Customer Reviews

Complete Recordings

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The irony of Robert Johnson's superstar status is hard to miss. He was almost completely ignored by the music-buying public of his day, even in the market his records were aimed at. Yet in the present day, he's practically the only country blues artist most people know about. On one level, this is because of relentless championing by other blues artists, not least Eric Clapton. On another level, Johnson's fame rests on the fact that he was able to write, or more properly pull together from his various mentors and influences, his songs and make them complete unto themselves. His songs have made an impact, and have been covered time and again by countless artists. That counts for something.

Part of who Robert Johnson was as a singer and songwriter is obscured by his legend, which has been retold so often it borders on cliche. But even after the hype has been dismissed, this box set shows Johnson as a powerful, innovative, soulful blues man, a great performer and a great songwriter (in the context of blues songwriting) with his own unique sound.

Johnson was not without his influences, and if he had lived he would have told you that himself. However, the interesting thing was that he managed to transform his influences and personalize them into his own vision of the blues, a blues that was one of the first steps away from country blues toward city blues - a vision that would eventually become Chicago blues.

It has been fashionable in blues circles to put Robert Johnson down recently, and to gripe about how Johnson's influences should be as well known as he is. This is a valid point. However, Johnson became an influence himself, and as such, he still deserves a good deal of respect. This box set, which contains every recording he is known for, is a just tribute to a brilliant singer, songwriter and performer.

The remastering is surprisingly good, considering the sources. Johnson's voice and guitar playing come through vividly and illustrate his wealth of talent. The only possible drawback to this box set, for the casual listener, is the number of alternate takes included. They show that Johnson was an adept performer, because a lot of the alternates are similar to the "released" versions. This showed that he was no closet bluesman or flash-in-the-pan, but was adept at entertaining an audience. And to this day his guitar playing is astonishingly fluid and innovative. However, the repetitiveness of the alternate takes can become trying to people who are not students of the blues, and for the casual listener a single-disc set would probably be sufficient.

This box set, is, and remains, a worthy overview of a talent that received its due far too late. I would advise the listener not to be put off by people who would place Johnson's influences over him, but to listen to Johnson on his own merits. My guess is that he'll win you over, as he has generations of listeners.

Robert Johnson may not have been the king of the blues (that title belongs forever to the great Son House), and he certainly didn't invent the idiom, but he was an amazing talent, a magnificent guitar player, and an awesome songwriter whose best songs hold a simultaneous beauty and terror which no songwriters really seem capable of achieving anymore.

This is the ultimate collection of his works; all of Robert Johnson's 29 Vocalion singles, impressive sound, and the best annotation anywhere.
Here you'll find the original versions of "Sweet Home Chicago", "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", "Crossroads Blues", "Rambling On My Mind", "Come On In My Kitchen", "Terraplane Blues", "Stop Breakin' Down", "I'm A Steady Rollin' Man", and "Love In Vain", as well as lesser-known gems like "From Four Till Late", "When You Got A Good Friend", and "Last Fair Deal Gone Down".
Johnson's version of "Walking Blues" is here as well, an adaptation of Son House's 1930 single "My Black Mama pt. II" (not the song that House called "Walking Blues"), and the fine remastering allows the listener to hear every phrase and every chord and every one of Johnson's quicksilver slide guitar licks.

Great as it is, this is not really meant to be listened to in one long sitting. It is just one man and a guitar, after all, and it wears a bit thin after the first hour. But don't discount Robert Johnson just because of that, or because you're sick of hearing Johnson-worshipping guitarists like Eric Clapton rave about him. It is true that Robert Johnson wasn't a particularly influential artist back when he was alive, most people had never heard of him, and wouldn't hear of him until the 60s when his music was reissued, and in that respect he may be said to be overrated.

