The Bottom Line: Live Blues are awesome, but except for the Hooker tracks, this album never really heats up.
The best way to hear the blues is live. Don't get me wrong, I love studio albums, especially by legendary blues man John Lee Hooker, but live is best.
Hooker n' Heat captures a Canned Heat concert featuring John Lee Hooker and the Chambers Brothers at the Venice Theater. No where in the liner notes does it indicate the date of this show, but the album was released by Rhino in 1981.
The show starts off with a blues standard Hell Hound performed by Canned Heat. I have heard this song performed with more energy, but they give a good rendition here. gotta keep moving, blues falling down just like hell, it must have been the devil, it's a hell hound on my trail
Strut my Stuff and Open Up Your Back Door are the next tracks and again, although these songs don't quite rock, they get a decent performance. I'm not really a big fan of Canned Heat, I think a large part of that is the too straight ahead vocals of Bob Hite, his voice just doesn't have any unique bluesy quality. House of Blue Lights suffers the same fate, it just lacks that energy I expect from live blues. It Hurts Me Too, Wrapped Up and a Medley of Let's Work Together/Going Up Country close the songs performed by Canned Heat.
The LAST THREE songs on the other hand feature John Lee Hooker on vocals and lead guitar. These three tracks Tease Me Baby, Serves Me Right to Suffer and Nobody Else But You have that deep bluesy growl that I was looking for when I picked up this album. He introduces Serves me Right to suffer with They call me Mr. Blues because I am the blues. He just has a way of growling out those lyrics in a low baritone that makes the song (not as low as Howlin' Wolf, but..).
Credits
Adolfo De La Parra - Drums
Richard Hite - Bass
Chris Morgan - Rhythm Guitar
Mark Skyer - Lead Guitar
Ronnie Barron - Piano
Bob "the Bear" Hite - Harmonica and Vocals
John Lee Hooker - Guitar and vocals (tracks 8 9 & 10)
The Chambers Brothers (Background vocals tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10)
Sound Quality I reviewed this album on a pair of Koss headphones, and I have also listened to it on my full sound system. The CD was recorded in analog and mastered in analog. The sound is good, you get very litte hiss except at high volumes. The separation is good, and gives a live concert feeling to the disc.
Summary If you are a fan of Canned Heat, which I am not, you may like this album better than I. Myself I think they should let the heat out of the can, and let some of it simmer on stage. However, the three tracks by Hooker were great. It is a competent album, and Hookers three tracks made me go with three stars instead of two, but there are better live blues albums out there.
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