The Best of Friends

by John Lee Hooker

Overview

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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	01/10/2025
Label:	Imports
UPC:	4099964049220

Album Credits

Performance Credits

John Lee Hooker   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Charles Brown   Primary Artist,Keyboards,Featured Artist,Keyboards
Los Lobos   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Featured Artist
Ben Harper   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Guitar,Featured Artist,Guitar
Jimmie Vaughan   Primary Artist,Guitar,Featured Artist
Van Morrison   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Featured Artist
Eric Clapton   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Guitar,Featured Artist
Ry Cooder   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Guitar,Featured Artist
Carlos Santana   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Guitar,Featured Artist
Bonnie Raitt   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Slide Guitar
Ike Turner   Primary Artist,Piano,Featured Artist
Robert Cray   Primary Artist,Guitar
Charlie Musselwhite   Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Harmonica
Samuel Taylor   Bass
Bobby King   Vocals,Vocals
Eric Barber   Sax (Bass)
Jim Pugh   Keyboards
Karl Perazzo   Timbales
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler   Drums
Michael Osborn   Guitar
Raul Rekow   Congas
Reggie McBride   Bass
Gil Bernal   Vocals,Sax (Tenor)
Juan Nelson   Bass
Danny Caron   Guitar
Steve Ehrmann   Bass
Gaylord Birch   Drums
Booker T. Jones   Organ,Featured Artist
Roy Rogers   Guitar
Dean Butterworth   Drums
Victor Bisetti   Drums
John "Juke" Logan   Harmonica
David Hidalgo   Guitar
Rich Kirch   Guitar
Jim Keltner   Drums
Nick Lowe   Bass
Armando Peraza   Congas
Willie Greene   Vocals
William "Bill" Greene   Vocals
Maurice Cridlin   Bass
Chester Thompson   Keyboards,Synthesizer
Terry Evans   Vocals
Steve Berlin   Sax (Baritone)
Benny Rietveld   Bass
Kevin Hayes   Drums
Bill Payne   Keyboards
Ruth Davies   Bass (Acoustic)
Conrad Lozano   Bass
Joachim Cooder   Drums
Cesar Rosas   Guitar
Johnnie Johnson   Piano
Johnny Lee Schell   Guitar
Jose "Chepito" Areas   Timbales
Scott Mathews   Drums
Richard Cousins   Bass

Technical Credits

James Bracken   Composer
Lynn Pini   Composer
Jim Gaines   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
John Porter   Mixing,Producer
Mario Caldato, Jr.   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Mike Kappus   Producer,Representation,Executive Producer
Arne Frager   Mixing,Engineer
Roy Rogers   Composer,Producer
Jean Pierre Plunier   Producer
John Lee Hooker   Composer,Lyricist
Samuel Lehmer   Mixing,Engineer
Jim Stern   Mixing
Bruce Licher   Design,Artwork,Art Direction
Chester Thompson   Composer
Herman Leonard   Photography
Hank Waring   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
David Bard   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Jimmy Bracken   Composer
Allen Sides   Mixing,Engineer,Recording
Bernard Besman   Composer
Bernie Grundman   Mastering
James C. Bracken   Composer
Joe McGrath   Mixing
Carlos Santana   Composer,Producer
Ry Cooder   Producer
Louie Perez   Musician
Jerry Boys   Mixing,Engineer
Van Morrison   Producer
Rail Jon Rogut   Mixing,Engineer
Los Lobos   Producer