But that fact doesn't diminish the artistic value of his songs. As a singer, a composer, and as a guitarist of considerable skills, Robert Leroy Johnson produced some of the genre's best and most influential music, and in 1990 this two-CD box set was released with every scrap of Johnson material in existence, plus the holy grail of the blues: the publishing of the only two known photographs of the man himself.
Columbia's parent company, Sony, was hoping that sales would maybe hit 20,000. The box set went on to sell over a million units, the first blues recordings ever to do so. And there is still no reason to buy any other collection than this one.

First of all, I took one star off not because I don't think Robert Johnson was a transcendent genius (because I do think that), but because, since his legacy clearly _had_ to be collected and remastered and boxed up in a convenient form, it's a damn shame that they had to make such a bad job of it. The lack of the fifth star is a finger-wag to CBS-Sony, not a rebuke to Johnson.

It's all true, in case you were wondering - Robert Johnson really was the most entrancingly scary and affecting and emotional and technically accomplished Delta blues singer ever recorded. His guitar playing is quite extraordinary; Keith Richards reports in the liner notes that when he first heard Johnson (in Brian Jones' flat) he wondered who the second guitarist was. There wasn't one. Johnson could drive the rhythm and play spooky lead lines at the same time, to a degree that nobody has been able to match. He also had a remarkable voice, veering from slyly lascivious to painfully sad to hell-haunted, depending on the nature of the song. And this is one of the main points about his work.

He was a pro. He wasn't just some unusually spooked country boy, although he was clearly obsessed with themes of damnation and vengeance. He could, by all accounts, play whatever he wanted - a tune as innocuous as "My Blue Heaven" is said to have been in his repertoire. The best glimpse we get of the party-dude side of Johnson is his sprightly "They're Red Hot", which sounds like nothing else on the whole album. But fans agree that his best stuff is about lonely roads at twilight and the feeling that he will never get home, or that if he does, there is only something worse there waiting for him. His lyrics are the finest poetry you're likely to find in the Delta blues idiom, and I include Skip James in that. And that, as any Skip James fan will testify, is saying something.

A shame, then, that CBS (as it was then) decided to entrust the liner notes to a man painfully! addicted! to exclamation marks!, not to mention a man far more fascinated by the oral accounts of Johnson's life than in saying anything enlightening about his music - and that the songs should be rigorously sequenced with master-take-accompanied-by-alternate-version. The result is that, when we put this album on to listen to all the way through, we hear most of the songs twice before we get to the next one. The differences are fascinating enough, to be sure; but would it have killed them to put the alternate versions on a separate disk, so that we could have chosen from two different Johnson sequences depending on our mood? As it is, this is a stupidly "scholarly" sequencing arrangement.

The liner notes, while full of interesting information, are fatally marred by the author's tabloidesque style. It would've been better to get someone who really cared about Johnson's music and could write well - even Greil Marcus, whose chapter on Johnson in "Mystery Train" is the best thing he ever wrote. As it is, we have only the testimonies of Keith Richards, and a fascinating essayette by Eric Clapton to go on.

Clapton writes - righteously - that before he heard Johnson, every other blues singer had sounded as though they were calculating the effect, whereas Johnson sang as though he didn't care whether or not people liked to hear him. This is as good a description of listening to Johnson as I can think of.

This is, unfortunately, the best-mastered, best-sounding, most complete edition of Johnson's work. Pity it wasn't put together with a bit more thought.

This collection is disappointing becuase they'e worked so hard to clean up the his and scratches of recordings made in a hotel room over 70 years ago, that they've so muffled the voice and music that it just doesn't come through realistically. sony's King of the Delta Blues (Vol.s 1 and 2) offers a virtually complete collection and the diff in sound quality is startling. While you hear more hiss and scratches, the sound of Johnson's voice has a prescence that that the "Comlete Collection" lacks. I already owned the latter and upon hearing the former, went out and bought it. Skip the Complete Collection and get the recording that sounds more real, more alive. If you already own the "Complete Collection" and yo like the music, bag it and get King of the Delta Blues edition, Johnson desrves to be heard without a towel wrapped over his mouth.

