John Lee Hooker's recordings for Virgin/Point Blank may have varied in quality, but never in formula.
Once The Healer earned reams of praise and, more importantly, solid sales upon its 1989 release, it was pretty much set in stone that every future Hooker album would be painstakingly constructed and boast a plethora of superstar cameos.
The guest stars were designed to bring in a larger audience, who would hopefully be impressed enough to stick around for Hooker's solid stuff, which was usually better than the attention-grabbing, star-studded tracks.
Of course, the names are what sold, and Virgin did not overlook that fact, choosing to assemble a collection of highlights titled The Best of Friends in 1998.
The title refers to the superstar duets, and while this very well may be the best of those cuts -- well, almost all of the duets are here, including both the sublime ("I Cover the Waterfront," with Van Morrison) and the mediocre -- this stuff still isn't as good as Hooker's solo recordings from this era.
Which means this disc is primarily for listeners who like to think they like Hooker, but they really just want to hear Eric Clapton wail away.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boogie Chillen'John Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 04:36 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 2 | This Is HipJohn Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 03:26 | 7 MB | 23 MB |
| 3 | The HealerJohn Lee Hooker, Roy Rogers, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson | John Lee Hooker | Play | 05:40 | 12 MB | 38 MB |
| 4 | I Cover the WaterfrontJohn Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 06:42 | 15 MB | 37 MB |
| 5 | Boom BoomJohn Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 04:19 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 6 | I'm in the MoodBernard Besman, John Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 7 | Burning HellBernard Besman, John Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 8 | TupeloJohn Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 03:55 | 9 MB | 20 MB |
| 9 | Baby LeeJames C. Bracken, John Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 10 | DimplesJames C. Bracken, John Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 04:02 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 11 | Chill Out (Things Gonna Change)John Lee Hooker, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson | John Lee Hooker | Play | 04:47 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 12 | Big Legs, Tight SkirtJohn Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 06:02 | 13 MB | 36 MB |
| 13 | Don't Look BackJohn Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | Play | 06:44 | 15 MB | 33 MB |
| 63 mins | 145 MB | |||||
| 63 mins | 389 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | José Chepitó Areas | Timbales |
| 2 | Eric Barber | Sax (Bass) |
| 3 | David Bard | Mastering |
| 4 | Steve Berlin | Sax (Baritone) |
| 5 | Gil Bernal | Sax (Tenor), Vocals |
| 6 | Bernard Besman | Composer |
| 7 | Gaylord Birch | Drums |
| 8 | Victor Bisetti | Drums |
| 9 | Jerry Boys | Engineer, Mixing |
| 10 | James C. Bracken | Composer |
| 11 | Charles Brown | Keyboards |
| 12 | Dean Butterworth | Drums |
| 13 | Mario Caldato, Jr. | Engineer, Producer |
| 14 | Danny Caron | Guitar |
| 15 | Leon "Ndugu" Chancler | Drums |
| 16 | Eric Clapton | Guest Artist, Guitar |
| 17 | Joachim Cooder | Drums |
| 18 | Ry Cooder | Guest Artist, Guitar, Producer |
| 19 | Richard Cousins | Bass |
| 20 | Robert Cray | Guitar |
| 21 | Maurice Cridlin | Bass |
| 22 | Ruth Davies | Bass (Acoustic) |
| 23 | Terry Evans | Vocals |
| 24 | Arne Frager | Engineer |
| 25 | Jim Gaines | Engineer, Producer |
| 26 | William "Bill" Greene | Vocals |
| 27 | Bernie Grundman | Mastering |
| 28 | Ben Harper | Guest Artist, Guitar |
| 29 | Kevin Hayes | Drums |
| 30 | David Hidalgo | Guitar |
| 31 | John Lee Hooker | Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 32 | Johnnie Johnson | Piano |
| 33 | Booker T. Jones | Organ |
| 34 | Mike Kappus | Executive Producer, Producer, Representation |
| 35 | Jim Keltner | Drums |
| 36 | Bobby King | Vocals |
| 37 | Rich Kirch | Guitar |
| 38 | Samuel Lehmer | Engineer |
| 39 | Herman Leonard | Photography |
| 40 | Bruce Licher | Art Direction, Artwork, Design |
| 41 | Los Lobos | Guest Artist, Producer |
| 42 | John "Juke" Logan | Harmonica |
| 43 | Nick Lowe | Bass |
| 44 | Conrad Lozano | Bass |
| 45 | Scott Mathews | Drums |
| 46 | Reggie McBride | Bass |
| 47 | Joe McGrath | Mixing |
| 48 | Van Morrison | Guest Artist, Guitar, Producer, Vocals |
| 49 | Charlie Musselwhite | Guest Artist, Harmonica |
| 50 | Juan Nelson | Bass |
| 51 | Bill Payne | Keyboards |
| 52 | Armando Peraza | Congas |
| 53 | Karl Perazzo | Timbales |
| 54 | Jean Pierre Plunier | Producer |
| 55 | John Porter | Mixing, Producer |
| 56 | Jim Pugh | Keyboards |
| 57 | Bonnie Raitt | Guest Artist, Slide Guitar, Vocals |
| 58 | Raul Rekow | Congas |
| 59 | Benny Rietveld | Bass |
| 60 | Roy Rogers | Composer, Guitar, Producer |
| 61 | Rail Jon Rogut | Engineer |
| 62 | Cesar Rosas | Guitar |
| 63 | Carlos Santana | Composer, Guest Artist, Guitar, Producer |
| 64 | Johnny Lee Schell | Guitar |
| 65 | Allen Sides | Engineer, Mixing |
| 66 | Jim Stern | Mixing |
| 67 | Samuel Taylor | Bass |
| 68 | Chester Thompson | Composer, Keyboards, Synthesizer |
| 69 | Ike Turner | Piano |
| 70 | Jimmie Vaughan | Guitar |
| 71 | Hank Waring | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |