This 1962 album is one of John Lee Hooker’s most immediately accessible efforts. Recording in Detroit, he was backed by the band that would become known as Motown’s Funk Brothers, including pianist Joe Hunter, bassist James Jamerson, drummer Benny Benjamin, and saxophonists Hank Cosby and Andrew “Mike” Terry. As a result, the grooves are tighter than most of his work, from the hard-charging boogie of “Boom Boom” (one of his biggest hits) to “Lost A Good Girl,” which you could almost do the stroll to. “Let’s Make It” verges on rock ’n’ roll, and “Keep Your Hands To Yourself (She’s Mine)” is basically a rewrite of the riff from the Champs’ “Tequila”(!). When he sits down with his guitar and settles in, though, as on “A New Leaf” and “Blues Before Sunrise,” the darkness and haunted isolation of his best work is instantly present.