Something mysterious was happening in the Mississippi Delta in the 1930's. It could have been at the crossroads of highway 49 and 61 on a dark night with the full moon glowing through the fog. Robert Johnson was trying to flag a ride:

"You can run, you can run tell my friend-boy Willie Brown Lord, that I'm standin' at the crossroad, babe I believe I'm sinkin' down."

Robert Johnson didn't run though and came back months later to surprise fellow blues musicians Son House and Willie Brown with his newly acquired guitar wizardry. The legend started there and continues today.

Over the years Robert Johnson continues to be a mystery shrouded figure from his guitar skills to his death he was elusive at the time and remains so. The closest one can get to knowing him is through his music and the Complete Recordings has it all.

His songs have been coveredby dozens of performers. Sweet Home Chicago has been recorded at least 139 times, come on in My Kitchen 71 and Love in Vain 36 times. His lyrics although written in the 1930's remain alive and vibrant in today's world as they were at the time.

These recordings made in the 30's are alive and compelling. Robert Johnson was a guitar virtuoso whose work impressed the likes of Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. His voice is eerie and haunting.

These recordings were made in the 1930's, and sound that way so for someone used to modern listening they may be an acquired taste. For someone interested in the history of modern rock, pop or blues these are a must have item, regardless of two similar recordings side by side.

If you are looking for a CD set to fit into your ultimate blues collection, then you must buy this one. There is a very good booklet available with the box set that is not offered with the regular double CD set. The recordings are the same on both CD sets. There is a booklet in the box set with a good biography story of his life. Also, all the words are included so you can kind of "hum along". Explanations of some of the venacular of the day. The recording is typical 78-ish quality of the day. This is a part of blues history that you will need to study the style further. The mysticism of making a deal with the devil, and the story of how he went down to the crossroads, made his deal, and then came back a transformed blues great. It's all here. Other musicians in this style are Son House...check out his excellant "Father of the Delta Blues" CD. And listen to Charley Patton. These are the "big three" of the Delta Blues style. Others went to the crossroads, also...Bukka White has a story about it and so does Peetie Wheatstraw (called "the devils son in law"). All good music from this era. Don't get discouraged about the quality of the recordings. Listen to these CD's several times through before you make your final judgement. You have to get used to the 78-speed sound before you can get to the soul and depth of what's going on. "Must Have" for anyone rediscovering, studying, or just curious about the blues.

5 historically significant stars!

This is (as billed) the complete recorded output of Robert Johnson. What makes this collection so interesting is the inclusion of alternate takes for many (but not all) of the tunes. Some of these alternate takes are significantly different from the released take and provide an insight into how variable these performances could be. My favorite Robert Johnson tune, "Terraplane Blues", has no alternate take. Presumably, the person doing the recording just thought "Damn! Can't top that!"

This was my first exposure to blues music (at all!), and frankly, I'm not sure it was the right move. Oh, I've been converted - despite my pop tastes, I still listen to this and other blues items regularly - but it took me quite a while. This is the rawest of the raw blues - bare-bones, with alternate takes, spoken asides, and nary a pop hook in the bunch. I owned it for about a year, but I couldn't get past six or seven songs without getting frustrated or bored. Finally, one day while I was home sick, I put on both discs, sat down with the book (which is extremely well-researched) and read the lyrics (and footnotes!) along with the songs. Not something you can do every time (or even every other time!) but certainly worth doing with this collection. I then had a better understanding of the material, of the lyrics, of "where it's all coming from". Now it's my favorite blues disc to put on (although it sounds awfully jarring after my Duran Duran album). Neophytes may want to try somewhere else first (BB King? John Lee Hooker?) to help ease the transition, but if you're not afraid to jump in with both feet, go ahead and take the plunge!

The 'King of the Delta Blues Singers' CDs (Volumes 1 and 2), as re-released in 1998 and 2004, respectively, effectively render this release obsolete. On the newer CDs, the digital cleaning is much more apparent and makes a huge difference to sound quality.

