At his best, Earl Hooker is a nonpareil blues guitarist. He has a flawless command of contemporary blues guitar idioms, is an imaginative and witty improviser and, above all, evidences a concern with touch, tone and amplifier sound that is almost unique among the younger bluesmen. And he's not afraid to take chances, to experimental with new tonalities and techniques. All of this has made him the unacknowledged compleat blues guitarist—unacknowledged, that is, except by his peers, for in Chicago he's considered the man to beat—he can do so many things so well, you see.

Outside of that small circle of friends, he's not terribly well known (though this has been changing lately as a result of his West Coast appearances). This may result from his not having enjoyed any great success with his records, most of which have been for small labels with little distribution and promotional facilities. Then, too, his records rarely have excited, never have managed to successfully communicate the intensity he can generate when performing to an appreciative audience. His records have been strangely eclectic rehashes of successful pieces and styles associated with others; they've shown little of his own musical personality, though they've certainly been accomplished enough. On record, he's sounded like an extremely gifted copycat possessing little individuality.

I was reminded of all of this while listening to the Cuca album, a collection of 12 instrumentals with small group accompaniment. Again, there's no doubting Earl's proficiency but, equally, there's no doubting the tired, faceless, secondhand nature of the performances. There's not a bit of distinction or excitement to any of the tracks and damned little of Earl's personality emerges. For one thing he's much too subdued and preoccupied with playing "pretty"—in the most bathetic, obvious sense—and the band is totally subservient to his wishes. One listens to these performances with a mounting sense of futility: at just about every moment you expect Hooker to break loose, to get into some really powerful, gutty, direct playing. But he never does. His control is perfect, and, ultimately, self-defeating. One comes away from this meal of thin stew with the thought that, in a real sense, Earl's own virtuosity, his command of so many idioms (he even does a C&W number fairly idiomatically), has worked against hmi. This is the eclectic virtuoso's pitfall, after all.

Just how much of this is the result of the album's producer is anyone's guess, of course, but I would hazard that much of the difficulty with the album is due to misplaced A&R direction. I know Earl can do better than this and Chris Strachwitz did too, as witness Earl's album for Chris' Arhoolie label. There we have an entirely different kind of album, a blues album and a fine one at that

The major difference between the two LPs is that the Arhoolie is a set of stone blues, with strong, direct playing, good, honest vocals and, most important, a real sense of commitment. It may not be the Earl Hooker album but it's very close. The product of three recording sessions, the personnel varies a bit from track to track, but the basic instrumentation is Hooker's lead, Fred Roulette's backup on steel guitar (fine, but under-recorded), Joe Willie Perkins on piano or organ, Geno Skaggs on bass and either Levi Warren or "Williams" on drums. Harmonica is added on a couple of tracks, Louis Myers handling this adequately on "Anna Lee" and Carey Bell turning in some really exciting harp work ala Little Walter on "Love Ain't a Plaything"—but Bell's vocal on this reflects an unfortunate Junior Wells influence, unfortunate in that it apes Junior's recent mannered approach.

Since Hooker regards himself primarily as an instrumentalist, he sings on only three tracks. He's a pleasant vocalist and turns in adequate work on Robert Nighthawk's "Anna Lee," which boasts slide guitar work in Nighthawk's distinctive style (Hooker learned from Nighthawk, and learned well), "You Don't Want Me," which has tasty Hooker wah-wah guitar, and the wry "Two Bugs and A Roach," actually a spoken exchange between Hooker and vocalist Andrew "B. B. Jr." Odom on the guitarist's long bout with tuberculosis (there's an instrumental version of this on the Cuca set but the Arhoolie version has it all over it). The instrumenta: "Off the Hook" is strong, as are the wah-wah instrumental "Wah Wah Blues" (Earl is one of the few bluesmen to turn his hand—or, rather, foot—to this and bring it off with taste and control) and "Earl Hooker Blues." Odom turns in a passable B. B. King imitation on "You Don't Love Me," with fine backup work from all.

This is a good, strong album of modern Chicago-styled blues from one of the finest instrumentalists in the idiom. The general level of the proceedings is very high, thanks to Hooker's instrumental skills and to the relaxed, perfectly complementary work of his fellow musicians, and I have no hesitations in recommending it to anyone as a fine introduction to the work of one of the most inventive Chicago bluesmen around currently. The Cuca set is expendable, but can be ordered directly from them at 123 Water St., Sauk City, Wis. 53283. Few stores will have it in stock. (RS 42)

PETE WELDING