Talk:The Complete Recordings (Robert Johnson album)

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the The Complete Recordings (Robert Johnson album) article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Albums

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Albums, an attempt at building a useful resource on recordings from a variety of genres. If you would like to participate, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.AlbumsWikipedia:WikiProject AlbumsTemplate:WikiProject AlbumsAlbum articles

Rock music High‑importance

	Rock music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rock music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rock music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Rock musicWikipedia:WikiProject Rock musicTemplate:WikiProject Rock musicRock music articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Library of Congress Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Library of Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Library of Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Library of CongressWikipedia:WikiProject Library of CongressTemplate:WikiProject Library of CongressLibrary of Congress articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

mono or stereo

well, the headline says it all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.173.225.226 (talk) 09:24, 20 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Late 1990s remastering

Wasn't this remastered in the late 1990s? I distinctly reading somewhere how they had discovered better masters of these recordings and reissued them. I heard the reissue awhile after this and it sounded considerably better than my 1990 reissue box set. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.59.241.229 (talk) 06:53, 10 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Every recording

The lede states 'The Complete Recordings contains every recording Johnson is known to have made, with the exception of an alternate take of "Travelling Riverside Blues".', which implies that since the album has 41 tracks, he made 42 recordings. However, the booklet included with my copy lists 63 recordings, followed by this note:

*These takes remain unfound, if ever issued; destroyed after being recorded (if ever); or otherwise unknown to collectors. In any event they do not appear in this or any other album or collection.

Of the 63 recordings, 20 are marked with an asterisk (there should be 22, because only one each, of the three takes of "Stones in My Passway" and the three takes of "I'm a Steady Rollin' Man" bears an asterisk, instead of two each). I would therefore suggest that the lede be altered to read 'The Complete Recordings contains every one of Johnson's recordings that was known to exist at the time that the album was released.' --Redrose64 (talk) 20:28, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Me and the Devil Blues

The shorter version of "Me and the Devil Blues" is described in the track listing as the alternate take, yet the Robert Johnson discography implies that the shorter version was the one issued, with the longer version as the alternate.

Is the track listing incorrect on the CD, or are the timings, which are similar, no guide?

Stananson (talk) 10:32, 18 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The CD does not indicate either one as the "alternate take" - indeed, none of the 41 tracks are so described, they're merely "take 1", "take 2", etc. As for the "issued" version, both takes of "Me and the Devil Blues" are shown as issued on Vocalion 04108, a number also shown against both takes of "Little Queen of Spades". I suspect that the 78 had one take of each song, and the CD booklet writers were unable to determine which one of the two pairs was the actual issued version. I expect that take 2 of "Me and the Devil Blues" was the issued version, because take 1 is comparatively muffled. Apart from that, and their timings (on my copy, take 1 is 2:35, and take 2 is 2:29), the two takes of "Me and the Devil Blues" are easily distinguishable because the third verse differs very slightly: take 1 has "She say you don't see why / that you will dog me round", whereas take 2 has "She say you don't see why / that I will dog her round" (my emphasis). This difference is not a misprint on the lyric transcription: Johnson actually sings them differently. We therefore need somebody with Vocalion 04108 to listen to it, and report on which words are sung. --Redrose64 (talk) 12:01, 18 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]