All Our Colors Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, 10-10-1992 - Part 3: John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder

Here's the third album from the "All Our Colors" benefit concert in 1992. For an overview of the concert as a whole, check out my write-up for Part 1. This is a set by blues legend John Lee Hooker. For his entire set, he was backed on slide guitar by Ry Cooder.

If you're a fan of blues music, you should know John Lee Hooker, who is one of the biggest names in the genre. (He died in 2001 in his 80s, his exact age being uncertain.) He had a very long music career, starting with the classic hit single "Boogie Chillen," which was the best selling race record in 1949. By the 1980s, it seemed his best years were behind him. But in 1989, he had a career revival that started with the album "The Healer." It was a hit (for the blues genre), thanks in large part to many guest stars on it, such as Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, and Los Lobos. He repeated the guest star formula with his 1991 album "Mr. Lucky."

However, his relatively short set was pretty different from those albums. He performed without any backing other than Cooder, and generally played songs from much earlier in his career. But it does seem worth mentioning that Cooder helped produce "Mr. Lucky," so I'd guess that's how they started musically collaborating. 

This album is 24 minutes long. 

01 talk (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)
02 Lonely Man (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)
03 talk (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)
04 Serve Me Right to Suffer (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)
05 Hobo Blues (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)
06 Crawling King Snake (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/pM3c2HEf 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/Y9DY1Rm1QRX0CmD/file

The cover image is from this exact concert. That's Hooker on the left (wearing a hat) and Cooder on the right. I used Photoshop to move them a few feet closer together.

B.B. King & Various Artists - The Midnight Special, NBC Studios, Burbank, CA, 8-30-1974

Here's another album from the "Midnight Special" TV show. It's a special one, because it's another musical themed episode. I believe this is the only show that exclusively focused on blues music, at least in the 1973 to 1975 time frame that I've investigated so far. The main host was blues legend B.B. King. However, there were a number of others blues figures too: Paul Butterfield, Jimmy Witherspoon, John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Joe Williams, and Papa John Creach.

Normally, I edit these episodes down to just the music performed by the host, plus maybe one more musical act. But because this episode had a coherent theme, I included all the music. I did cut out some things, as I usually do, such as the theme song at the beginning, and announcements of commercial breaks, as well as announcements of who would be on the show in the next episode. The first track has "[Edit]" in the title, because I removed the usual theme song and replaced it with cheering in the background instead, using the MVSEP program to do so.

The sound quality is excellent throughout. The only problem was that the last song faded out before it really got going. So I don't even know what that song is. I just called it "Outro," since it had B.B. King giving some final words before the fade out started. I considered adding in some extra crowd cheering, but I decided to just keep it as it was, fading out into silence.

The music is excellent as well. I doubt there were many instances of the blues getting this kind of exposure on a national TV show, though admittedly one that was broadcast late at night. One special highlight is "Gettin' It Together," in which blues legends B.B. King and John Lee Hooker joined forces, assisted by violinist Papa John Creach. King and Hooker were actually long-time friends, with both of them starting their musical careers not far from each other, in the late 1940s. 

This album is an hour and four minutes long. 

01 talk [Edit] (B.B. King)
02 Why I Sing the Blues (B.B. King)
03 talk (B.B. King)
04 Meet in the Bottom (Paul Butterfield's Better Days)
05 talk (B.B. King)
06 Nothing's Changed (Jimmy Witherspoon)
07 talk (B.B. King)
08 Boogie with the Hook [Edit] (John Lee Hooker)
09 talk (B.B. King)
10 Ball and Chain (Big Mama Thornton)
11 talk (B.B. King)
12 Who She Do (Joe Williams)
13 I Like to Live the Love (B.B. King)
14 talk (B.B. King)
15 Goin' Down Slow (Bobby 'Blue' Bland)
16 talk (B.B. King)
17 John's Other [Instrumental] (Papa John Creach)
18 talk (B.B. King)
19 Gettin' It Together (B.B. King, John Lee Hooker & Papa John Creach)
20 talk (Wolfman Jack & B.B. King)
21 The Thrill Is Gone (B.B. King)
22 Love Is a Five Letter Word (Jimmy Witherspoon)
23 Tell Me Where to Scratch (Joe Williams)
24 talk (Wolfman Jack & B.B. King)
25 I Got Some Help I Don't Need (B.B. King)
26 Outro (B.B. King)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gLzcWuLc

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/jkeglxL80nYZq0T/file

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, & Papa John Creach.

John Lee Hooker - BBC In Concert, John Lee Hooker and Friends, The Sweetwater, Mill Valley, CA, 1-6-1992

Here is a rather unusual concert as far as concerts in the long-running "BBC In Concert" series go. This primarily stars blues legend John Lee Hooker, but he's joined by different special guests on almost every song: John Hammond, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, and Charlie Musselwhite. The sound quality is excellent despite this being unreleased. The only bummer is that it's rather short, less than an hour long.

A lot of really interesting musical moments happened at the tiny Sweetwater club in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Just two months ago (writing this in February 2025), I posted a 1989 concert that took place there and featured Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and many others. For years, this club was a place where musicians hung out and performed with each other with barely anyone noticing, since the club could fit 100 people at best. 

