John Lee Hooker - Plays & Sings The Blues (Chess Acoustic Sounds Series)

John Lee Hooker's Plays & Sings The Blues returns in the Chess Acoustic Sounds Series on 180 gram vinyl, bringing the Boogie Man's early Detroit recordings back into sharp focus.

Chess Records assembled this album in 1961 from sides Hooker cut in 1951 and 1952, when he was already a jukebox star on the back of his first hits. Recorded with producers Joe Von Battle and Bernie Besman, these sessions catch him at his rawest, usually alone with his electric guitar, a stomping foot and that deep, conversational voice.

Mad Man Blues finds Hooker half-talking, half-singing over a hypnotic, droning figure, the kind of one-chord trance that made him unlike any other bluesman. Lonely Boy Boogie rocks with a restless, stomping drive, Worried Life Blues turns the Big Maceo standard into a slow, brooding confession, and Please Don't Go shows how he could make a well-worn song entirely his own. Just Me And My Telephone closes the set on a lonesome, late-night note.

There are no backing bands polishing the edges and no studio trickery, just a master of rhythm and mood doing what he did best. For blues lovers, this heavyweight pressing offers a front-row seat at the very source of the boogie.