Description
John Lee Hooker – Burnin’ – 180 Gram Vinyl Record
60th Anniversary Edition
The highly influential 1962 album featuring Hooker’s iconic signature hit, “Boom Boom”
Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Coherent Audio
Pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a tip-on jacket replicating the original Vee-Jay Records package
Recorded in a single Chicago session on October 26, 1961, and issued by Vee-Jay Records in 1962, Burnin’ finds John Lee Hooker backed by members of Motown’s legendary Funk Brothers—among them Joe Hunter on piano, James Jamerson on bass, Benny Benjamin on drums, and Hank Cosby and Andrew “Mike” Terry on tenor and baritone saxophones respectively—with Hooker supplying his trademark deep-groove guitar and hypnotic vocals. Produced by Calvin Carter, the album clocks in at just over thirty-one minutes and showcases Hooker’s electric Delta-blues style amplified into a lean, danceable band format.
The record’s centerpiece is indisputably “Boom Boom,” Hooker’s most enduring hit. Released as a single in spring 1962, it climbed to No. 16 on Billboard’s R&B chart and crossed over to reach No. 60 on the Hot 100, later becoming a British Top 20 hit after its 1992 reissue. Over a taut 2:32, Hooker deploys his signature call-and-response vocal hook—“Boom boom boom boom!”—while the Funk Brothers lock into a churning backbeat, laying the blueprint for countless blues-rock adaptations to follow.
Beyond its signature single, Burnin’ unfolds across eleven more compositions—each credited to Hooker—that blend raw emotion with rhythmic propulsion. Tracks like “Blues Before Sunrise” and “Drug Store Woman” find Hooker alternating between mournful minor-key laments and gritty, up-tempo shuffles, while “Process” and “A New Leaf” underscore his gift for simple but evocative riffing. Throughout, the tight horn arrangements add depth without detracting from the primal directness of Hooker’s guitar and voice, giving the album a richly textured yet unpretentious feel.
Critics have long celebrated Burnin’ as one of Hooker’s most spirited full-band efforts. Over six decades since its release, Burnin’ remains a touchstone of urban electric blues, demonstrating how Hooker’s hypnotic one-chord vamps and impassioned vocals could ignite the dancefloor and influence generations of rock and R&B artists. Its enduring legacy is affirmed by frequent reissues—most recently a 60th-anniversary expanded edition remastered from the original analog tapes—and by its continued rotation on blues and classic-rock radio, where “Boom Boom” still commands attention as a paradigm of Hooker’s timeless groove.
Brand new, never played and still in the factory plastic sealed
Track Listing
Boom Boom
Process
Lost A Good Girl
A New Leaf
Blues Before Sunrise
Let’s Make It
I Got A Letter
Thelma
Drug Store Woman
Keep Your Hands To Yourself
What Do You Say
