plus for the listen alone is a mental barrier. 45 minutes is just so much easier to find somehow!
Tennessee sounds fun. Whilst staid, this track has a light touch to it, a positivity not often associated with the Blues, that makes it nice and digestible. The last two tracks don't offer that though, and form a run-of-the-mill lead out and I am relieved when the final chord falls silent. I have observed my duty, not let it fall below 1 a week, and pushed through almost to the close of the big box. Just one more marathon left to manage somehow before the future brightens, at least in a musical sense.
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