However, the 'alternate' takes contained on this edition have yet to be released elsewhere. But to complicate things, the 'King of the Delta Blues Singers' CDs contain a mixture of 1st and 2nd takes, so it's a hit and miss affair. Personally, I prefer the 1st takes of 'Crossroad Blues', 'Me and the Devil Blues' and 'Love in Vain' - and the newer CDs contain the second takes (which is how they appeared on the original releases in the 1960s).

So, for completists (at this point in time), the best bet is to own this set and the newer CDs - which I am sure you do already. Then you'll have everything (until they turn up another alternate take!), but for beginners, check out 'King of the Delta Blues Singers' Vol. 1 and 2.

NOTE: The first 'long box' edition of 'The Complete Recordings' release (in a larger, boxed format which included the two CDs and the liner notes in a separate 'book') contains poor 'remasterings' of the Johnson material. The second edition of 'The Complete Recordings', released in the mid 1990s and in standard double-CD packaging, offered significantly improved sound (but, to confuse things, was still labelled as being released in 1990!). Still with me? As I stated previously, if you have 'The Complete Recordings' in the double CD mid-90s pack, and the new 'King of the Delta Blues Singers' CDs, you're covered.

For a fascinating discussion of the history of 'The Complete Recordings', go to:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-32227.html

All your queries should be well and truly addressed there!

When I first heard Johnson in 1992-1993 I was not a blues listener at all. His music came almost as a cultural shock. A great thing about this box set is that it makes the understanding of Johnson's music that much easier. The music alone will amaze you but the biographical sketch (though not particularly well-written)& the addition of the lyrics (although the end of '32-20' is missing & I'm skeptical of some of the interpretations) give us so much in the way of candid information & bridge some of that cultural gap. For me Robert Johnson was a gateway into the world of early 20th century ragtime/country/delta/folk blues. Others have said it before me in these reviews but as someone deeply entrenched in the study & appreciation of 'classic blues' I think it is a fatal error & disrespectful to other great artists before Johnson to call Johnson the greatest & 'First Blues Artist'. I've shocked friends by playing them Johnson's 'Love In Vain' & then Leroy Carr's 'When the Sun Goes Down' (recorded almost 10 yrs earlier), a song that Johnson almost entirely copied. The same could be said about a number of Johnson's tunes. Listen to Son House's 1930 recordings & you will hear where Johnson got most of his slide guitar technique. When I listen to Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson, Leadbelly, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Charlie Patton & even the female greats like Memphis Minnie & Ma Rainey & Bessie Smith I continually hear ideas that Johnson borrowed & you will too if you take the time. Johnson was a folk musician & as one often borrowed ideas from a wealthy pool of folk lyrics & melodies. Also, one has to consider the fact that Johnson comes from the first generation of musicians who had the privelege to learn songs & ideas from RECORDS which he certainly did. Johnson's real importance lies in his boogie rhythms, the cohesiveness & vision of his lyrics, the variety of his songs (everything from ragtime to folk to boogie music) & his overall presentation. He anticipated rock n' roll in ways that others didn't before him perhaps. Still the fact is that he was very good & I think as good as those I mentioned earlier but not BETTER & certainly not the first. To me this box set deserves 5 stars for the brilliance of Johnson's music & the path it illuminates that leads to blues greats prior to his accomplishments. People will never be able to play music like this again. We are a culturally, spiritually & even genetically different species now.

Listening to Johnson & the other early blues greats puts things in perspective. Like can anyone truely say that Eric Clapton is a great Blues artist after listening to this? I can't at all. Clapton's & other's attempts at recreating this music has been mostly embarrassing to say the least. It's sad to find out how important Johnson was to Clapton's coming-of-age & development as a musician & yet I can't hear any of that original spark or flair or soul in any of the blues he has recorded.
One further thing: This box set is no longer 'Complete.' An alternative take of 'Travelling Riverside Blues' was discovered around 1998 I think. You can actually hear it on the most recent reissue of Columbia's Robert Johnson 'King of the Delta Blues.'