John Lee Hooker – Don’t Turn Me From Your Door (Speakers Corner Vinyl LP)

The numbers on this 1963 LP bear witness to the fact that John Lee Hooker’s musical language could stir one’s emotions deeply, even without the meaty ‘boom boom’. Each title is like a raw diamond, which is intentionally uncut and is to be perceived with directness. With a stutter and a slur in his speech, the singer declaims his song over a twangy guitar, which is driven along by the rhythmic meter. A final farewell is taken sluggishly and sullenly in the forthright text of “You Lost A Good Man,” and even a song without words (“Misbelieving Baby”) ponders a question in a purely instrumental monologue. Apart from a dash of boogie (“Pouring Down Rain”) Hooker avoids all manner of sweet sounds and harmonies. He remains austerely raw, mercilessly honest, occasionally unforgiving and denies all thoughts of any kind regarding going ‘back to the roots’. Speakers Corner 180g vinyl LP reissue remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.

1. Stuttering Blues
2. Wobbling Baby
3. You Lost A Good Man
4. Love My Baby
5. Misbelieving Baby
6. Drifting Blues
7. Don’t Turn Me From Your Door
8. My Baby Don’t Love Me
9. I Ain’t Got Nobody
10. Real Real Gone
11. Guitar Lovin’ Man
12. Talk About Your Baby