John Lee Hooker Gotta Boogie, Gotta Sing (2-CD)

Two CD collection. Jasmine's first John Lee Hooker release Blues In Transition 1955-1959 concentrated on the recordings he made for his core audience and the emerging college folk scene which helped to propel him to international fame. This second excursion into the iconic bluesman's prolific career focuses on his material from late 1948 to 1954. By early 1949 "Boogie Chillen'" was #1 on Billboard's R&B chart and was reputed to have sold over a million copies. It is these numerous boogie recordings that are collected on disc one of this unique package. Most of these discs are solo but several do feature other musicians and special note should be made of the contributions made to several tracks by these other musician. Eddie Burns plays harmonica on "Miss Eloise" and Eddie Kirkland provides blistering guitar work to "Four Women in My Life", "How Can You Do It" and "Leave My Wife Alone". The second CD collects together many of his notable blues ballads and mid-tempo songs again on one full length CD. This CD is a must for blues fans and the uninitiated alike. Sit back and prepare yourself to be entranced by John Lee Hooker's almost hypnotic guitar style and before long you'll be stomping your feet to his unique brand of boogie.