Album Review: John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom

John Lee Hooker’s recording career began in 1948 with the release of his landmark (and r&b #1) single “Boogie Chillen.” Though intended as a demo recording, the side was wildly successful and set a standard for the blues. Hooker’s sustained fame proceeded through distinct eras: in the 1950s to early ‘60s, he placed several more songs on the r&b single chart. After taking part in the traveling American Folk Blues Festival in Europe, he became a sensation there and in the UK.

Remarkably, though, his successful run as an “album artist” came late in his career, between 1971 and the years just before his death in 2001. And it was only in 1989 and beyond that John Lee Hooker truly became an album act on an international level.

Gauging his success through the lens of album sales and chart positions misses the larger point of his importance, but it does help to explain the appearance of Hooker’s 1992 album, Boom Boom. Taking its title from one of his best-known songs, the album – produced by longtime associate, Bay Area guitarist Roy Rogers – Boom Boom leveraged the man’s gravitas with an approach designed to appeal to a wider audience, one whose introduction to the blues often came from blues-adjacent (if sincere) artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Led Zeppelin.

Standing in sharp contrast to the lo-fi aesthetic of “Boogie Chillen,” 1992’s Boom Boom brings modern production values and full-band arrangements to Hooker’s music. It also pairs the venerated bluesman with a few high-profile names, Robert Cray and Albert Collins among them.

On the opening title track, he’s joined by Jimmie Vaughan, fresh off his departure from the Fabulous Thunderbirds. And while in lesser hands the rocking combo’s sound and fury could have drowned out the name artist, even at age 80 Hooker remains in command. The recording likely succeeded in drawing new listeners into Hooker’s orbit.

“I’m Bad Like Jesse James” is more faithfully representative of Hooker’s style, with his sinister and quiet vocals intertwining with equally spare (yet supremely effective) guitar licks. The song has nothing else, and doesn’t need it. The band does return on “Same Old Blues Again,” and guest guitarist Cray serves up a tasty solo.

But “Sugar Mama” is vintage Hooker: just the man and his guitar. The album continues to change things up, balancing solo tracks rooted in signature Hooker style with more contemporary cuts. “Boogie at Russian Hill,” however, has it both ways. Collins is searing on lead guitar, and the band chugs along, but anyone listening will know that it’s still the John Lee Hooker Show.

“Hittin’ the Bottle Again” is a showstopper, with Hooker and a National Steel guitar. “Bottle Up and Go” applies subtle band backing to a classic. The haunting “Thought I Heard” is as spare as can be, and all the better for it. “I Ain’t Gonna Suffer No More” is a deft balance of classic and modern. And that description is an apt way to sum up Boom Boom, a late-period gem of an album from the blues master.