If you love the blues, you will love this DVD: plain and simple. It features one of the all-time greats and a lot of his music, all done by him.
This has more of a concert feel to it than a documentary. It does span three decades of John Lee Hooker's singing career, so you get both Hooker seen in many concerts and you also get many famous singers talking about him. You see some black-and-white footage of him way back in 1960 at the Newport Jazz Festival, through other TV and concert performances, all the way to the 1990s. Mostly, you hear him sing, and that's why I got this DVD.
"The Boogie Man," as John Lee refers to himself here, had a unique sound of his own and he knew it. He isn't that modest about where he stands among blues greats, but who can argue? Not me, because I enjoyed every song in here.
The nine-minute "Boogie" number he does with Foghat and Paul Butterfield ALONE is worth the price of this DVD. It had me tears just watching and listening to it. It's just an unbelievable number.
As Bonnie Raitt comments here, whether Hooker performed alone with just his guitar, or with a band and an electric guitar, "he was the real deal." On this disc, you can watch Hooker and a dozen other big-named musicians, all of them good and all of them big fans of this blues legend. Even some not-so-big names help out with some nice instrumentation. I don't know who the piano player was on "Boom, Boom, Boom," since he isn't listed, but he was fantastic.
As mentioned, this DVD is a lot more music than documentary and that's fine with me. I just want to hear this guy sing and play. It's blues at its best.
This has more of a concert feel to it than a documentary. It does span three decades of John Lee Hooker's singing career, so you get both Hooker seen in many concerts and you also get many famous singers talking about him. You see some black-and-white footage of him way back in 1960 at the Newport Jazz Festival, through other TV and concert performances, all the way to the 1990s. Mostly, you hear him sing, and that's why I got this DVD.
"The Boogie Man," as John Lee refers to himself here, had a unique sound of his own and he knew it. He isn't that modest about where he stands among blues greats, but who can argue? Not me, because I enjoyed every song in here.
The nine-minute "Boogie" number he does with Foghat and Paul Butterfield ALONE is worth the price of this DVD. It had me tears just watching and listening to it. It's just an unbelievable number.
As Bonnie Raitt comments here, whether Hooker performed alone with just his guitar, or with a band and an electric guitar, "he was the real deal." On this disc, you can watch Hooker and a dozen other big-named musicians, all of them good and all of them big fans of this blues legend. Even some not-so-big names help out with some nice instrumentation. I don't know who the piano player was on "Boom, Boom, Boom," since he isn't listed, but he was fantastic.
As mentioned, this DVD is a lot more music than documentary and that's fine with me. I just want to hear this guy sing and play. It's blues at its best.
