By Phillip Smith ; Oct. 30, 2010
Many times live CDs take the
low road as studio recordings take the high road, in regards to quality and
sound. Recorded live at the Efes Pilsen
Blues Festival, in Istanbul, Live in Istanbul Turkey, by John Lee Hooker
Jr. definitely takes the high road and
proves a live CD can be as much rewarding, if not more, than its studio
recorded counterpart.
Backed by a large entourage
of musicians, which include a fantastic horn section, John Lee Hooker, Jr.
offers up eleven original songs, and a couple of covers. Those being, “Boom Boom“ and “Maudie”, originally recorded by his father, the late
John Lee Hooker. Along side Hooker, on
guitar, is Jeff Horan. He plays with a
certain precision sure to make Hooker Sr. proud.
“Suspicious”, references
mobile phones, McDonalds, and smoking crack as it deals with the paranoia
associated with a cheating significant other.
It is cleverly written and a pleasure to listen to. It’s hard to be paranoid without being
easily irritated as well. Hooker seems
to be eaten up with bitterness, as he denounces the economy, bank foreclosures,
and false friends, in another favorite original, “Fed Up”.
Hooker turns his frown upside
down next, as he breaks out the funk on “Funky Funk”. If this one sounds a bit familiar, it’s because
he incorporates the chorus and other pieces from Rufus Thomas’s “Walking The
Dog”. It’s a fun song. Paying homage to his father‘s classic, “Boogie
Chillen”, Hooker Jr. serves up a tasty dish with “Doin’ The Boogie”. It lasts almost eleven minutes in length,
and showcases a solo performance by each
musician on stage before turning into a tremendous jam session.
It’s easy to mentally place
oneself on location, in Istanbul, at
this concert, while listening to this disc.
The music is so enjoyable one could not help but want to have been
there. The enthusiasm on stage is
electrical. This is the magic that gives
Live in Istanbul Turkey its appeal.
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