The Early Years (1994)

About this title: Hooker's voluminous output for Vee-Jay Records is scattered across numerous compilations. This double CD contains 31 songs spanning the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s, and is probably the most extensive and satisfying retrospective of his Vee-Jay work (at least domestically). That's not to say it's perfectly assembled; Tomato, as usual, declines to include trimmings like songwriter credits, although Pete Welding's liner notes do (unlike most Tomato releases) provide dates and discuss the sessions in some detail. Hooker's Vee-Jay material was in most ways the most commercially-minded of his early ... read more

Tracks:

1. You Ain't No Big Thing [Hooker]
2. Big Legs, Tight Skirt [Hooker]
3. My Grinding Mill [Hooker]
4. Whiskey and Wimmen' [Hooker]
5. No Shoes [Hooker]
6. I'm So Excited [Bracken/Hooker]
7. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer [Hooker]
8. Bottle up and Go [Hooker]
9. One Way Ticket [Hunter/Keller]
10. Half a Stranger [Sykes]
11. Lost a Good Girl [Hooker]
12. I Wanna Walk [Hooker]
13. Dimples [Bracken/Hooker]
14. Let's Make It [Hooker]
15. House Rent Boogie [Besman/Hooker]
16. Baby Lee [Bracken/Hooker]
17. Boom Boom [Hooker]
18. Old Time Shimmy [Hooker]
19. I Want to Hug You [Hooker/Ling]
20. I'm Leaving [Charles/Hooker]
21. Good Rockin' Mama [Besman/Hooker]
22. Dusty Road [Hooker]
23. Hard Hearted Woman [Horton]
24. Thelma [Hooker]
25. Onions [Hooker]
26. Keep Your Hands to Yourself [Hooker]
27. I Want to Shout [Hooker]
28. Time Is Marching [Hooker]
29. Send Me Your Pillow [Hooker]
30. I Want to Ramble [Hooker]
31. I'm Going Upstairs [Hooker]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.