Eagle Rock's essential 180g vinyl 2LP-set Live at Montreux 1983 / 1990 captures one of the true blues originators in action at the famous annual festival, sharing his rhythm and blues boogie across two blistering performances. John Lee Hooker is joined at both shows by the Coast to Coast Blues Band, and with them he offers many of the signature songs of his long and peerless career. They include "Boom Boom," "Crawlin' King Snake" and "Boogie Chillen,'" Hooker's first-ever single, which became a US R&B No. 1 in February 1949.

In 1983, at the first Montreux concert, "Boogie Chillen'" became a 13-person jam featuring guitarist Luther Allison, harmonica great Sugar Blue and a horn section. At that show, Hooker also performed such gems as "It Serves Me Right To Suffer," "Hi Heel Sneakers," "Boom Boom" and "Crawlin' King Snake."

By the time of the second performance in 1990, his name was on the lips of a whole new generation of admirers after the release the year before of his revelatory, Grammy-winning album The Healer. Hooker's band that night featured an additional guitar and saxophone, as well as female vocalist Vala Cupp. The Healer, produced by Roy Rogers of the Delta Rhythm Kings, featured such guests as Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood, Canned Heat, Robert Cray and Charlie Musselwhite. Indeed, the Montreux show included that album's "I'm In The Mood" (which went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Performance) and an encore of "The Healer."