D.R. Hooker

Genuine reissue of D.R. Hooker's The Truth (1972) from the original audio sources; new analog transfer with improved mastering. "It's a miracle any copies of this privately pressed album survived -- but be thankful it did, for here is an individual vision. Some people worry about when we'll run out of oil. A rather smaller proportion of us worry about when we'll run out of discoverable, deep-end thrills like this. Connecticut-based Hooker -- a tall, slim hippy with a history of substance abuse -- was much given to wearing the sort of austere robe he sports on the sleeve, a fairly outré move even then. In early 1972 he hired a gang of local scene musicians to flesh out his wonderful songs and after a few brief rehearsals the band began recording. As soon as they were done they split -- some never even heard the finished album, and what a treat they missed. Hooker's arrangements are truly beautiful; a simple, swinging pop song like Weather Girl exists somewhere between the Doors and Curtis Mayfield, whereas The Bible ('If they're knocking the Bible, be sure they are bent/ Just see and you'll understand the book is heaven sent') has the propulsive drive of a pained George Harrison ballad crushed up against some of Neil Young's freeform, string-banging joy. Then there's The Sea, with its rolling religious allegories and the remarkable Free which marries a growling hard rock throb to a vampirically groovy synth line. Hooker's masterpiece is Forge Your Own Chains, which is part conga-led, lounge-funk soul and part, questing psychedelic dream. To think this entirely individual worldview would have once languished, unloved, in a series of under-the-racks cutout bins. And how much more magic like this is there out there?" - Rob Fitzpatrick