John Lee Hooker Alone: Live at Hunter College 1976 180g 2LP

Tracking Angle Rated 9/10 Music, 9/10 Sound!

John Lee Hooker's entire legendary 1976 solo concert recorded live at New York's Hunter College is collected as a 2-LP Set on 180g vinyl. Includes raw and revered performances of "Boom Boom," "Crawlin' King Snake," and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," along with brand new artwork and liner notes by Kent Cooper. This is the first time both sets have been packaged together on vinyl for a global release.

The quality of Hooker's vocals - and guitar - are excellent: they are big and wide providing much more detail than I anticipated they would. This high-quality recording allows the listener to focus on intricate details like Hooker's tapping foot, the laughs of audience members, and a very slight hum from either the lighting or the building's heating system (the performance took place in February, after all). I don't mention the hum as a detractor, only that there is a natural - almost transportive - element to the album's soundscape; details like this encourage me to imagine the springs in the auditorium's seats and perhaps some asbestos floor tile beneath my feet... Though late 70s radio was pumping out songs with massive production containing all the sonic bells and whistles that were all the rage, a presentation as simple as Hooker's concert at Hunter College contains just as much power, confidence, and presence as those big budget blockbusters.