This is the first and only example I could find of the BBC recording anything at this venue. I'm guessing what happened was that John Lee Hooker was suddenly hip again in the early 1990s after the success of his 1989 album "The Healer." He was 73 years old when it came out. It was the best selling album of his career, largely due to the appearance of many big name guest stars like Carlos Santana, Los Lobos, and Bonnie Raitt. In 1991, he released a similar album with more guest stars, "Mr. Lucky." So the BBC wanted a show from him, but he very rarely made it over to Europe. So they arranged to broadcast a concert from the U.S. And by having it at the Sweetwater, they were able to get some more guest stars to show up, since that kind of thing happened there a lot anyway. (For instance, Carlos Santana played many songs with Hooker at a Sweetwater concert in 1989.)

Many of these guest-filled Sweetwater shows from that era have somehow become soundboard quality bootlegs. But this one has not, as far as I know. So we're damn lucky that the BBC was there to record it. It's a shame that we only get six songs, but that's better than nothing. And what we do have sound great. (Given that Albert Collins was included in a group photo from this concert, I'll bet he was involved on stage somehow.)

John Hammond, Ry Cooder, and Charlie Musselwhite only helped out either on guitar or harmonica. But Bonnie Raitt dueted with Hooker on "I'm in the Mood" as well as playing slide guitar on that one and one other, and Robert Cray dueted with him on "Mr. Lucky" as well as playing lead guitar on that one too.

This album is 43 minutes long.

01 Father Was a Jockey (John Lee Hooker with John Hammond)
02 talk (John Lee Hooker)
03 Crawling King Snake (John Lee Hooker with Ry Cooder)
04 talk (John Lee Hooker)
05 I'm in the Mood (John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt)
06 talk (John Lee Hooker)
07 I Want to Hug You (John Lee Hooker)
08 talk (John Lee Hooker)
09 Mr. Lucky (John Lee Hooker & Robert Cray)
10 talk (John Lee Hooker)
11 Boogie Chillun (John Lee Hooker with Charlie Musselwhite & Bonnie Raitt)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/heJTdFet

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/1eZ4xI4Sd9qzl7A/file

The cover photo must have been taken either right before or after this concert, because it's from the same date and location. However, I cropped it, because off to the left it also show Johnnie Johnson and Roy Rogers in the top row and Albert Collins in the bottom row. I especially didn't want to mislead people into thinking this had Albert Collins on it by having his picture on the cover.

Foghat and Friends - New York Library Benefit Concert, The Palladium, New York City, 9-30-1977

Here's a very unique concert. It has less to do with Foghat and more their special guests, who were blues and R&B legends like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Winter, and Otis Blackwell.

Foghat is a rock band best known for their 1970s hits "Slow Ride" and "I Just Want to Make Love to You." But the band members were students of the blues. So when the band put together this benefit concert to be broadcast on national TV, they used it as kind of a way to educate the public about blues music. Only the first two songs were performed just by Foghat. After that, the guest stars generally took over, with Foghat only being the backing band. 

All we have of this concert is what made it onto the hour-long TV broadcast. That included some short voice-overs that introduced the guest stars. I just wanted to hear the concert with that, so I cut those bits out whenever possible. When the voice-overs went over the music, I used the UVR5 audio editing program to remove the talking while keeping the underlying music. That's why a few songs have "[Edit]" in their titles.

As the show went on, some of the guests stayed on stage. By the last song, "I Just Want to Make Love to You," pretty much everyone was on stage. The song was originally performed by Muddy Waters, and he dominated the performance. But John Lee Hooker, Foghat, and some others had turns singing some of the lead vocals.

I believe everything from this concert remains officially unreleased. But if you want to see it was well as heard it, you should be able to find the video of it on YouTube.

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 Sweet Home Chicago (Foghat)
02 talk (Foghat)
03 It Hurts Me Too (Foghat)
04 My Baby's Gone [Edit] (Foghat & David 'Honeyboy' Edwards)
05 talk (Foghat)
06 Done Somebody Wrong [Edit] (Foghat & Eddie Kirkland)
07 Love Light [Instrumental] (Foghat & Eddie Kirkland)
08 talk (Foghat)
09 Shake Your Money Maker [Edit] (Foghat & Paul Butterfield)
10 Crawling King Snake (Foghat & John Lee Hooker)
11 talk (Foghat)
12 All Shook Up [Edit] (Foghat & Otis Blackwell)
13 talk (Foghat & Otis Blackwell)
14 Don't Be Cruel (Foghat & Otis Blackwell)
15 talk (Foghat & Johnny Winter)
16 Last Night (Foghat & Johnny Winter)
17 talk (Foghat & Muddy Waters)
18 Hoochie Coochie Man (Foghat & Muddy Waters)
19 I Just Want to Make Love to You (Foghat, Muddy Waters & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/etpduLpH

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/5biynw2DBpUZmMR/file

The cover comes from this exact concert. I believe that's Dave Peverett, lead vocalist of Foghat, with Muddy Waters looking at him.

