Limited edition 180-gram vinyl reissue of the classic Chess Records LP

High definition premium virgin vinyl pressing for super fidelity

Originally released in 1961. Singer-guitarist John Lee Hooker didn’t spend much time with Chess, the giant of Chicago blues, although he didn’t spend a lot of time with any label. Chess 1400 series was released under the alias John Lee Booker. Chess 1462 was also released on Von Battle’s Gone label. By spring of 1951 the Chess and Bihari brothers (Modern) appear to have struck some sort of deal and Chess would never again use the Booker alias on Chess releases.

Hooker (1917-2001) was one of the most successful blues artists of the second half of the 20th century, yet his hypnotic brand of blues was in many ways a throwback to earlier times, before rules of rhyme, meter, and chord structure became standardized. The Clarksdale, Mississippi-born musician burst on the national scene with his first record, “Boogie Chillen,” which topped Billboard’s Most-Played Juke Box Race Record chart in 1949.

Like other recordings from Hooker’s early studio sessions, the tunes featured here bristle with driving energy and ripple with the power of his shouted declarations. This is back porch music from the heart of the Delta, jolted to larger-than-life proportions by the electricity powering Hooker’s guitar and by his own strong desire to quit sweeping factories and begin cleaning up on the charts. Although he often reworked themes by earlier bluesmen during this period, it was rare that Hooker outright covered another artist’s material. So his riveting interpretations of Muddy Waters’s “Please Don’t Go” and Big Maceo Merriweather’s “Worried Life Blues” peak this collection of solo turns.