John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Hooker & The Hogs (May and June of 1965) 2003

                             

 

JOHN LEE HOOKER

                       

American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.
Born: August 22, 1912 in Tutwiler, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, USA.
Died: June 21, 2001 in Los Altos, California, USA. 

THE GROUNDHOGS

                             

Groundhogs were an English blues and progressive rock band founded in late 1963. They toured

extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s, and continued sporadically into the 21st century. Tony McPhee (guitar and vocals) was the sole constant member of the group, which had gone through many personnel changes, but usually recorded and performed as a power trio. The band was active from 1963 until retiring in 2014. Since then, their first drummer has launched the Ken Pustelnik's Groundhogs spinoff.

                             

 JOHN LEE HOOKER WITH THE GROUNDHOGS

                              

McPhee and the Groundhogs' most important musical legacy, this 1965 set of Hooker and the Hogs has an

unusual history. Tony McPhee and the Groundhogs first played with John Lee Hooker in June of 1964, when John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were unable to fulfill a commitment to back Hooker on the final week of his British tour. 
                  

The Groundhogs were deputized on the spot and played their first show with him at the Twisted Wheel in

Manchester. At the end of the week, Hooker told McPhee how much he liked working with his band and agreed to use the Groundhogs as his backing band on his next visit to England. Hooker was back in May and June of 1965, and not only used them as his band but recorded this album with the Groundhogs. 
                           

The band was Tony McPhee on guitar, Peter Cruickshank on bass, Dave Boorman on drums, and Tom

Parker on keyboards -- some of the stuff here may have surfaced elsewhere, on the Interchord label (as Don't Want Nobody) with brass dubbed on, but this release consists of the undubbed recordings. The sound is raw, tight, and raunchy, some of the best band-backed recordings of Hooker's career. 
                      

He's notoriously difficult to play support for because of the spontaneity of his work, but these guys keep

up and then some, adding engaging flourishes and grace notes. Hooker is in excellent voice, and his material is as strong as any album in his output, rough, dark, and moody. 
                             

The ominous, surging "Little Dreamer" is worth the price of admission all by itself. [Some reissues add

four Hooker solo bonus tracks, which are even louder and more savage than the Groundhogs' stuff, though a little noisy (like that ever mattered with The Hook).] 
(By Bruce Eder)
                                                     

                                         

John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Hooker & The Hogs
Label:Sanctuary – 06076 81253-2, Castle Music – 06076 81253-2
Series: Sanctuary Blues Masters
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Stereo, Mono 2003
Country: US
Released: May and June of 1965
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Modern Electric Blues
                                     

TRACKS

                              

01. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Mai Lee    3:28
02. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – I'm Losing You    3:51
03. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Little Girl Go Back To School    3:50
04. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Little Dreamer    4:17
05. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Don't Be Messin' With My Bread    3:19
06. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Bad Luck And Trouble    4:00
07. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Waterfront    4:11
08. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – No One Pleases Me But You    2:23
09. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – It's Raining Here    3:21
10. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – It's A Crazy Mixed Up World    4:14
11. John Lee Hooker With The Groundhogs – Seven Days And Seven Nights    3:38

JOHN LEE HOOKER BONUS TRACKS        
    
12. John Lee Hooker & Guests – Wandering Blues    2:56
13. John Lee Hooker & Guests – Goin' Mad Blues    3:45
14. John Lee Hooker & Guests – Black Man Blues    3:29
15. John Lee Hooker & Guests – Helpless Blues    3:41

LINE - UP

Vocals, Guitar – John Lee Hooker
Written-By – John Lee Hooker
Bass – Pete Cruikshank (tracks: 1 to 11)
Drums – Dave Boorman (tracks: 1 to 11)
Guitar – Tony McPhee (tracks: 1 to 11)Liner Notes – Tony McPhee
Organ, Piano – Tom Parker (tracks: 1 to 11)

NOTES

Tracks 1 to 11 are mono.

Flac Size: 192 MB

John Lee Hooker: The Best Of (1991) On Urban Aspirines HERE