John Lee Hooker Vinyl Discography

Last Updated October 18, 2010
© 2005-2010 Scot A. Pell
Contact email: jlhvinyl

	John Lee Hooker Vinyl Discography

Welcome. This site is dedicated to compiling a complete (if that’s possible) list of all vinyl releases by one of the greatest and most influential blues men to come out of the delta, John Lee Hooker. Hooker’s influence on the Blues and Rock and Roll can still be felt to this day.

Several years ago I decided I would like to obtain the complete discography of my favorite blues artist on vinyl. I had no idea what I was getting myself into………

His recordings have proven difficult to track down. John Lee Hooker’s personal discography eclipses that of many of the labels he recorded for in numbers of releases. Recording under several aliases and constant label hopping has led to an incredibly vast discography. A constant flow reissues, as John Lee was rediscovered by new audiences, only complicate the picture further.

This site is a result of spending the last several years piecing together bits of information from books, web sites, record price guides, other collectors and fans. It is most assuredly a work in progress so any information on additions, corrections or omissions would be greatly appreciated. Jacket and label scans will be posted where available as all pictures on this site are from my personal collection.

Much appreciation is given to Les Fancourt for his book Boogie Chillen’-A Guide To John Lee Hooker on Disc (1992).
The discographical information on this site is based in this book.
Much of the information regarding label variations and release dates was found at Both Sides Now Album Discographies and Global Dog Productions Singles Discographies.
Countless questions were asked and answered by the knowledgeable members and guests of both the Record Collector’s Guild and the Blindman's Blues Forum.

I owe a special thanks to all the collectors and fans who have contacted me with questions, corrections and information. I would also like to take time to personally thank Alan Balfour, George Paulus, Claus Röhnisch, Robert Ford, Dave Sax and Robert Campbell who have so willingly shared their knowledge with me in this endeavor along with the ever elusive "Hollywood Phantom", who taught me that there were names, faces and amazing stories within the matrix numbers and record labels if I took the time to look.

This site is not for buying, selling or trading but is intended to serve as a discographical tool for other collectors and myself. If I occasionally ramble on and wax poetic I apologize but I am after all, first and foremost, a fan.

Although at one point I was planning on adding a sessionography to the site, after working on it for the better part of a year I have decided against it. It was a difficult decision after putting so much effort into it but in the end I came to realize that posting this information would be little more than a plagiarization of other's work. (Believe me it is a lot of work.)
If one wishes to find this information Les Fancourt's discography is available at Blues & Rhythm published in the UK. Gary Hearne's discography, "Rock These Blues Away", The Recordings of John Lee Hooker Since 1981 is also available for download at the site and is an excellent supplement to the '92 discography.
The newly published, Blues Discography 1943-1970 and Bob McGrath's The R&B Indies are valuable resources as well and both are available from Eyeball Productions.
John Lee Hooker-The Worlds Greatest Blues Singer , a site operated by Claus Röhnisch, also has a fantastic sessionography running the first Detroit demos to John Lee's final recordings. The site also contains fantastic information on CD reissues as well as some great audio and video links.

Robert Ford has graciously allowed me to post an excerpt from the second edition of The Blues Bibliography. Published by Routledge, this massive hardcover edition holds well over 25,000 entries on 1400 pages covering classic acoustic and modern blues and R&B artists and is available on most on line book sites.
Click here to view the John Lee Hooker entry in this bibliography.

Blues writer Jas Obrecht had posted his interview with John Lee Hooker that first appeared in Living Blues in 1997. Read this and many other interesting articles at www.jasobrecht.com

Revision Notes October 18, 2010
After considerable prodding from several fans and collectors I have added the audiophile (a term I've never really liked) reissues by Analogue Prodcutions and Classic Records. I've found what must be the 10th or 11th reissue of the Advent lp No Friend Around of a French label, Concert Hall. There's also the first JLH release I've seen on Checker, (although this UK lp may have little relation the Chess subsidiary) and added a release for the Canadian label Regency. Lastly are some 45s pressed by Festival Australia for Chameleon.