Tom P*tty & the Heartbreakers with John Lee Hooker - The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, 2-7-1997

Here's a great Tom P. and the Heartbreakers concert.

(Note that I'm not using the full name of this artist due to concerns about copyright issues.)  

This concert is part of P.'s month-long series of concerts at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1997. I previously posted another one of those concerts, which took place on January 26, 1997, just two weeks prior to this one. You can find that here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/06/tom-petty-heartbreakers-with-carl.html

There's a lot of similarities between the two concerts, with many of the same songs played. He even had some of the same between song banter and told the same story during his long version of "Gloria." However, both versions are very much worth hearing, or I wouldn't be posting both. The two concerts stand out from all those 1997 Fillmore shows mostly due to sound quality. Both were professionally recorded and played live on the radio, so the sound quality is excellent. Plus, each one had a special guest. That other concert had rockabilly legend Carl Perkins, and this one had blues legend John Lee Hooker.

But this one is probably even better than the other one, if only due to sheer length. That one is two hours and 19 minutes long, whereas this one is three hours and eight minutes long. So it's nearly an hour longer! I just calculated the stats. There are 22 songs played at both concerts. Eight more songs were only played at the first one, and 18 more were only played at this one. Those 18 extra songs would total about an hour and a half, enough for a typical concert in and of itself!

I didn't have much that needed tinkering. However, for three songs (including the last one), the recording can to a sudden end immediately when the song ended, leaving a gap of silence where the audience response should have been. So for those three, I patched in audience applause from other songs.

In 2022, a box set was released called "Live at the Fillmore." Seventeen songs from this concert appeared on that: Jammin' Me, Time Is on My Side, I Want You Back Again, You Really Got Me, American Girl, Boogie Chillun, Serves You Right to Suffer, Find My Baby [Locked Up in Love Again], I Got a Woman, Free Fallin', Shakin' All Over, Mary Jane's Last Dance, Bye Bye Johnny, [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction, It's All Over Now, Louie, Louie, and Alright for Now. While that's a lot, there were another 23 songs that still remain unreleased.

I'm not including the track list due to copyright issues. But you can find it in the mp3 download file.

https://pixeldrain.com/u/q59eDDhV

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/WHiqC8gOmKkm447/file

I couldn't find any photo for the album cover art from the exact night in question. However, I believe John Lee Hooker was a guest on this night, plus again three nights later. I was able to find a good photo that includes him from that other night. He's sitting down, Tom P. is standing up with a harmonica, and you can see two more band members behind them.

Bonnie Raitt - Baby Mine - Non-Album Tracks (1988-1989)

Bonnie Raitt had one of the most dramatic late career popularity surges in the history of rock. To be honest, she never was that popular from the start of her career in the early 1970s until the late 1980s. She only had one Top 40 hit, a cover of "Runaway," in 1977. By the mid-1980s, a drug habit and changing musical trends meant she fell so low that she lost her record contract. She had to resume touring as a solo acoustic artist because she couldn't afford to pay a band. She turned 40 in 1989, which was practically the kiss of death for female musicians, given the usual focus on youth and beauty. But she kicked her drug habit and revitalized herself musically. Her 1989 album "Nick of Time" became an unexpected hit, selling five million copies and turning her into a musical superstar.

This stray tracks album covers the time of her musical rebirth. Most of the songs on it actually come before the release of "Nick of Time," but one can hear her musical revitalization throughout all of it. The second wind for her career began with the first song here, "Baby Mine," because during the recording of that song for a various artists compilation, she met producer Don Was of the band Was (Not Was). Was was produced "Nick of Time," and was instrumental in giving her the right production that allowed her to succeed so dramatically.

Raitt has always been very open to performing duets and other musical collaborations. There are a lot of those here. She collaborates with some of her very favorite musicians, like Little Feat, Dr. John, and NRBQ. Some of the songs come from other people's albums or various artists compilations, but more (seven out of the 12 songs) are from unreleased concert bootlegs. However, the sound on all of those are really good, probably soundboard recordings for most or all of them.

01 Baby Mine (Bonnie Raitt & Was (Not Was))
02 Somebody's on Your Case (Katie Webster & Bonnie Raitt)
03 Love Ain't No Triple Play (Dr. John & Bonnie Raitt with Bennie Wallace)
04 I'm Never Afraid [To Say What's on My Mind] (Bonnie Raitt)
05 El Salvador (Bonnie Raitt)
06 The End of the World (Bonnie Raitt & NRBQ)
07 The Last Time (Bonnie Raitt & NRBQ)
08 Man Sized Job (Bonnie Raitt with Little Feat)
09 Rock and Roll Doctor (Bonnie Raitt & Little Feat)
10 I'm in the Mood (John Lee Hooker with Bonnie Raitt)
11 Born in the Country (Bonnie Raitt)
12 Up the Country Blues [Ragtime Show] (Bonnie Raitt)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FEFhc3dW

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/orS3GnU0MRXzsLJ/file

The cover art photo is of Raitt in concert in 1988. In 2025, I thought the image was still blurry and low-res, so I added detail with the Krea AI program.