How does any blues fan not love John Lee Hooker? Now you can appreciate him even more on watching Cook With The Hook: Live In 1974 DVD, filmed on the afternoon of the Down in The Dumps music festival held at a Gardner, Massachusetts landfill in the summer of 1974. This is a black and white film document of a six-song, 45 minute set of ‘The Hook’ doing what he always did best – playing the blues center stage with a tight four-piece behind him.
Starting with “It Serves You Right To Suffer,” the man of the hour’s guitar is loud and slinky, his voice a low-down growl as we get a pretty good three-camera take on the afternoon slot. “Sweet Sweet Thing” chunks along, showcasing Hooker’s other lead guitarist more than the man himself and there are some cool and fast camera cuts to the crowd, well behind a fence at this less-than-optimum spot to stage a show.
“Boom Boom Boom” fares best out of everything here. Hooker is in fine low growl and he even takes some nice single-note leads, playing with and off his guitarists’ lead. The last two songs, “Boogie” and then what’s titled “Encore/Medley,” are basically one-riff boogie numbers. Hooker finds himself at the mike only at the very end, letting his more the competent band deliver the music. Cook With The Hook: Live In 1974 captures John Lee Hooker in his more-or-less middle years, commanding the stage with his cool demeanor and blues-soaked bark.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
