The subject of selling one's soul to the Devil has prevailed in American culture since the mid nineteenth century but is no more well known than in the case of blues man Robert Johnson. There is little information as to his life and only 2 photographs exist of him. As a young man, it has been told, he went to the crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for mastery of the guitar. Johnson died at 27 from an apparent poisoning from a bottle of whiskey. Rumour has circulated as to the identity and motivation of the alleged killer: jilted lover, scorned husband victim of Johnson's philandering, or the devil coming to collect.
Johnson has influenced numerous musicians from Eric Clapton through to Jimi Hendrix and in 1990 this long over-due collection of all of Johnson's recordings was released to great critical acclaim. The collection is a 2 disc set containing 41 tracks and includes alternate takes of many of Jonhson's most famous songs.
The first thing that is noticeable is the incredible quality of the recordings given their age. There is great clarity here but it is never too clean. Johnson still remains a ghostly presence on these recordings but the guitar picking comes through clearly. At times, as Brian Jones once famously stated, it sounds as though there are 2 guitars playing and not the work of one man alone. With his innovative picking style now the archetype for rural blues, Johnson is graceful, emotive and potent.
Famed for his guitar skills, it's the voice that grabs my attention. Listen to Hellhound On My Trail and you will hear a man possessed by the fear of retribution; Love In Vain the anguish of unrequited love; Ramblin' On My Mind the torment and pain reflecting the madness that being jilted can induce. In every instance the echoes of his ramblings haunt and stay with you long after the song has finished.
And then there is the song writing itself. Most famously perhaps, Johnson gave us Sweet Home Chicago; a song that resides in the conscience of both ardent and casual music fans a like. The Complete Robert Johnson comes across like a standards song book, the contents of which has given birth to numerous cover versions from acclaimed and esteemed bluesmen and rockers from across the globe spanning six decades.
There is however, one glaring disappointment with this set and that is with the sequencing. This is the most comprehensive collection of Johnson's material and as such there are alternate takes included. It is such a shame that these are placed side by side with their original counterparts which makes the whole very hard to listen to as each track is repeated, albeit a variant of the original. It still baffles me as to why the alternates were not on a separate disc from the originals. Even for me, a hardened fan of the genre, it makes for difficult listening if you using an old fashioned CD player.
This is a wonderful and comprehensive archive but unfortunately does not work as a listening experience and it is solely because of this that it has lost ratings.
This two-CD box contains all 41 recordings Johnson made, including 12 alternate takes, and ... more
each cut remains a classic. This set's release in 1990 caused quite a stir, selling more than 500,000 copies and, on the basis of endorsements from Eric Clapton ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
This two-CD box contains all 41 recordings Johnson made, including 12 alternate takes, and ... more
each cut remains a classic. This set's release in 1990 caused quite a stir, selling more than 500,000 copies and, on the basis of endorsements from Eric Clapton ...
Postage & Packaging: Check Site. Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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