John Lee Hooker – “Mr Lucky” Audio Cassette

The guest list was a who’s who of the late ’80s / early ’90s blues revival movement… Albert Collins, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Cray, Booker T, Carlos Santana, Keith Richards, Van Morrison, Johnny Winter, John Hammond, Ry Cooder, Chester Thompson, Deacon Jones… And that’s not even close to the finish. Imagine how important an artist you would have to be to attract that calibre of backing group. John Lee Hooker was that person.

Led Zeppelin ‘1’ – Audio Cassette

I made a post about the Jimi Hendrix Experience the other day, taking a glance at their defining role in the birth of rock music. But Hendrix didn’t single-handedly invent heavy rock. He was a supreme innovator, but when it came to setting the musical paramaters of what we now refer to as hard rock, there was a much more direct instigating force. That force, was Led Zeppelin.

Johnnie Johnson – Johnnie B Bad Audio Cassette (1991)

It’s feasible that you won’t have heard the name Johnnie Johnson, but if you’ve ever heard one of Chuck Berry’s best known hits, you’ll have heard him play the piano. Johnnie Johnson, however, was far more than just Chuck Berry’s pianist. Johnson actually formed the band, and ran it as a trio before involving Berry as an extrovert frontman. Much of Chuck Berry’s guitar playing (and certainly the bits most people now associate with him having brought to the world) was highly reminiscent of Johnnie Johnson’s piano work. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was of the view that Chuck had essentially adapted Johnnie’s piano playing for the guitar, thus hitting upon a novel and exciting style, which came to define rock ‘n’ roll lead guitar. That, I feel, is a pretty fair synopsis.