John Lee Hooker: Come and See About Me +
Jack O’Diamonds 1949 Sessions CD
Picture: C+ Sound: B- Extras: B Program:
B
CD: B- B
Similar to how you cannot
have a serious discussion on cinema without mentioning Citizen Kane, you cannot talk about the blues without stopping at
legend John Lee Hooker. Hooker
represents the rough blues that emerged as a second wave of blues music in the
50’s and 60’s. Eagle Vision has issued
a definitive DVD, Come & See About Me, which brings together
archival footage from various periods in Hookers career to give a clear
portrayal of a man stuck with the blues.
This review is not
necessary aimed at the music that ‘is’ the Blues, since I am not an authority
per se on that genre, but I certainly appreciate and understand it. It’s music that goes against the glamour and
glitz that is popular music. Blues is
almost meant to stay underground and kept on a personal level, which I suppose
is why some of the best Blues singers are unknown or never even recognized to
begin with.
Track Listing:
Baby Please Don’t Go
Maudie
Hobo Blues
It Serves Me Right to Suffer
Crawlin’ Kingsnake
The Boogie
Never Get Out of These Blues Alive
Worried Life Blues
Too Many Women
Boom Boom
I’m Bad Like Jesse James
I’m in the Mood
Bottle Up and Go
Tupelo Blues
Hobo Blues (with Ry Cooder)
The Healer
Boogie Chillen’
I Need Love So Bad
This collection brings
footage as early as 1960 until the 1990’s and also features special guests
ranging from Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, all the way to
Foghat and Van Morrison. Having these
guests makes the experience even more special as they respect Hooker to the
point that getting the chance to play with him is a once in a lifetime type of
experience. You know it’s a very
humbling feeling when you see big stars in the shadows next to someone
else.
Our program runs a bit
longer than two hours total and also has some nice little extras to make the
experience even more entertaining including comments from Hooker’s daughter who
discussed the private and professional struggles that her father dealt with
through the years. There are also some
late-in-life interviews with Hooker himself and from this we understand that as
a Blues singer/songwriter gets to a certain age or point in their life, it
becomes such a difficult task to look back at your career and to think that you
have made your life out of feeling down and out. There is a certain irony in Blues and it’s the one genre of music
that is hard to fake. Popular music
does not really have much prerequisite as far as performance and neither do
other styles like rap, techno, or country, but with Blues you are essentially
born into it. You might be able to fake
the sound, but the Blues is something deeper and more passionate that cannot be
emulated.
Back to the DVD itself
this is a fairly decent issue in terms of quality with only a few
problems. Our program is offered in two
audio formats: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo, both of which are
average at best. Since this is a
compilation of material the source for the audio is jumpy and can range from a
fuller sound to a much more subdued sound range. The 5.1 mix takes advantage of placing more ambience towards the
rear, which clears the music out a bit more, but going with DTS for another
audio option would have been preferred.
Similar to how the sound
can be a problem from time to time, the picture quality ranges as well, with
everything presented in full-frame 1.33 X 1 aspect ratio. Footage is jumpy as it goes from black and
white to current color and the depth and detail is never full sharp with
exception of some of the more recent interviews. Problems like this can be expected to some extent in both audio and
picture because you are compiling footage that may or may not have been handled
very well over the course of time. Once
can only hope that the best was done to make the footage as good as it can get
while being cost effective.
Eagle Vision/Eagle Rock
also put out a CD of the 1949 recordings entitled Jack O’Diamonds, which includes rather rare material as a companion
piece to the DVD. This particular album
was cut in 1949, but was never officially released due to Hookers contractual
problems at that time.
Jack O’ Diamonds Track List:
Guitar Blues Instrumental
Two White Horses
Troubles in Mind
Catfish Blues
John Henry
How Long Blues
Ezekial Saw the Wheel
Jack O’Diamonds
Waterboy
Six Little Puppies and Twelve Shaggy
Hounds
In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down
Old Blind Barnabas
Moses Smote the Water
Spoken Interlude
Rabbit on the Log
Come and See About Me
33 Blues
She’s Real Gone
I Wonder
Untitled Slow Blues
The
album has been cleaned up considerably since it’s initial recording and was
originally designed almost as an impromptu recording as Hooker was being
recorded while playing for a live audience of people. He plays a few classic
tunes of the time and also lays down some deep rooted blues as well,
particularly Catfish Blues, which
Jimi Hendrix covered later in his career or Come
and See About Me. What makes this
CD a must is that now these tracks are available and serve as a nice addition
for a real blues lover who will take great joy in owning the DVD set as well.
- Nate Goss