Customer Reviews

Dark Was the Night

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The study of classic acoustic slide guitar technique begins here. Blind Willie Johnson, a street preacher in Beaumont, Texas, was the unmatched practitioner with his pocket-knife slide and open tunings. That he incorporated the blues idiom into his gospel convictions was compelling in itself. Blind Willie sang with enormous angst, describing the Christian life as a struggle, and declaring himself to be an overcomer regardless of what others thought. There is nothing here that will satisfy the 'health & wealth' gospelers; Johnson's gritty, practical holiness condemns such extravagances. This particular issue, a 20-bit digital remapping of the old 78's, is exceptionally clear. While every track is potent, 'God Moves On The Water' (about the sinking of the Titanic) contains riffs and runs that are antecedent to today's rock guitar. Highly recommended for those interested in roots music and alternative gospel.

Blind Willie Johnson is different. You can actually detect his regret,his anguish, and his utmost yearning for salvation in hissandpaper-like voice, his superb slide-guitar playing and his songwriting. All the songs on this CD are great. They are, yes, very spiritual and religous. But they don't sound and feel like some religious nutcase preaching the end is coming and those who believe in God will be saved and be placed in somwhere up in the sky where everything is fine and jolly, yada, yada, yada... Johnson sounds REAL. He sounds like someone who doesn't really care about his audience. He would probably sing those songs of his even if there's no one around.

Johnson has a great voice(think along the lines of Howlin' Wolf and Tom Waits). You might not enjoy it on the first try, but it sort of stuck on your mind and won't let you go. I'm no expert in blues, but these songs sound very different from what you'd usually consider to be "blues"(I guess Muddy Water and his followers would fall into this realm). The female harmonic vocal is very powerful and moving, it gives Johnson's music a haunting and disquiet feel. I highly recommend you to try it, regardless of your view on religion.

One suggestion, you might want to go straightly to the Complete Recording of BWJ. I had the this first and then purchased the Complete set, now I don't know what to do with the this condensed version.

The PBS series "The Blues" will hopefully introduce the work of Blind Willie Johnson to a mass audience. Recognition of this man and his contribution to American culture is long overdue. "Dark Was The Night" is the best and most affordable introduction to Blind Willie Johnson. The complete collection two disc set is pretty much for completists only.

That said, if you have never heard this music before, be sure to prepare yourself, because the spiritual force and gravity of this music may leave you exhausted and perhaps even frightened. Johnson's voice is one of the most unique and haunting instruments to have ever been recorded. The man's singing bespeaks experiences and a life lived that is almost too painful to contemplate. The lyrics of these songs are almost transcendentally poetic...the religious imagery is used to ask the most fundamental of philosophical questions. The female accompaniment of these songs only makes them a more poignant commentary on the human condition. Johnson's guitar work is similar in nature. In combination, this music is about as raw and emotive as human musical production can get. I think Wim Wenders is correct when he says that this music will teach you more about the American experience than just any history book. And Ry Cooder is surely right in his observations about this music.

These songs strip it and you bare; you simply have no place to hide. You will get ripped to shreds, ponder the nature of existence, and then eventually get "healed" as John Lee Hooker famously sang not too long ago. This is "deep" blues, about as deep as the blues and gospel can get.

This is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.
You wouldn't think Willie Johnson's gruff faux-bass growl could be beautiful, but his singing is so incredibly powerful and sincere, and so are his songs. His music is very melodic, and his slide guitar playing is unsurpassed even today - just listen to Johnson's pocket knife coaxing the most wonderful sounds from the steel strings on "You'll Need Somebody On Your Bond" and "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine".

This is not blues, mind you, even though there's sometimes only a fine line between 'Blind' Willie Johnson's brand of gospel and the country blues of men like Son House and Charley Patton. But gospel it is, and Johnson (and his wife) turn in fabulous renditions of "Praise God I'm Satisfied", "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning" and the awesome "The Soul Of A Man"."Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying" ventures into the blues idiom, but virtually all of Johnson's songs were strictly religious, songs about the hope of a better world than this one, in which Johnson laid on his bed of wet, bundled-up newspapers and slept after his house had burned down, contracted pneumonia, and died while only in his forties.

'Blind' Willie Johnson's singing and playing is powerful and strongly rhytmic, much more so than you would expect from a man who was essentially a gospel singer, but you can't help but imagine the big, thundering beat of a drummer keeping the rhythm section going behind him.
His rough, gravelly voice is awesome to hear, and it comes as a genuine surprise when he suddenly delivers in his own natural tenor on a few tracks, such as the classic "Let Your Light Shine On Me".
Only the awe of listening to Son House in his prime can be compared with the experience of hearing 'Blind' Willie Johnson doing "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" or "Dark Was The Night (cold was the ground)" for the first time.

