Robert Johnson - Complete Recordings

Hi,

They should make this into a Brunswick Records and Robert Johnson museum. In an earlier post, a forum member mentioned having a 1963 copy of "King Of The Delta Blues Singers" and wanted to know what a 6-Eye copy sounded like. Well, we have one at my NPR affiliate job where I engineer. I listened to it last night and compared to a 1963 minty copy we also have. The 6-Eye we have is a Red and White label promo. It sounds a little warmer and cleaner than our 1963 copy. Both are NM- condition. I used to own a few Robert Johnson 78's on Vocalion. I had "Malted Milk" (Alt. version) and "Terraplane Blues" Alas, they got broken in a move. Talk about the one that got away. Holy Grail indeed!

 

no.

This was a website advocating this view, the proof based on RJ's tuning as it sounded on the recording.
But since it's a lone guitar it could easily (and most likely) be tuned to itself.

 

When can I come visit you at work?

Kent. That was me. Thanks so much for taking the time to make the comparison. Of course, your insight only leads me to want to pursue a promo copy of the 1961 pressing, which at the current value is out of my reach.

Just the regular 1961 pressing has a book value of $500 in NM. I bid on a scratched promo copy a while back, that ended up at $179, and didn't even try on a NM copy that went for $325.

AND you heard the 78s too! Wow. Do you recall how they compared with the 33 RPM versions that you just listened to?
-David

 

Hi David,

The 78's I once owned were better sounding than the LP although the early pressing King Of The Delta Blues Singers LP's were fine. Sad that my 78's got broken in a move. Especially for what nice copies bring.

 

Yes, what a shame about the broken 78s. I don't own any, but my understanding is that they break relatively easily.

 

Yes, they do break very easily.

 

A German CD company last year (or maybe 2004) released a CD of RJ's music slowed down by 20%. I've not heard it myself (would like to though) but have heard that it sounds more 'earthy,' 'human,' and 'realistic.' Supposedly, it's the speeding up, whether intentional or not, that really gives the music its ethereal quality.

 

Is the Vol.2 of KOTDBS (King of the Delta Blues Singers) OOP? I got Vol.1 through yourmusic but Vol.2 is special order/out-of-stock at quite a few places (online).

 

As far as the slowed down version,I got a copy a year or so ago.A person actually wrote a very well written essay on the slower speed being the correct speed.He was kind enough to send me a copy of the disc.The gist of it is R.J. comes of sounding more like Son House and some of Son's peers.I would offer this to the group but I can't seem to find the essay to get clearance from the author.
Well worth it if you find it.
Aloha,
Michael

 

found it

Here we go Great Stuff!
I for one think it makes sense.
http://www.touched.co.uk/press/rjnote.html

 

The slower versions do sound better, IMHO.

How is this CD, BTW - "Up Jumped The Devil"?
http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=3319679

 

Does anyone know exact details of where the slower versions are available?

Can anyone post a link ?

Thanks

 

You can hear a sample of the slower versions here
http://www.touched.co.uk/press/rjnote.html

I do not know where you can buy the CD being talked about. Sorry

 

I listened to the clips last night. Impressive, and I can see the author's point. Sounds like a man playing a guitar now.

I've got a european edition of the fat-boy set, which was the first to be issued there in 1991. I think it's the better version, because I have one early LP and this was 'different but still better overall' with way less drastic filtering. Now, I bet Audacity can fix the speed with a few clicks. I'll be playing with it when I get the time.

 

The official versions do sound too fast, but the slowed down ones on the webpage are a bit too slow. It sounds to me like they need to try again to find the correct speed...

Derek

 

It's just nonsense. There are people alive who've heard RJ sing, such as Honeyboy Edwards, not one of them in all the interviews since the 60's folk revival comment that the recordings are too fast and he didn't sound that way. Some of these interviews even have the 78's playing as they discuss RJ. Again, his argument is soley based on the tuning of the guitar. That guitar was tuned to itself, no harmonicas, and tuning high was a common practice especially on a short scale guitar for bottleneck.
The recordings may sound strange to us today but that's due to the quality of the equipment used.

 

The slowed-down versions sounded weird and unnatural to me, causing me to doubt the thesis. They also, however, sounded a LOT more like Son House, which stopped me in my tracks a bit. Also, the slowed-down "Come on in My Kitchen" sounded a lot more emotive; it was easier to see what Johnny Shines meant when he recalled how Robert Johnson left the juke joint silent and in tears after playing that song.

However, it may be that the creator of these recordings rigged the game from the get-go by using House's "My Black Mama" as his lodestar. Here, an important consideration must be noted: the speed of all of these recordings is unreliable. As John Fahey said in his book "Charley Patton," which now accompanies Revenant's excellent Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues, there are Patton records that change speed noticeably during the middle of the record itself. Listen to disc 2 of the Revenant box, and you can hear it. I'd be interested to know why, technologically, that was so.

What I would infer from this fact is that using one old 78 to deduce the proper speed of another would be like trying to set your watch to an old, unreliable clock. You might be right, but it would be by accident. Thus, I must consider the thesis interesting, but hardly proven.