Re: [Harp-L] John Lee Hooker

[Fernando Toral <ftoral@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx escribió:
> I've been having my  heart checked out here in Catskill NY. It was kinda 
> scary at first but it's good  to know that it's in good shape. Anyway, the guy 
> that did the pictures name was  Randy so we hit it off right off the bat. He 
> asked me what I wanted to listen to  when I had to lay there for 20 minutes while 
> the computer did its thing. I said,  "Howlin' Wolf." "You're the first person 
> to ever ask for that and I have  some, COOL" After it was done he gave me a 
> John Lee Hooker CD to take home.  Very cool of the guy. When I played it at home 
> I discovered that it was recent  and that John Lee had to be pretty tired and 
> was doing his best but just  couldn't rip like he used to. Thing is though 
> there were some really fine  players on there. Jeff Beck, Ry Cooder.........a 
> bunch of people. Anybody  familiar with this? Who plays harp on it. Whoever they 
> were they were killer and  laid back. The only thing I didn't like was the 
> guy playing organ. He was  playin' a B3 sounding thing but he was WAAAYY over 
> bearing.Too loud in the mix a  lot of the times. I wonder if he paid for the 
> recording or something. Anyway  it's good to jam to.
>  
>          Peace
>       Randy
>     BiscuitBoy Blues
>
>   
John Lee Hooker's CD can't be *that* recent, because he died in 2001.

From the little info you drop on your message, it seems to be 'The Best 
Of Friends', which is -in my opinion- one of the best duetos albums. I 
wouldn't happily say JLH was 'tired', he was 82 by then... I would like 
to reach that age and be like him. Well, I don't know what you mean by 
'tired'... listen to 'Tupelo' or 'Boogie Chillen' included in that album 
and review your comment.

Charlie Musselwhite plays the harp on this CD. And the organ is played 
by Booker T. Jones, a blues legend who has accompained Hooker for 
decades. Be respectful about your opinions or read something about the 
artists before you write. Or, much better, let us know if you ever 
recorded something, so that we can compare.

Fernando Toral
Argentina