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Rating: "Travelin'" is the second LP by John Lee Hooker, recorded and released in 1960, a year after the previous "I'm John Lee Hooker", also pressed by Vee Jay Records. Unlike the first album, this one contains all songs recorded in a single session and features "Hook" accompanied by: Lefty Bates on second guitar, Sylvester Hickman on bass, and Jimmy Turner on drums.
I immediately dispel any doubts for the reader, if "I'm John Lee Hooker" is a milestone, for me, this is not just one of the best records he has recorded, but I consider it one of his masterpieces, confirming, if there was ever a need (and I mean even at that time) that Lee is one of the most important and influential bluesmen of all time.
The slow and sad "No Shoes", sung in Lee's characteristic talking blues style, opens the album in the best way, and immediately immerses us in the atmosphere of the entire LP: a journey that is not only physical but also psychological, traversing the dark moments of his/our soul, without embellishments and easy pathos, as is in the nature of "Hook", but I would say of the best blues in general.
"I'm A Strange" penetrates the listener's soul with its melancholic and wandering air. Another piece I adore, with decidedly erotic lyrics, is the limping yet biting and vibrant "Solid Sender", deadly precisely because of a strongly skeletal structure that clearly highlights John Lee's interpretative and expressive power.
Among the other songs on this LP, there is also the first version of what will become a classic of "Hook", namely "Whiskey And Wimmen", the story of a man who realizes he is throwing his life away. However, in this session, there are also less somber songs, with a more upbeat rhythm, such as the excellent "Goin' To California", "Dusty Road", and "I’ll Know Tonight".
Even in this album, "Hook"'s guitar is obsessive and tormented, supported by the other musicians as if to reinforce its intentions, because his six-string is there to remind us that daily sadness, more or less acute, perpetuates throughout our existence, but John makes us aware that at times one can also find simple but important moments of joy.
Thank you again, Mr. Boogie Man.
P.S.: With this review, I deviated from my intention as it was my plan, for reasons of time, not to talk about an artist I had already written about (or at least not so soon), but this is a tribute to my Debaserian friend Hell(raiser).
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 No Shoes (02:27)
No food on my table, no shoes to go on my feet,
No food on my table and no shoes to go on my feet,
My children cry for mercy, Lord they ain't got no place to
call their own
06 Whiskey and Wimmen (02:59)
Whiskey and Wimmin almost wrecked my life
Whiskey and wimmin almost wrecked my life
Werent for whiskey and wimmin, i have money today (play *Tag*)
Nightlife Nightlife Nightlife
aint no good aint no good for me
I had a good start but wimmin and whiskey tore it down
Whiskey and Wimmin aint no good for me
Whiskey and wimmin aint no good aint no good for me
I had a lot of money, and big fine car, but i lost everything i had
aw i did
Complimentary "Wiskey and wimmen'
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