Customer Reviews

King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2 [Vinyl]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The original 1961 John Hammond Columbia production is legendary - Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and many other luminaries of the electric age learned to play listening to it. My complaint with the CD is that they changed the order of the songs which was beautifully conceived. This is not the first time some corporate hack has taken it upon himself to randomly change what was an intentional ordering of the songs for a CD, which really is an assault on the artist's intent, the CD re-versioning onf Loggins & Messina 'Full Sail' comes to mind, where an arbitrary reordering of the tracks wrecked a classic song cycle. Same here. Obviously, 'Hellhound on My Trail' is followed by 'If I had Possession over Judgement Day'. One thinks these producers might have had enough respect for the great Hammond who also signed Billie Hoiliday and Bob Dylan to their first major recording contracts, and consulted with associates of Johnson, such as Johnny Shines in the production, not to mess with it.
But not to be petty, Johnson's major pieces are stark monuments of the Blues tradition - and some of the greatest paeons to the dilemmas of pain ever wrought - and his dazzling style, both vocal and guitar has rarely been equalled - and, as far as solo blues performance - never surpassed.

I first got into Robert Johnson when I got the Complete Recordings Box Set on cassette about 20 years ago and I did so as I was at the time learning as much as I could about playing blues-based guitar as well as reading about my own personal influences such as early Clapton and Beck and I was amazed at how often Johnson's name kept coming up during their interviews and I subsequently found out that legends such as Elmore James "Dust My Broom", Muddy Waters "Sweet Home Chicago", The Rolling Stones "Love In Vain", Clapton "Ramblin' On My Mind" and even the Red Hot Chilli Peppers "They're Red Hot" would count him as a key influence in their music. There are of course other Johnson tunes that they covered but the ones I mentioned happen to be on this album.

Johnson was one who truly understood the blues and he made you feel the pain; whenever he sang for example my favourite track of his, "Love In Vain", it never fails to tug at my heart whenever I hear it as you can feel the despair as he sings about a lost love. He was also a brilliant guitarist sometimes sounding like two guitarists playing at the same time which some have attributed to his larger and longer than average hands and fingers. Truly a shame that he died so young as yet another artist that you'd expect even more great things from had he lived long enough.

Fans of the 17 tracks that make up this mlps (mini-lp replica sleeve) version are in for a treat; as far as mlps designs go this one ranks among the best being very well assembled and designed. Given the age of this recording (the 1930s) the sound quality has also been remastered very well and I can tell you it sounds loads better than it did on my cassettes although the sound is not perfect but it was probably cleaned up as best as it could given the deteriorated master records. Also included is a foldout with all the lyrics in both English and Japanese.

The tracks which are all composed by Johnson are:

1. Kind Hearted Woman Blues
2. I Believe I'll Dust My Broom
3. Sweet Home Chicago
4. Ramblin' On My Mind
5. Phonograph Blues
6. They're Red Hot
7. Dead Shrimp Blues
8. Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)
9. I'm A Steady Rollin' Man
10.From Four Until Late
11.Little Queen of Spades
12.Malted Milk
13.Drunken Hearted Man
14.Stop Breakin' Down Blues
15.Honeymoon Blues
16.Love in Vain
17.Ramblin' On My Mind (take 2)

You probably recognise most the these tracks as blues standards now that have been covered countless of times by countless artists which is a testament to the brilliance of the man.

A worthy addition to any sonic library and hence comes highly recommended.

This was an essential part of my collection, so when I found it used new and on Gold Disc, I didn't hesitate. These recordings are the basis of many many rock recordings and have inspired the entire careers of many an artist. Listen to these tracks long enough and you will eventually find lyrics or other elements of these songs copied, covered, redone in various songs that you have enjoyed forever. This music is sewn into the soul of American Music, don't hesitate on discovering where it all started. If you like Cream, Led Zeppelin, Beck, Dylan, or just about anybody, you'll enjoy this music. Help yourself to an alltime great!