John Lee Hooker was an active recording artist for roughly 50 years -- active in that not only did he record steadily, but he actively jumped from label to label, recording for seemingly every label, big or small, from such legendary imprints as Modern, Savoy, Chess, Vee-Jay, Impulse and Riverside, to such smaller outfits as Eagle, Sensation, Staff, Guest Star and Pausa. He started his career cutting sides for singles, later recording proper albums, and all these recordings have been repackaged and reissued in a seemingly endless series of compilations, ranging from budget-line bottom of the barrel discs to first-rate retrospectives, like Rhino's 1991 The Ultimate Collection, but one thing his discography has always lacked was a comprehensive, career-spanning box set, which Shout! Factory's finally provides with their 2006 four-disc set Hooker. Encompassing 84 songs recorded for 27 labels over the course of half a century, Hooker manages to sort through his unwieldy discography with grace and precision, offering all his standards -- beginning with "Boogie Chillen" and "Sally Mae," then running through "Crawlin' King Snake," "I'm in the Mood," "Dimples," "Boom Boom," "It Serves Me Right to Suffer," "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" -- but adding the depth and detail by lingering at relatively lesser-known sides and singles (including songs released under pseudonyms like "Texas Slim" and "John Lee Booker") from every era of his career. And even though Hooker never quite devia