Don't Look Back (John Lee Hooker album)


Don't Look Back is an album released by blues singer-songwriter John Lee Hooker in 1997 that was co-produced by Van Morrison and Mike Kappus. Van Morrison also performed duets with Hooker on four of the tracks. The album was the Grammy winner in the Best Traditional Blues Album category in 1998. The title duet by Hooker and Morrison also won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison

The two singers had collaborated on several occasions over the years before this album was realized and had become personal friends. Morrison had first recorded the title song, "Don't Look Back" on his debut album as the frontman for the Northern Irish band Them and according to one of the band members, Billy Harrison, the two first met in London in 1964. Their first collaboration was on Hooker's album, Never Get Out of These Blues Alive recorded in 1972, with a duet on the title song and Hooker's cover of Morrison's "T.B. Sheets". They guested on each other's albums over the years with Hooker also appearing on two films with Morrison: BBC's One Irish Rover and Morrison's 1990 video, Van Morrison The Concert.

Track listing

  1. "Dimples" - 3:59 L*
  2. "The Healing Game" - 5:09 M*
  3. "Ain't No Big Thing" - 5:19
  4. "Don't Look Back" - 6:41 M*
  5. "Blues Before Sunrise" - 6:41
  6. "Spellbound" - 3:56
  7. "Travellin' Blues" - 5:35 M*
  8. "I Love You Honey" - 3:31
  9. "Frisco Blues" - 3:47
  10. "Red House" - 4:02
  11. "Rainy Day" - 5:50 M*
Notes