The Healer (of my insomnia lol) Wow this one was a letdown for me, I was excited to finally see some blues on this list but good lord nothing here stood out... ...With the exception of that first song with Carlos Santana holy shit the title song is a legitimate 5/5 track, it's pretty cheesy but I love the atmosphere it sets, the way it just introduces different elements of sound throughout its opening really set this apart and left me hoping this album would have more tracks like this that really sought to stretch what they could do with the genre. Though you could even argue this was a Santana song that Hooker was featured on, given this is the guest track that felt the most heavily influenced from its guest attraction. As it turns out, everything else in this album is just adequate, perfectly listenable but nothing standout and nothing I really think I would go out of my way to listen to again. The last 2 tracks are probably the only other ones I would say I really enjoyed. I was surprised with myself for having such a harsh reaction to this album, and wanted to give myself a bit more of a perspective on it. So I took a bit of a look at the history of this album and listened to some of Hookers other songs. While I couldn't name him off the top of my head I had heard plenty of his songs and he is certaintly a terrific musician. From what I read the accolades this album receives feel more like legacy praise than an apprection of this album in particular. A way to acknowledge someone who was overlooked in the past and compensate for their lack of recognition. A recent example of this would be Jamie Lee Curtis' win as a supporting actress in the 2023 Oscar season. Regrettably it seems that Hookers other albums (like so many others) were cut from this list because the editors were on an Elvis Costello/David Bowie/Morrissey binge, so I will not be able to give praise to the work that I actually enjoyed (I hope I'm mistaken). Standouts The Healer: ***** My Dream: **** No Substitute: **** 1/2