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Category:    Home > Reviews > Blues > Jazz > John Lee Hooker - Come & See About Me DVD-Video + Jack O'Diamonds CD

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


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