D.R. Hooker: The Truth (cobalt coloured vinyl) [NUMERO]

Why you'll love it

Numero Group's reissue comes on cobalt coloured vinyl with a folded lyric insert. The original was privately pressed in New Haven, Connecticut, in an edition of 99 copies.

This edition

• Cobalt coloured vinyl
• Folded lyric insert
• Stereo mix

About the album

Most albums are made by a band. The Truth was made by a man with a notebook full of arrangements and no band at all. Donald "D.R." Hooker gathered local New Haven musicians for a few rounds of practice, took them into Dynamic Recording Studios and sang and strummed acoustic guitar over the results; some of the players reportedly never heard the finished record.

A true gem for real people music, D.R. Hooker's 1972 debut merges psychedelic vibes with evangelical Christianity. The Truth paints a picture of a far-out Frank Sinatra or Lou Reed as a divorced suburban dad, presenting a religious midlife crisis in the form of a private press LP. "The Sea" opens on a woozy, swirling note, "Fall in Love" boasts a terrific piano solo, and "Forge Your Own Chains," the title track and "The Bible" lay out Hooker's spiritual turnaround with total sincerity before "Falling Asleep" drifts off.

Word spread slowly, then all at once: reissues followed from Del Val, Subliminal Sounds and Veals & Geeks, and The Guardian included it in its 2013 rundown of the 101 strangest records on Spotify. Not bad for a record that started life with a print run smaller than our staff Christmas card list.

Also at Kops: more D.R. Hooker on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Numero Group (cat# NUM1282), a reissue of the 1972 album.