"...Boogie Chillen No. 2..."
In March 2020 - "Hooker
'N Heat" is an obscurity you rarely see on either vinyl or CD. Yet for
such a long distant memory (50 years in 2021), it's had its fair share of
reissues.
England's See For Miles got
to the digital first in 1989 followed quickly by an EMI/Liberty 2CD Remaster in
1991 widely issued in the UK and USA. Then Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab give it
the ultimate audiophile accolade in 1996 by putting the Boogie Chillen double on one of
their pricey and limited 'Ultradisc II' Gold 2CD sets (a fiercely expensive item
these days).
Following that a company in
France called Magic Records had it remastered by Beat Goes On's resident
audio engineer Andrew Thompson in July 2002. That 19-track issue was more than interesting to fans
as it contained a song mentioned by Hook in the studio dialogue to the band at
the beginning of "Send Me Your Pillow" called "It's All
Right" – a tune he was to record the following night but frustratingly
never showed on the released double. Magic Records included both "It's All
Right" and the US 7" single edit of "Whiskey And Wimmen"
(2:25 minutes as opposed to the LP cut of 4:33 minutes) as Bonus Tracks on Disc
2.
And while BGO issued the
Andrew Thompson high-definition 24-bit remastered double as a 2CD set in 2005,
it was the bare 17-Track 2LP set only. This new July 2017 Japanese double
SHM-CD reissue in gorgeous Mini LP Artwork includes the "It's All
Right" outtake as a single song bonus - even if the packaging is a tad
vague about it to English-language eyes. And to top its cool looks and grinding
boogie bonus track, this new version does have something else worth raving
about - truly fabulous and clean audio - care of a new Remaster by Universal’s
Akihito Watanbe from original tapes done in Japan. Let's get to the boogie -
children...
Released19 July 2017 in
Japan-Only - "Hooker N' Heat” by CANNED HEAT and JOHN LEE HOOKER on
Universal/Liberty Records UICY-78388-9 (Barcode 4988031229569) is a 2-Disc Set Reissue of the 1971
Double-Album on the SHM-CD Format In Gatefold Hard-Card Mini LP Repro Artwork
with Booklet, Obi Strip and One Outtake from the Sessions as a Bonus Track. It
plays out as follows:
CD1 (41:06 minutes):
1. Messin With The Hook [Side
1]
2. The Feelin' Is Gone
3. Send Me Your Pillow
4. Sittin' Here Thinkin'
5. Meet Me In The Bottom
6. Alimonia Blues [Side 2]
7. Drifter
8. You Talk Too Much
9. Burning Hell
10. Bottle Up And Go
CD2 (50:58 minutes):
1. The World Today [Side 3]
2. I Got My Eyes On You
3. Whiskey And Wimmen
4. Just You And Me
5. Let's Make It [Side 4]
6. Peavine
7. Boogie Chillen No. 2
The double-album "Hooker
N' Heat" was released January 1971 in the USA on Liberty Records LST-35002
and March 1971 in the UK on Liberty Records LSP 103/4.
BONUS TRACK
8. It's All Right -
Previously Unreleased Session Outtake first issued on CD in July 2002 by Magic
Records (Barcode 3700139302323)
The hard-card gatefold sleeve
is an exact repro of the American original double-album, the fold-out white
inlay has the lyrics in English and Japanese and it comes with an Obi strip and
SHM-CD stickered outer plastic protective. The Remastering Engineer for
Universal Japan is AKIHITO WATANBE and the 2017 Audio is gorgeous - so damn
impressive as the band lay into the five minute boogie that is
"Peavine" and the eleven and half minutes of "Boogie Chillen No.
2" - an updating of his Forties and Fifties chugging classic (Wilson
keeping up on the heavy-heavy Harmonica).
Produced by SKIP TAYLOR and
BOB HITE Jr. with all tunes by JLH - the double was split into two phases – the
first LP with just him and his electric guitar plugged in and turned up loud
while the band only briefly joins him on some songs on Side 2. I mention this
because if you're expected rocket-fuelled Rock-Blues, then taper those
expectations. LP1 is very sparse but eerily effective as he taps his foot and
flicks those Hooker licks – the second LP featuring the band lifts up
proceedings a little more - especially with Al Wilson blowing some fantastic
Paul Butterfield-type Harmonica. And what blows you away too is the new audio
here that has made the echoed vibe all the more intense and powerful.
Surely one of the great lost
45s of the Seventies is the double's only outing - an edit of "Whiskey And
Wimmen" issued Stateside in April 1971 on United Artists 50779 with the
equally fab "Let's Make It" on the flipside (no British equivalent
but there are other territories like France and Australia). The LP cut for
"Whiskey And Wimmen" is 4:33 minutes while the single edited it down
to a spoken title intro of nine seconds and the song at 2:25 minutes. "Let's
Make It" saw its album version of 4:05 minutes only shortened a little to
3:50 minutes. Damn shame its not on here too, but the Magic Records double-disc
that does have the A-side is deleted and therefore hiking it with a huge price
tag.
The Hook plays fantastic
guitar on "Boogie Chillen No. 2" as he shouts "I Feel Good!"
enjoying the band cooking up a bass and drums driving chug. He mixes and
matches lyrics from so many Blues references into "It's All Right" –
a genuinely superb addition. You can so hear the band just digging being in the
same room as the great Blues legend. Cool and then some...
I got my copy on a well-known
auction site for under £20 though I've seen this Japanese beauty go for about
£25 or a little above that. "I heard that whistle blow...comin' down the
railroad track...hey hey..."
Let that child boogie-woogie,
mama used to say - you gotta let it out! Well he did in the company of admirers
and cohorts and weren’t we the better for it. Go Johnny Go...
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