Customer Reviews

Complete Collection

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What can anyone say about Robert Johnson that hasn't already been stated? The music he left us just has that feel of someone who has traveled the humid shadows of the early twentieth century, checked into every dive hotel and motel across the Bible belt, stomped his feet in more than a few juke joints, courted the devil and let everyone know about it, smoked a few cigarettes, drank his share liquor, tasted love and was bitten more than once. The more you listen, the more your imagination is sparked.

This particular collection showcases the 29 songs he recorded - minus the variations. If you are a casual listener, this is a marvelous retrospective of the music. If you are more of a completist, then the critically acclaimed box set is what you want. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the blues - in all its various styles. A few things I like are R.L. BURNSIDE - TOO BAD JIM, JIMI HENDRIX - BLUES and various things from MUDDY WATERS, SON HOUSE and HUDDIE LEDBETTER.

A quote from the CD liner notes by Tony Watts:
"If details of Robert Johnson's life are shadowy, there is nothing at all indistinct about his music which is full of the most elemental power imaginable. Obviously a driven man, he attempted to exorcise his demons through the medium of his songs..."

I sometimes wonder if it's because this guy left so few facts about his life behind, that his music becomes that much better? The popular story of his life's end is he was poisoned by a jealous husband he had cuckolded, and then buried in an unmarked grave after midnight. The king is gone but he's not forgotten: Does the mystery and drama of his short life actually float the music, add to its potency and make it transcendent above what it actually is? My recommendation is to take a listen for yourself. For whatever the reason, I can't stop listening to this collection of great songs. Personal favorites are - HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL, MALTED MILK, LITTLE QUEEN OF SPADES, IF I HAD POSESSION OVER JUDGEMENT DAY, FROM FOUR `TIL LATE and STOP BREAKIN' DOWN BLUES.

Enjoy.

This is an excellent low-budget collection to introduce the listener to blues legend Robert Johnson.

Johnson had an amazing vocabulary and sense of illusion. The clever sexual allusions and variance in themes show that he would have made a great novelist. He ranges from lost love (my favorite "Love in Vain"), crimes of passion ("32-20 Blues," which sounds like the grandfather of James Marshall Hendrix's "Hey Joe") struggles with the soul ("Hellhound on My trail," "If I had Posession Over Judgement Day." "Cross Roads,") and plain old good humored fun "They're Red Hot").

RJ also masters in amusing spoken asides and his guitar playing is phenomenal. It's hard to believe it's just him on guitar here! However, his Mississippi accent is so thick that even a Black South Carolinian like me had some earstrain over a number of tunes. Look up the lyrics on the internet and read them along while playing this CD.

The only drawback is that on a couple of songs (such as "Love in Vain"), a cell phone is actually heard ringing in the background. What gives?

You talk about the blues, the legend of Robert Johnson always comes to mind... the legendary singer/songwriter from the past was a one man guitar machine, he sang and wrote the blues like nobody else's business. There was something mystical about Robert Johnson, listening to his recordings is to know - Charlie Patton and Sonhouse knew him before his hidden talent was revealed. Robert was just a young kid trying to play the harmonica, barely able to play a single note on the guitar, of course Patton and Sonhouse were already established bluesman and superstars of the time. Sonhouse once said of Johnson "Robert disappeared for a long while, probably absorbing his music education, then all of a sudden, one dark cloudy day Mr. Johnson came back to town a different man, something different in his eyes, most of all Robert Johnson was a brand new guitar player", hence the beginning of a blues legend. We can hear this great legend on this imported cd from the UK "prism leisure" with all 29 songs on one disc, the audio is surprisingly good, better, if not louder in comparison to the 1990 Columbia box set. This compilation 1936-1937 is a straight run through Johnson's short and productive career with no alternate takes, featuring the ingenious blues of Robert Johnson.

Plain and Simple: Must have for blues fans, this man started modern blues. Sound quality of the album is not great, but it was recorded before people really knew how to make it great.