Track Listing
1. Healer
2. I'm in the Mood
3. Baby Lee
4. Cuttin' Out
5. Think Twice Before You Go
6. Sally Mae
7. That's Alright
8. Rockin' Choir
9. My Dream
10. No Substitute
Review
There is nothing better than pan-pipes, except synthesised pan-pipes. And that is exactly what this album starts us off with. We cannot blame Hooker for that but it sounds definitely like something Santana would do. Santana is a man that made a good album in Abraxas a long time back, then seems to have dedicated his later life to make incredibly crap collaborations.
What is particularly unfortunate is that these collaborations are also extremely commercially successful. People have shit taste. That first track, and the most successful one in this album is also the worse thing about it. The rest of the album isn't that good, but if all tracks were like the last three we'd have something here.
John Lee Hooker is one of the great giants of the blues, and his music is great, but anyone would be incredibly better served with a much earlier album or a collection of earlier music, this isn't for the most part, the Boogie Chillin' Man we know and love, it is adulterated crap. If only they would have let him do his thing.
Track Highlights
1. No Substitute
2. Rocking Chair
3. My Dream
4. Baby Lee
Final Grade
7/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
The album features collaborations with Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana, among others. The Healer peaked at number 62 on the Billboard 200 and won a Grammy award.
I will not post anything from the album, you can find it Healer easily on youtube, you get something better, seeing as Hooker has no other entry on this list you get Boom, Boom:
1 comment:
People often talk about the 70s as the decade that had no taste, but the 80s was a much more criminal decade. Almost no previously respected giant of music survived without being embarrassed by a record exec in a suit with the sleeves rolled up, no socks and a t-shirt underneath telling them about the magic of the latest production techniques.
Everythiing that sounds like it's from the 80s has aged dreadfully, especially if the artist was around in the 60s or 70s.
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