John Lee Hooker King of Boogie

Rare 1992 UK 127-track remastered 6-CD box set compilation featuring a complete as possible collection of recordings from John Lee Hooker's Vee-Jay years, including previously unreleased tracks. Themaster expresses the passion of the blues, from blue mood to the boogie, showing his ability to transcend generations and conquer new audiences. Each disc is issued in a jewel case picture sleeve and housed in a silver embossed picture slipcase with a 28-page booklet.
John Lee Hooker was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century.

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. 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 Stones 2015 list of 100 greatest guitarists.

Endless Boogie is a studio album by John Lee Hooker, released in 1971 through ABC Records. Produced by Bill Szymczyk and Ed Michel, the double album was recorded at Wally Heider Recording with session musicians such as Jesse Ed Davis, Carl Radle, Steve Miller, Gino Skaggs and Mark Naftalin.

John Lee Hooker developed a “talking blues” style that became his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta tradition, his metrically free approach and unique sound would make him a staple of the Detroit blues tradition. Often called the “King of the Boogie,” Hooker's driving, rhythmic approach to guitar playing has become an integral part of the blues. His thunderous electric guitar sounded raw, while his basic technique was riveting.
This quintessential release includes two of Hooker's finest albums: Burnin' (1962) - with a full-band accompaniment and featuring the chart success “Boom Boom,” one of Hooker's most identifiable and enduring songs, plus Plays and Sings The Blues (1961) which was filled with 1951-1952 solo­recordings and gems from Hooker's early days. Both masterpieces have been remastered and packaged together in this very special collector's edition, which also includes 3 bonus tracks…

John Lee Hooker developed a “talking blues” style that became his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta tradition, his metrically free approach and unique sound would make him a staple of Detroit blues. Often called the “The King of the Boogie”, Hooker's driving, rhythmic approach to guitar playing has become an integral part of the blues. His thunderous electric guitar sounded raw, while his basic technique was riveting. This quintessential collector’s edition includes two of Hooker’s finest albums: That’s My Story (1960), and House of the Blues (1959). These two masterpieces have been remastered and packaged together in this very special release. Contained here is the cream of the crop from Hooker's hit-making stretch during his most inspired years. Without a doubt, this is the material upon which John Lee Hooker's legend was built.

Born in Tutwiler, Mississippi, the blues legend John Lee Hooker transferred the Delta Blues to his playing of the electric guitar. He developed his own style, which combined talking blues with an impulsive rhythm boogie style. Some of his most famous songs are "Boogie Chillen", "Crawling King Snake", "Hobo Blues" and the title track "Boom Boom". This compilation also includes a cover version of Eddie Boyd's “Five Long Years” as well as John Lee Hooker's 1949 chart single “Hobo Blues”. The album is digitally remastered and contains 44 recordings from 1949 to 1964.

"Wandering Blues," the driving opener throughout which Hooker keeps time loudly with his foot, should give listeners a sense of what to expect from Sings Blues. These spare, raw recordings, originally made for the King label (the subtitle reads "19 selections - every one a pearl"!), are Hooker at his finest. Hooker's primitive gutbucket electric guitar is the main ingredient here, and it is his hard-edged boogie playing that fuels the fire.
Though somewhat less of a growl than on later recordings, Hooker's voice is no less soulful or urgent. It seethes with dark energy on such cuts as "Heart Trouble Blues" and the pulsing "Nightmare Blues." This work is vintage electric-blues, as cuts like "Thinking Blues" and "Blue Guitar Blues" will attest. Taken together, the tracks on Sings Blues are excellent examples of the gripping synthesis of folk blues and electric power that marks Hooker's early work.