Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ever get the phonograph blues?, October 17, 2003
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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good low-budget RJ collection, April 1, 2006
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?
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Robert Johnson's Twenty Nine Songs.., May 19, 2008
When You talk or think about the blues, chances are you often think about the legend of Robert Johnson..the legendary singer-songwriter from the past was a one man guitar machine,and sang and wrote the blues like nobody else's business. There was something mystical about Robert Johnson and only by listening to him is to know-Charlie Patton and Sonhouse knew him before his hidden talent was revealed- as a young kid trying to play the harmonica and could only barely play a note on the guitar, of course Patton and Sonhouse were blues superstars of the time,- Sonhouse said "Johnson disappeared for a long while, and all of a sudden,out of the blue,Mr. Johnson came back home a brand new guitar player",the beginning of a blues legend. Now we can hear the legend on this British import cd loaded with all 29 songs on one disc,sounding better than the Columbia box set,with no alternate takes,featuring the blues of Robert Johnson.
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See all 29 tracks on this disc
by Robert Johnson 
