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I searched out this album after I read an interview with Ry Cooder who evidently revered Blind Willie Johnson as the king of slide guitar. This is a 2 CD set supposedly containing all his recorded works. The album is great but maybe a little flawed. The first seven or so songs on CD1 are really marvellous. Good blues songs with fantastic slide guitar and his distinctive singing. Hmm yes the singing. Blind Willie is capable of smooth and mellow tones but mostly relies on a strange artificial rasping grating noise that mostly reminds me of Popeye. But underneath is extraordinary slide playing. He plays great bluesey riffs but on top of that he echoes his singing with little throw away phrases and you can hardly wonder how he can think about three things at once. After the first few congs on CD1 and all the way through CD2 a female backing singer appears. As far as I am concerned she adds nothing except an annoying bleating sound in the background. The best old blues is one to one and the backing singer breaks that unique link to the listener. But if you can put up with her the songs are good.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
if you are looking for a piece of blues history this is one big piece. his voice is very rough and his guitar playing and soulful lyrics can cut through the bone! You may recognize his style in other great slide players that came after him, bob dylan did a cover of his on his first album. If your new to the legend, this is a great place to start, covers all his best songs.
fascinating voice and liner notes tell quite a story
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Blind Willie Johnson is a fantastic singer in his style which is somewhat of a preacher very suited for his gospel, a prominent figure in Gospel Blues and fantastic slide guitar player, FANTASTIC 2 CD set containing his entire body of work, is accompanied on some songs by female vocalist, I'm not a religious person per say but as an old time music freak it is a must have
A great collection of the master of gospel blues. The sound quality is great and it is a great item for the blues fan or the fan of early pre-war gospel recordings.
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