Some new scans are posted for Riverside (rounding out my UK/French EP collection) and the US Riverside 45-438. A stock copy of Vee Jay 45 397 has been added bringing me one record away from completing this section of Hooker's discography along with an interesting label variation on the Regal label. Other scans have been added to Top Rank, Specialty UK and America.

Along with the additions there has been some general house cleaning. Along with fixing some bum links and correcting typos, I have made a correction to a long standing listing in the Krazy Kat section of the discography. I have also added links to Jas Obrecht's music blog above and Claus Röhnisch's sessionography in the UAMG acetate listing.


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United States Releases
John Lee Hooker's recording career began in Detroit in 1948. Hundreds of sides would be released on dozens of labels over the next five decades.

Chance Modern 45 Chess Vee Jay

A
ABC
Acorn
Analogue-Productions
ATCO
Atlantic
Audio Fidelity
Audio Lab

B-D
Battle
Bluesway
Brylen
Buddah
Chameleon
Chance
Chart
Chess
Classic Records
Cleve
Collectables
Crown
Custom
Danceland
Decca (US)
Deluxe
Dynasty

E-H
Eagle
Elmor
Everest
Excello
Exodus

Fantasy
Federal
Fortune
Galaxy
GNP
Gone
Gotham
Greene Bottle
Guest Star
Hi-Q

I-L
Impulse
Jewel
J-V-B
Kent
King
Labor
Lauren
Liberty
Lunar #2

M-R
MCA
Modern
Modern Oldies
Muse
Oldies 45
Pausa
Pickwick
Prize
Point Blank (US)

Quest
Regal
Regent
Rhino
Riverside
Rockin’

S-U
Savoy
Sensation
Specialty
Staff
Stax
Swing Time
Tomato
Tradition
Trip
Ultra Sound
UAMG
United Artists
United/Superior
Up Front

V-Z
Vangaurd
Vee Jay
Verve Folkways
Wand

Vee Jay, I'm John Lee Hooker Crown Chess, John Lee Hooker Plays and Sings The Blues Impulse 45 Face To Face

Non-US pressings
Early into this project it became apparent that no John Lee Hooker discography could be complete without including the incredibly vast number of pressings that were only released abroad. Besides reissues there were an amazing number of 45s, EPs and original LPs released in Europe. Listed are many true first pressings or the only vinyl issues aside from the early 78s. In some cases these imports are the only release of the material on vinyl. I owe a great deal of thanks to the many collectors around the world who have contacted me regarding pressings from their home countries that I would have never been able to track down on my own.


	Imports A-E Accion Ace Advent America Antilles Apolo Ariola-MCA Atlantic (UK) Atlantic (FR) Auvi Bellaphon BGO Black and Blue Blue City Brunswick Bulldog BYG Calumet Carrere Carson Chameleon Charly Checker Chess (Int.) Cleo Concert Hall Discophon Doblon Deja Vu Demon DJM Earmark Ember EMI-America Exit Explosive	Imports F-O Fantasy (Int.) Festival Fontana Frog Green Line Globe Goody Happy Bird HMV Instant Jasmine Jazz Odyssey Joker Joy JSP King-lax Krazy Kat London Marble Arch Marfer MCA UK Mediterraneo Movieplay Musidisc New World Official Ornament Overseas Oxford	Imports P-Z Past Perfect Phonic Planet Point Blank Polydor President Probe (UK) Probe (FR) P-Vine Pye (Pye/Chess) Red Lightnin' Regal NZ Regency Riverside (UK) Roots Silvertone Sonet Star Club Stateside Sue Time Wind Tomato Topline Top Rank Visadisc Vivid Sound Vogue Xtra

Various Artists Compilations
The question of whether or not to catalog Various Artist issues is something I'm still wrestling with. There are several at present, scattered about the US and Foreign pressings sections of the site. Although I am not actively cataloging most of these pressings at the moment many are interesting and deserve some mention in the site.
John Lee Hooker Various Artists Issues

As I mentioned this is a work in progress. The non-US section is, I am sure, just scratching the surface. As I discover old and new releases on vinyl I will add them to this site. Please feel free to contact me with your questions, corrections or additions JLHvinyl