Blind Wille Johnson recorded just between 1927-1930 and never again.What a loss as this is powerful moving and influential music. The style is early blues, somewhat of a Son House style, but the lyrics are gospel and his playing has influenced Eric Clapton and many others. A very nice bonus here is that the condition of the recordings is excellent compared to many Charlie Patton, Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson cuts of that era. Genuine classics here.

Unlike almost anything you've ever heard. Blind Willie Johnson's life story is almost an exaggeration of the sad, hard lives that have made wonderful blues music. Read the liner notes of this cd and weep for this poor man. His hardships make the music - from joyful gospel to unbelievably intense blues/spirituals - all the more amazing.

Dark Was the Night is an album which will reach through the decades, grab you by the shirt and shake you, and most insistently dictate your rapt attention. The strong and gravelly voice of Johnson is comparable probably only to Son House's early Paramount recordings. And while some of the songs on this album can definitely be categorized in the blues genre, many fall much more into the gospel genre, if that is even of importance when discussing one of the great early names in pre-war blues and American music history.

"Blind" Willie Johnson is not a well known name of a Robert Johnson....not even close. To his credit, Eric Clapton and others have brought new people into the blues genre because of their accolades of Robert Johnson; the downside of course, is that some great pre-war blues musicians are often overlooked......and Willie Johnson definitely falls into this category. I picked this CD up by chance at the store to add to my growing collection of prewar blues artists.....and was I ever surprised when I listened to it for the first time.

Johnson was blinded at an early age by his stepmother. His father had caught his stepmother cheating and gave her a beating, and instead of throwing lye at the young Willie's father, she threw it in the eyes of young Johnson, permanently blinding him. His story reads like a Shakespearean tragedy; being blinded at a young age by his stepmother, living most of his life penniless, and dying of pneumonia on a wet mattress after his house burned down because he was refused admittance at a hospital. And despite all of this, he remained steadfast to his religious beliefs, and would often travel to Houston to sing at gospel revivals. This man knew the blues all too well, and also had a deeper understanding of life through his experiences, and all of this comes through in his songs.

Many of Johnson's songs were performed and made famous by others, the most notable being "Nobody's Fault But Mine" by Led Zeppelin. Also, the traditional song of "John the Revelator" was magnificently performed a capella by Son House during his 1960's Columbia Sessions. One of my favorites is "Trouble Will Soon Be Over". And the song "Mother's Children Have A Hard Time" is most likely autobiographical in nature and displays the great love he had for his mother. But every song will grab the listener.....be forewarned.

Very few singers have made the interplanetary trip on NASA Voyager's Golden Record (other musicians and singers who are on it include Beethoven and Chuck Berry), and I think it could be said that sadly, Johnson is probably the least well known of any of them. The song "Dark Was the Night" is now traveling through space, a song which has only his plaintive moans coupled with a guitar, and which wordlessly evokes the pain of the crucifixion of Jesus (and perhaps all of us in this life). For what it's worth, had I known I would have liked Johnson's music so much, I would have bought the 2-CD compilation set.

In a word, brilliant.

As a young boy, Willie Johnson decided to dedicate his life to serving Jesus. Even being blinded by the cruel act of an evil stepmother did not shake his faith.

His faith and passion, not to mention is talented guitar playing, can be heard on every selection on this CD. It is the sound of a pure heart crying out to God.

Reverend Johnson's life and music should be an encouragement to everyone.

I came to Blind WIllie Johnson from Columbia's "Legends of The Blues Volume 1." I had it on and when i hit track for my head could've nearly spun off my neck. It was "Lord, I Just Can't Keep from Cryin'" - hands down the best song on that compilation. Johnson's voice was powerful and the female harmony was intoxicating. The slide work was great. It hit me hard. Anyway, I picked this disc up - i just had to - and was not disappointed. So many songs on this disc could easily be tossed into the "best ever" categorical debates. Johnson's voice may ruffle some as it is very strong and gruff, but it makes the songs that much better in my opinion. Great blues here, great blues.

Dark Was the Night is a "best of" collection, and I think it does a fine job in actually collecting the best of Willie Johnson.

That said, if you want to hear everything the man (and his amazing woman accompanist) ever recorded--and after listening to Dark Was the Night, I reckon you will--you might consider either of the following (the former includes songs from such other artists as Edward Clayborn, many of which are excellent, and all of which are worth checking out):

Blind Willie Johnson and the Guitar Evangelists

The Complete Blind Willie Johnson