Earl Hooker - There’s a Fungus Amung Us (Red Lightnin’)

When it came to contests of name noteriety, Earl Hooker always seemed to end up with the short end of the guitar string. Unlike the famous cousin with whom he shared a surname, Hooker recorded only sporadically as a leader, spending the bulk of his career as a Chicago session man. The reasons are a bit hard to fathom considering his considerable prowess on the frets. The man could play almost anything on his customized double-neck Gibson and counted proficiency on organ, drums, piano, banjo, harmonica and mandolin as other weapons in his armory. Still, fame never fully came his way and he cashed out to TB in the spring of 1970 after a chronic struggle with the illness. Specifics on this LP are similarly hard to glean with guitarist Jimmy Dawkins the only identified sideman and that designation a dubious one, at best. The album’s eleven cuts are all instrumentals, Hooker’s preferred format since pipes were the only category where his prestigious cousin had an undeniable edge. Wah-wah and B-3 grease figure prominently in the mix and the songs are very much in a soul blues bag as the cover of Booker T & the MGs “Hold On” makes manifest. Hooker has room to try out all sorts of plectral tricks from the keening harmonics of “Two Bugs in a Rug”, a variant of his signature tune, to the treble-spackled chicken scratch that etches “Dust My Broom”. The backing band, whoever they are, is tight and well tuned to Hooker’s needs. No great revelations or strides to speak of. Instead it’s just the aural equivalent of a savory skillet-cooked meal washed down with several cans of local brewed suds. A Crumb concocted cover is a bonus, rubber-stamping the album with late 60s counter-culture character even if the music doesn’t exactly follow suit.