Hooker 'n' Heat

this 1971 collaboration between primal one-part-delta / one-part-detroit singer-guitarist john lee hooker and southern california blues revivalists canned heat works in large part because all parties involved are a little off. hooker, the most unsystematic of the major bluesmen of his generation, isn't a good fit for disciplined players; rather, he requires sidemen who play by feel. in harp player-guitarist alan wilson, the crawling king snake found a particularly sympathetic foil; sadly, wilson died shortly after these sessions were completed. roughly divided into spare, gritty delta exercises and full-on boogie stomps featuring the full band, 'hooker 'n' heat' is surely one of canned heat's crowning moments, which isn't saying that much. but that it stands as a milestone in hooker's oeuvre is quite a statement indeed.