John Lee Hooker, Burnin’
Featured Album
Next time you throw a shindig, you could do a lot worse than these eleven songs.
When John Lee Hooker made the transition from regional indies to the larger independent label Vee-Jay in the mid '50s, he began to work with larger backing groups. Now, John Lee Hooker has made a lot of records, and many of them have the same songs recorded over and over again. 1962's Burnin' is no exception, but it's got a big sound, and it benefits greatly from its latest mastering job. A nice mixture of classics and obscure numbers, this might be the best Hooker album cut with a large group. There's even a tenor sax on here, alongside the stride piano, bass drums and second guitar. Hooker's voice is lower in the mix than typical, but it's fine, given the way that it's been swathed in echo and surrounded by his session player pals.
The Hook is not at his deepest and darkest, by any means. There are no gloomy numbers about the flood in Tupelo, Mississippi, for instance. On the contrary, this record seems to have been made for partying. The slow, stomping "I Got a Letter This Morning" never achieves the modal endless boogie it might in a different setting, but the airy, light arrangement makes it easier to dance to. "Keep Your Hands to Yourself (She's Mine)" is a swell novelty mambo number, while "Drug Store Woman" and "Let's Make It" are ideal songs to make love to in the back of a big old American car (while wearing hats like they used to back in the old days, when people had style and stuff). The real star of the album is "Boom Boom," the gregarious and sexy album opener that celebrates the use of baby talk. That single was Vee-Jay's top seller for the year, and later earned Hooker enough publishing royalties that he later named his own nightclub after it. Next time you throw a shindig, you could do a lot worse than these eleven songs.
