Burning Hell

1964 studio album by John Lee Hooker

Burning Hell

Studio album by

John Lee Hooker

Released| 1964 (1964)
Recorded| April 20, 1959
Studio| United Sound Systems, Detroit, Michigan
Genre| Blues
Length| 43:00
Label| Riverside
Producer| Bill Grauer
John Lee Hooker chronology
| John Lee Hooker on Campus
(1963)  | Burning Hell
(1964)  | Concert at Newport
(1964)

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Burning Hell is an album by blues musician John Lee Hooker that was recorded in Detroit in 1959 at the same sessions that produced The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker, but not released by the Riverside label until 1964 in Europe.[1]

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [2]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of The Blues| [3]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide| [4]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings| [5]
Record Mirror| [6]

AllMusic reviewer Richie Unterberger stated: "Burning Hell ranks among John Lee Hooker's most edgy and focused performances. A companion piece to The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker, it finds Hooker singing country-blues, accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar - something he rarely did after traveling north from the Mississippi Delta ... Hooker shows himself to be an excellent interpreter who could have held his own with Delta bluesmen of any era. Although his guitar playing is pretty raw even by blues standards, Hooker more than compensates with his powerful, resonant voice".[2]

## Track listing

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All compositions credited to John Lee Hooker except where noted

1. "Burning Hell" – 3:17
2. "Graveyard Blues" – 3:38
3. "Baby, Please Don't Go" (Big Joe Williams) – 4:49
4. "Jackson, Tennessee" – 3:20
5. "You Live Your Life & I'll Live Mine" – 3:21
6. "Smokestack Lightnin'" (Chester Burnett) – 3:22
7. "How Can You Do It" – 2:57
8. "I Don't Want No Woman If Her Hair Ain't No Longer Than Mine (Short-Haired Woman)" (Sam Hopkins) – 3:15
9. "I Rolled and Turned and Cried the Whole Night Long" – 3:47
10. "Blues for My Baby" – 3:37
11. "Key to the Highway" (Charlie Segar, Big Bill Broonzy) – 3:15
12. "Natchez Fire (Burning)" (Burnett) – 3:02

## Personnel

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* John Lee Hooker – guitar, vocals

## References

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1. ^ "Burning Hell". johnleehooker.com. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
2. ^ a b Unterberger, Ritchie. John Lee Hooker: Burning Hell – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
3. ^ Larkin, Colin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of the Blues. London: Random House. p. 280\. ISBN 9781448132744.
4. ^ Brackett, Christian David Hoard, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David, eds. (2004). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. US: Simon and Schuster. pp. 387. ISBN 9780743201698.
5. ^ Russell, Tony; Smith, Chris (2006). The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin. p. 270\. ISBN 978-0-140-51384-4.
6. ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (27 February 1965). "John Lee Hooker: Burning Hell" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 207\. p. 10\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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