COLD AS ICE REVIEWS
“John Lee Jr. has done his Daddy proud. You just know the Boogie-man is smilin’ and snappin’ his fingers. We certainly need a Great Talent like John Lee Hooker, Jr. and I doubt if this release could’ve been anymore impressive. 6 Bottles of Chivas for a Classic Blues album with ‘legs.’ We’ll be seeing/hearing lots more from John Lee Hooker Jr.”
-- Real Blues magazine
“This son of the legendary Mississippi blues giant doesn't have his father’s aura of brooding mystery, raw baritone voice, or choogling guitar style, yet he is an original nevertheless. On the follow-up to his 2004 Grammy-nominated Blues with a Vengeance, the laconic singer and lyricist mixes straight-up Chicago blues and smooth Southern soul with flourishes of funk and contemporary R&B…the junior Hooker seems determined to make a name for himself, rather than merely capitalize on Dad’s.”
-- Amazon.com
“The album is thoroughly enjoyable, perhaps one of year’s best. The album’s concept is to get you to know John Lee Hooker, Jr. It succeeds but mostly it really, really, really makes you want to see him live.”
-- New York Jazz & Blues Society
“It's a tasty set that sure to want to make you get to know the new generation.”
-- Midwestrecord.com
“John Lee Hooker, Jr. targets a wider audience that just fans of the traditional blues music that his father played…the album showcases John lee Hooker, Jr. laying down rhymes and stretching the boundaries of contemporary blues music. He’s a rapper who also happens to be a bluesman.”
-- Living Blues
“The bottom line is…GET THIS CD!...you won’t be disappointed no matter what your blues preference.”
-- Wichita Blues Society
“John Lee Jr. provides a more uptown sound: horns, some smooth stinging guitar, and Junior's urban vocals. He wrote (or co-wrote) all 12 of the album's tracks. His lyrics are enjoyable, sometimes funny, commenting on getting along with the other sex…Cold As Ice maintains a contemporary, almost R&B sound throughout. Think Robert Cray rather than Robert Johnson, and you'll have an idea.”
-- Green Man Review
“Cold As Ice brims with the same raw power and vitality that made his debut a revelation. People keep saying the blues is dead, but there’s plenty of life in it with artists like Hooker on the scene…a fine piece of work.”
-- Blues Revue
"…Cold as Ice finds Hooker in an R&B groove. With slick horn charts and prominent backup singers, he's more in the mold of an uptown Little Milton or the B.B. King big band than his dad's crawlin’ kingsnake boogie.”
-- Chicago Sun-Times
“Cold As Ice is hot stuff.” B+
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“John Lee Hooker Jr. sounds more like T. Bone Walker or Mose Allison than he does his dad on Cold As Ice (Telarc, B+). And frankly, I’m glad, as this makes for a much more varied and amusing blues set, rich with horns and sardonic, burned-by-life songs like ‘Fed Up,’ the sexual boast ‘Four Hours Straight’ and his telling tribute to ‘Do Daddy.’”
-- Philadelphia Daily News
“…a true synthesis of the old with the new, and his sound is much closer to contemporary urban R&B or funk than his father’s raw, Delta-derived blues style…full of horns and a kind of urbane, good-natured humor that is in striking contrast to what passes for contemporary blues thus far in the 21st century.”
-- All Music Guide
“This thoroughly enjoyable album (perhaps one of the year’s best) invites the listener to get to know John Lee Hooker Jr. It succeeds, and it really makes you want to see him live.”
-- BluesWax.com
“It appears that the talent apple didn't fall car from the JLH tree…The disk has some downright tasty licks, great lyrics and just the right heat.”
-- Long Island Blues Society
“One listen will tell you why major label Telarc just signed him up. In a style that he has called ‘two parts R&B, one part jazz and down-home blues,’ Hooker, Jr. sings 12 songs whose naked autobiographical content (or so it seems) may blow your mind. Hooker speaks more truth than a small arsenal of rappers."
-- Bay Area Reporter
“Cold As Ice brims with the same raw power and vitality that made his debut a revelation. People keep saying the blues is dead, but there’s plenty of life in it with artists like Hooker on the scene ... a fine piece of work.”
-- Blues Revue
“Though his father popularized Delta blues music, John Lee Hooker Jr. has his own blues style and distinctive voice…Stylistically, the music is a blend of blues, R&B, funk, jazz and hip hop. The musicianship on the album is excellent, with tasty horn arrangements accentuating Hooker Jr.’s vocals. Sonically, the album is well-produced and powerful.”
-- Mix magazine
“Toughened up by lots of hard living and little luck, he takes a confident, loose-yet-composed course through his own soul-blues songs whose mood lies somewhere between wry irony and dead seriousness.” ***
-- DownBeat |