About

The 1966 John Lee Hooker album Real Folk Blues is the latest of several Chess Records' Real Folk Blues albums to be reissued for 2026 as part of the Chess Records 75 Series from Chess Records and Acoustic Sounds. Whereas the rest of the LPs in the series by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and others were compilations of older recordings, the Hooker album was newly recorded in May of 1966 in Chicago. Hooker was his inimitable and spontaneous self, reworking some of his older songs and improvising new ones, accompanied by his Detroit guitarist Eddie Burns and Chicago sidemen Lafayette Leake and S.P. Leary. — (via Label)

—

Listeners wanting to find a comprehensive collection of Hooker's work may not find it here, but they certainly won't be disappointed once the needle hits the grooves on this solid 1966 Chess release by the blues master. Featuring nine Hooker originals, the set is a fetching mix of raucously fun up-tempo cuts ("Let's Go Out Tonight") and starkly slow classics ("Stella Mae"). And in between, one can sample classics like "I'm in the Mood" and the incredible ballad closer, "The Waterfront." — (via AllMusic)

—

— Reissued as part of Chess Records 75 Series / Acoustic Sounds Series
— Remastered from the original analog tapes
— Pressed on 180-gram vinyl
— Housed in tip-on gatefold sleeves printed on high-grade board

↓
Label: Chess Records / Analogue Productions
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Gatefold, 180 Gram
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1966
Genre: Blues
Style: Country Blues, Chicago Blues

File under: Audiophile Jazz
⦿