John Lee Hooker - 1981-08-09 - New York City, NY (AUD/FLAC)

(Audience FLAC)

Lone Star Café

Lineage:
Panasonic Slimline Mono Recorder > C90 > Sony WM-D6 > Behringer Denoiser > Bellari 562 Tube Exciter > Tascam CD-RW700 > iTunes > AIFF > FLAC

John Lee Hooker – g. voc
Michael Osborn – g
Deacon Jones – organ
Tim Richard - drums
? – bass

Disc One
01) [Intro] 0:18
02) Little Bit Of Love 4:22
03) Red House 6:50
04) [Cold, Cold Morning] 8:22
05) I Didn't Know 5:41
06) Boom Boom 5:15
07) The Right Time8:49
08) It's My Own Fault 6:24
09) Stormy Monday Blues 6:19
10) Voodoo Woman 11:55

Disc Two
11) [I don't know what my baby...] 4:50
12) [born in a rusty shack...] 7:22
13) It Serves You Right To Suffer 6:35
14) [Instrumental Boogie] 5:40
15) Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive 7:24
16) I Didn't Know 7:12
17) [I gamble on your love...] 9:10
18) It's My Own Fault 7:44
19) Boogie Chillen 14:30
20) [Outro] 1:05

Notes by the uploader:
Here is the last gem from my personal archive of blues recordings. This was one of those shows that has stayed with me over the years. It was a pivotal moment in both my own music appreciation and development as a guitar player. I was all of eighteen when I saw this show, situated about six feet from the stage, sweat-soaked with my trusty Panasonic cassette recorder peeking out of my denim jacket. Suffice it to say that after this show, the idea of learning how to play just like Al DiMeola struck me as completely futile.

Here was one of the most charismatic performers I have ever witnessed, all but clawing his way through his unmistakable, characteristic guitar figures that seemed as if they, along with his resonant vocal howl, had come straight out of the deepest recesses of the African continent. John Lee Hooker seemed to represent the evolutionary precursor to the twentieth century Sex Machine of James Brown. Here he is, at age 64—then freshly married to a 22 year-old wife--backed by the muscular Coast to Coast Blues Band, ruling the Manhattan evening like an emperor holding court. At this point, Hooker is still playing guitar like a beast, clawing at the strings of his Epiphone with snakey abandon.

It seemed that by the end of the decade he had basically settled into becoming his own monument on stage--playing much less guitar--accompanied on record and live by Santana, Van Morrison and other luminaries who had rightly worshipped at the Hooker six string altar. I can’t say much else. If you love John Lee Hooker you know what I’m talking about. Enjoy.

If you can help me identify the bass player and unidentified track names (tracks 4, 11, 12, 14, 17), please let me know. It’s been a mystery to me for years. Years ago, a Hooker aficionado from Sweden kindly tried to help me with identifying some of the tracks. Track 10 sounds just like Boogie Chillen but with different words--sometimes I think John Lee would just mix and match grooves and lyrics at will, but I’m happy to be enlightened.

This one has never been traded or circulated. I dedicate this torrent to my pals and former bandmates, Mike E. and Mike B., who were wise enough to convince me that this show was one not to miss. I am forever grateful for their wisdom. Of course, thank you to John Lee Hooker and this band for one heck of a night.