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John Lee Hooker: It Serves You Right To Suffer
MCA CD, Rs. 445
Hooker's appeared in these columns a couple of years ago in my review of Chill Out (MetroPlus, Sept. 15, 2003), so we direct the interested reader there for his bio-sketch and career highlights. Suffice it to say that John Lee Hooker is regarded as one of the gods of the blues, one whose percussive single-chord boogie, accompanied by his foot-tapping and gravelly vocal delivery, is an instantly recognisable blues signature. Laced over this tapestry are tales full of irony and wry humour, as only John Lee could recount.
Over the years, he's raked in the Grammies, collaborated with three generations of musicians, and recorded a mountain of material that has appeared on at least 30 different recording labels. Some of his early hits such as "Boom Boom", "Dimples" and "Crawling King Snake" provided material for rock bands of the Sixties, and some rockers repaid the favour by recording with him (e.g., Santana, Canned Heat, Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison).
This album was a one-off Hooker session for the Impulse jazz label, released in 1966. He teamed up with second guitarist Joseph Barry Galbraith and drummer Dave `Panama' Francis. The noted jazz sessions player Mint Hinton, who has backed people as far removed from Hooker musically as Barbra Streisand, handles bass. As is imperative for successfully accompanying Hooker's starkly minimalist style, these sidemen exercise an admirable amount of restraint.
While listening to this album, especially the tracks "Bottle Up and Go" and "You're Wrong", I idly wondered if Hooker ever got a fair shake from his female companions — or whether they were all secretly sworn to destroy him via a myriad different stratagems. Some of my quandary was resolved by the track "Sugar Mama" (attributed to Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson) where he patiently explains the root of his frustrations — "I used to sit down and brag about your sugar/ I used to brag all over town/ You let that went to your head/ And now you don't pay me no mind".
To be fair, he does pay a moving tribute to a "nice and kind" woman on the track "Decoration Day", but early on in the track it becomes evident that this encomium is in the nature of an obituary. For that rare "nice and kind" woman died on Decoration Day, necessitating flower-laden visits to her graveside as others celebrate the annual holiday.
And for those who need a quick break from Hooker's amorous misfortunes, a rapid refresher course on economic theory contained in the track "Money" provides the necessary respite. The two lines — "Money don't get everything, it's true/ But what it don't get I can't use" — just about sum it up.
Keb Mo': The Door
Epic, CD, Rs. 395
Born Kevin Moore on October 3, 1951, in Los Angeles, Keb Mo' is a contemporary blues guitarist/vocalist in the mould of Taj Mahal and Robert Cray — meaning a musician who does not necessarily always play blues, but uses the blues as a template for venturing into or incorporating other genres. He had some early gospel experience, and in his early twenties joined an R&B band which accompanied the legendary Papa John Creach. His main inspiration has been the fingerpicking country blues style of Robert Johnson, and he has even played the main part in a docudrama on Robert Johnson entitled "Can't You Hear The Wind Howl".
Keb's debut album was released in 1994 by the revived Okeh label (associated with early "race records" and the label of many bluesmen of yore) to wide acclaim. His second album, Just Like You, though a departure from strict blues format, netted a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy in 1996 and sold well. His next album Slow Down was also a chart topper, and Grammy award winner in 1998. The present album dates back to 2000, and is very much another smorgasbord of Keb Mo's diversity of style. As an example, the track "Loola Loo" is co-written with the great jazz vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin.
The track "Mommy Can I Come Home" (the lament of a prodigal daughter beseeching her mother to take her back after abandonment by her imagined true love) was co-written with the pop diva Melissa Manchester. An interesting electro-funk re-working of Elmore James's classic "It Hurts Me Too" is the only cover on this album. The remaining 10 tracks are all original compositions. Check out his banjo prowess on "Stand Up".
VISHWAMBHAR PATI
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