Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Should you choose to fall for the charms, the determination and the blistering Blues of Jane Lee Hooker, should the infectious demands of gravel toned vocals obliterate any doubts placed in the way of just what is in store as the groove and blues start to delve between the ribs and cause the heart to pound, then you know just how superb the feeling of nostalgic punches to the musical gut are, just how dominating Jane Lee Hooker are with their debut album, No B!
Many who find themselves in the company of New York’s finest tend to only think of certain areas, only one of the main boroughs as producing anything of importance or satisfaction, yet from out of Brooklyn rocket fuel is added to the Blues anthems, the taste of high octane energy is rife in the air and the impending explosion is one that is keenly anticipated.
The explosion comes quickly, it bounds with quicksilver and is felt beyond the confines of Manhattan’s Battery Park, it blisters and oozes sentiment and before long the first peaks of volcanic intent are to be felt grumbling away with the desire of want. This is no Sunday afternoon walk in the park, safe with bird song and the babbling innocence of water playfully stirring happiness, this is an album of relentless passion, of raw obsession with the genre and one that holds everything together with the vice like grip of a dominatrix teaching nuns not to be worry about the delight of rage and combustible energy they are about to experience.
Dana ‘Danger’ Athens’ vocals offer the ballsy punch of fury that just makes the hairs on the back of the neck bristle with joy, that makes them understand the thrill to come and on tracks by celebrated artist such as Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters’ and Johnny Winter, Jane Lee Hooker’s enthusiastic zeal, of the pounding and relentless march, all is made wholesome and creatively beautiful.
Tracks such as Mean Town Blues, Bumble Bee, Champagne and Reefer and Mannish Boy exemplify the feeling of contentment to be found in allowing one of Brooklyn’s finest room in your soul. The fury, the scorching path of female driven Blues is enough to blow holes in anything else you are likely to feel that day, you may as well surrender to what the music has in store for you, because nothing else is going fill it as much as Jane Lee Hooker and No B!
Ian D. Hall