John Lee Hooker – Burning Hell + 4 Bonus Tracks – LP

One of John Lee Hooker's lesser-known gems from his most inspired years, Burning Hell was recorded in Detroit during April 1959. Hooker only plays acoustic guitar throughout the album, which is a country blues classic, and sings straight to the bone with his soul drenched vocal delivery. It was Hooker's second LP packaged for the folk/ traditional blues market (following The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker, issued in 1959). Burning Hell is quite different from his earlier recordings, most of which had featured Hooker on an electric guitar with his trademark reverb and stomping foot. Folk purists of the day were delighted with this long play, believing Hooker had returned to his roots, leaving the "glitzy commercialism" of R&B behind.