Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Kindhearted Woman Blues
2. Kindhearted Woman Blues
3. I Believe I'll Dust My Broom
4. Sweet Home Chicago
5. Rambling On My Mind
6. Rambling On My Mind
7. When You Got A Good Friend
8. When You Got A Good Friend
9. Come On In My Kitchen
10. Come On In My Kitchen
11. Terraplane Blues
12. Phonograph Blues
13. Phonograph Blues
14. 32-20 Blues
15. They're Red Hot
16. Dead Shrimp Blues
17. Cross Road Blues
18. Cross Road Blues
19. Walking Blues
20. Last Fair Deal Gone Down

Disc 2:

1. Preaching Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)
2. If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
3. Stones In My Passway
4. I'm A Steady Rollin' Man
5. From Four Till Late
6. Hellhound On My Trail
7. Little Queen Of Spades
8. Little Queen Of Spades
9. Malted Milk
10. Drunken Hearted Man
11. Drunken Hearted Man
12. Me And The Devil Blues
13. Me And The Devil Blues
14. Stop Breakin' Down Blues
15. Stop Breakin' Down Blues
16. Travelling Riverside Blues
17. Honeymoon Blues
18. Love In Vain
19. Love In Vain
20. Milkcow's Calf Blues
21. Milkcow's Calf Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3755 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set

Amazon.co.uk Review
This two-CD box contains all 41 recordings Johnson made, including 12 alternate takes, and 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 and Keith Richards, introduced a great number of rock fans to Delta blues. Amazingly, Johnson built his enormous legacy on the strength of just two recording sessions: the first session, in November of 1936, produced among others "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", "Sweet Home Chicago", "Cross Road Blues" and "Walkin' Blues", making it perhaps the most influential single session in blues' history. --Marc Greilsamer

CD Description
Noted blues historian Robert Palmer has called him "the Mississippi Delta's first modern blues-man", and over the past 50 years Robert Johnson's influence has reached out from beyond the grave. Though his recording output numbers fewer than 30 different songs, Johnson's catalogue has been a treasure trove picked clean by artists ranging from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead.
The beauty of THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS lies in its utter simplicity. Johnson's reedy vocals, accompanied only by a steel-string guitar, evoke the very essence of the Deep South withits mystery and intrigue. It's easy to see where the myth of Johnson going down to the crossroads to make a Faustian pact with Lucifer was first sown; it can be heard within the confines of "Cross Road Blues" and "Hellhound On My Trail". While the sound of Johnson's recordings has a discernible hiss to it, the unadulterated emotion resonating in his voice goes straight to the marrow, making these sonic limitations seem like an afterthought.

Customer Reviews

This is as good as it gets
Muddy Waters is probably the most famous of all bluesmen, but not many people know that, in the early years of his carear, he was a Robert Johnson tribute act.

Standing on the shoulders of the great delta blues giants like Son House and Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson took accoustic blues to reach it's pre-war peak, before amplifiers and the electric guitar came in.

As a singer he is passionate rather than technically brilliant, but it is as an accoustic blues guiitarist that he is unsurpassed - not just my view but Eric Clapton's as well. No-one else could play such a variety of styles with such power, feeling and emotion. In fact so skillful was his playing that when Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones first heard it, he was conviced that there were two people on the record - one doing the lead work and one doing the bass runs, rather than Johnson managing both simultaneously.

The best thing about this CD is that it has every single take that he ever recorded - from the intense, crazed "Preaching Blues (Up jumped the Devil)" to the slow, moving "Come on in my Kitchen" which, according to Johnny Shines, reduced men to tears when Johnson played it live.

If you only have one accoustic blues CD in your collection - this is the one it should be.

A dedicated box set to the genius of Mr Robert Johnson
An absolute genius, an incredible listen. A warning to anybody buying this box set: As has been said by other reviewers, the set has all of the recordings by Johnson, you will hear more than one recording of each song, and if you are new to Johnson, this will be pretty intense ( and maybe a bit dull). If you have heard Johnson before, then it's worth getting this though.

Much as I love Clapton, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, etc, Johnson is just incredible: better than the lot of them, and the best guitarist I have ever heard, even above the great Clapton himself.

Legendary
Robert Johnson has inspired so many artists, it would be remiss to not have him in your collection. The recordings are a little dated, but it takes nothing away from the rawness of the music and the story telling in the lyrics. You can hear that Clapton, Jimmy Page and the Stones have been influenced by this artist more than any other when they perform their blues and rock music. The way he plays guitar will leave you breathless as you try to work out how he plays so many notes, accompanying himself, whilst sounding so spare and raw. You have the complete recordings he put out in one package so you can hear how songs and lyrics changed from take to take. You also get a great booklet with essays from artists that have been influenced by him. This is not always an easy listen, but it is always a rewarding one!