Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Kindhearted Woman Blues
2. Kindhearted Woman Blues - (alternate version)
3. I Believe I'll Dust My Broom
4. Sweet Home Chicago
5. Rambling on My Mind
6. Rambling on My Mind - (alternate version)
7. When You Got a Good Friend
8. When You Got a Good Friend - (alternate version)
9. Come on in My Kitchen
10. Come on in My Kitchen - (alternate version)
11. Terraplane Blues
12. Phonograph Blues
13. Phonograph Blues - (alternate version)
14. 32-20 Blues
15. They're Red Hot
16. Dead Shrimp Blues
17. Cross Road Blues
18. Cross Road Blues - (alternate version)
19. Walking Blues
20. Last Fair Deal Gone Down
DISC 2:
1. Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)
2. If I Had Posession Over Judgment 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 - (alternate version)
9. Malted Milk
10. Drunken Hearted Man
11. Drunken Hearted Man - (alternate version)
12. Me and the Devil Blues
13. Me and the Devil Blues - (alternate version)
14. Stop Breakin' Down Blues
15. Stop Breakin' Down Blues - (alternate version)
16. Traveling Riverside Blues
17. Honeymoon Blues
18. Love in Vain
19. Love in Vain - (alternate version)
20. Milkcow's Calf Blues
21. Milkcow's Calf Blues - (alternate version)
| Details | | Producer: | Frank Abbey (Compilation) | | Distributor: | Sony Music Distribution ( | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Mono | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS includes a 48-page booklet with biographical notes, rare photos and a complete discography.
Solo performer: Robert Johnson (vocals, guitar).
Producer: Don Law.
Compilation producers: Stephen LaVere, Frank Driggs.
Recorded in San Antonio, Texas on November 23 & 26-27, 1936 and Dallas, Texas on June 19-20, 1937. Includes liner notes by Stephen LaVere, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
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 catalog 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 with its 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.
Editorial Reviews
Included in Rolling Stone's Essential Recordings of the 90's.
Rolling Stone (05/13/1999)
5 Stars - Classic - ...No other bluesman left a studio portrait that seems to come moaning and howling from the darkest recesses of his soul. The music has a power that age cannot dim...
Rolling Stone (10/18/1990)
5 Stars (out of 5) - ...the great country blues man and his classic 41 titles...cause us to step back in slack-jawed astonishment...
Down Beat (02/01/1997)
5 Stars - Excellent - ...Johnson's use of harmonics and chording was eons before his time, and his delivery and lyrics remain standards by which blues intensity is measured. The intimacy is eerie; you're in the literal presence of genius...
Down Beat (02/01/1991)
Recommended as one of the five best blues releases of 1990 - ...Easily the most significant re-issue of the past year, THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS resolves many of the mysteries of Johnson's life while rendering the uncanny power of his work more mysterious than ever...
Q (02/01/1991)
5 Stars - Indispensable - ...Without a doubt a man mummified in his own legend, but these 41 recordings - Johnson's entire output - remain essential nonetheless...
Q (08/01/1994)
Rated as one of the 10 best recordings of 1990. - ...This isn't just music; it's American mythology, recorded in the mid-1930s and brought alive for the first time on two CDs. The blues found no deeper mystical expression than in Johnson's composing and singing...
Time Magazine (12/31/1990)
...If there have to be legendary bluesmen, Johnson is as well fitted for the role as anybody....[This is] a treasury that seems to grow more valuable year by year...
Mojo (04/01/2001)
Rated as one of the 10 best recordings of 1990. - ...This isn't just music; it's American mythology, recorded in the mid-1930s and brought alive for the first time on two CDs. The blues found no deeper mystical expression than in Johnson's composing and singing...
Time Magazine (12/31/1990)
5 Stars - Excellent - ...Johnson's use of harmonics and chording was eons before his time, and his delivery and lyrics remain standards by which blues intensity is measured. The intimacy is eerie; you're in the literal presence of genius...
Down Beat (02/01/1991)
5 Stars - Classic - ...No other bluesman left a studio portrait that seems to come moaning and howling from the darkest recesses of his soul. The music has a power that age cannot dim...
Rolling Stone (10/18/1990)
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