The Blues Bloggers

Originally released on Chess Records. Includes liner notes by Chris Morris and Ralph Bass.

For these two albums, recorded in the mid-'60s, the "real folk" appellation is not quite accurate. The title was also applied to contemporaneous releases by Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Muddy Waters as a Chess Records marketing ploy. These 18 songs are electric and blistering, edgy like a coiled snake. When Hooker slips into his ferocious howl--as he does on "Stella Mae"--it can make the hairs on your neck stand up. He can also keep a slow pace simmering with relentless fire. Hooker's idiosyncratic phrasing and tempos made him most effective as a solo act during the early years of his career. For these sessions producer Ralph Bass successfully matched players to Hooker's quirky sensibility, the grooves all perfectly meshing into one organic rhythm contraption.

2 Cds On 1.Remastered & Revis- Ited.Replaces #9271,9329 Chess

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

2 LPs on 1 CD: THE REAL FOLK BLUES/MORE REAL FOLK BLUES (1966).

Personnel includes: John Lee Hooker (vocals); Eddie Burns (guitar); Lafayette Leake (keyboards); Fred Below (drums); Leroy Stewart, Jack Meyer, Phil Upchurch.

Liner Note Author: Ralph Bass.Down Beat (June 2002, p.60) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...Contain[s] moments of stark intensity, when his vocals fuse sensually with guitar on 'move and groove' or flow-like-molasses rhythms that cast spells..."

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