D.R. Hooker

Acid drenched rock from the early 70s. Not much is known about D.R. himself. His 1972 LP The Truth was widely cited as one of the most important private press releases in all 1970s psychedelia, D.R. Hooker's The Truth might actually be one of those obscure lost gems that's worth the customarily inordinate amount of interest such period pieces are afforded. D.R. Hooker was a man slightly askew with his time: from the robes he wears on the cover to the quasi mystical lyrics, he's very much connected to the hippy era, and given that this album was

His 1972 LP The Truth was widely cited as one of the most important private press releases in all 1970s psychedelia, D.R.
Hooker's The Truth might actually be one of those obscure lost gems that's worth the customarily
inordinate amount of interest such period pieces are afforded.

D.R. Hooker was a man slightly askew with his time: from the robes he wears on the cover to the
quasi mystical lyrics, he's very much connected to the hippy era, and given that this album was
recorded in 1972, in a time post-Charles Manson, he was brave to associate so strongly with all
the imagery pertaining to cults. Musically, Hooker looks beyond the parameters of the hippy
movement, dipping into a more ambitiously studio-oriented sound than Hooker's half-troubadour,
half-prophet image on the sleeve might suggest. The noisy, fuzzy elements are particularly
effective, and surprisingly intricate in their arrangement and recording.

'Forge Your Own Chains' takes this to an extreme, expertly deploying advanced loungey jazz
figures with an onslaught of brass. This all sounds far more ambitious and accomplished than the
vast majority of private press releases that tend to emerge, and there's certainly a strong case
to be made for this record being one of those precious few curiosities from the private press
movement to feel like more than a kitsch comic aside. Well worth your investigation.
~ by ChrisGoesRock