John Lee Hooker: Live in Montreal

There's the bogeyman, and then there's the boogie man: the late blues singer John Lee Hooker was some of both. With his lowdown, moaning voice and hypnotic, occasionally unpredictable style, Hooker could be a bit intimidating, if not actually scary; on the other hand, his distinctive blues-boogie sound had plenty of humor and high spirits. This 1980 concert finds him in good form, backed by a capable if unspectacular guitar-bass-drums trio, and serving up some of his best known material (“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” “Boom Boom”), along with lesser known fare, pretty much all of it revolving around sex, drinking, food, and evil women--i.e., the blues basics. In his sixties when this was filmed, Hooker spends most of the show sitting down, but his guitar playing and singing are strong, and when the band kicks it into high gear, as they do on the extended show closer “We're Gonna Do the Shout,” they genuinely rock the house. Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Graham)