John Lee Hooker Rare Performances 1960-1984

Product Description John Lee Hooker is one of the foremost blues performers of the postwar period. He is in actuality a Mississippi country bluesman and his music has always been firmly grounded in the traditional blues of his native state. He has remained true to its fundamental principles throughout a professional career of more than five decades. Whether playing solo in 1960 or with the Muddy Waters Band in the same year or his touring bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, John Lee Hookers genius in writing and performing magnificent emotionally potent blues can be seen in all its glory in this video collection of rare performances. This DVD has been compiled from very rare footage and we have tried to remaster this to produce the best possible results. However, the listener should approach this DVD in it's historical perspective realizing that there are imperfection in the original source material. A 25 page comprehensive booklet featuring biographical material, rare photographs and details on the tunes performed on this DVD can be accessed and downloaded from Guitarvideos.com. DVD is region 0, playable worldwide. Review Rare Performances 1960-1984 opens with a 1960 set recorded on a bare, dark stage as John Lee Hooker sings Maudie and Tupelo, Mississippi; in a concession to the folk audience, Hooker performs on an acoustic guitar, lessening the power of his playing and restricting the use of his patented bursts of guitar lines. It's My Own Fault and Come Back Baby follow, taken from the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. With the Muddy Waters Band backing him, Hooker's guitar is virtually inaudible, but his singing is right on. Unfortunately, the camera is tight on Hooker and there are only brief shots of pianist Otis Spann and the rest of Waters' musicians. Boom Boom and I'm Leaving date from a 1964 BBC version of Shindig, with Hooker seeming to have a good time playing for the dancers. The visual quality on 1969's Hobo Blues isn't very good, but the footage provides a rare opportunity to watch Hooker perform in an informal setting for a black audience, supported by a rhythm section that lays down a basic groove. I'll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive, It Serves Me Right To Suffer, and another version of Boom Boom are from 1970 and have a documentary feel (they appear to come from the same ethnomusicology project that provided material for Vestapol