Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Robert Johnson

1	Walkin' Blues 2:30
2	Come on in My Kitchen 2:51
3	I Believe I'll Dust My Broom 2:59
4	Stop Breakin' Down Blues 2:17
5	Traveling Riverside Blues 2:41
6	Cross Road Blues 2:39
7	From Four Until Late 2:24
8	Sweet Home Chicago 2:59
9	Hellhound on My Trail 2:36
10	Kind Hearted Woman Blues 2:51
11	Malted Milk 2:22
12	Ramblin' on My Mind 2:52
13	32-20 Blues 2:49
14	Love in Vain 2:22
15	Hot Tamales / Cassandra Wilson 1:41
16	Last Fair Deal Gone Down / Keb' Mo' 3:45

Barnes & Noble

He’s known as the King of the Delta Blues, and for good reason. Robert Johnson may not have invented the genre, but he exemplified everything artful about the music itself. Johnson absorbed all there was to glean from the musical sounds about him in the early 1930s, transforming them into a personal vision of the blues that has an immediacy still felt to this very day, almost 70 years after his untimely death. With his unearthly voice and strikingly skillful guitar work, Johnson made practically each of the self-composed songs he recorded an event. And what songs! This set ropes together some of the most famous, including “Rambling on My Mind,” “Love in Vain,” “Cross Road Blues,” and “Stop Breaking Down Blues” -- immortal tunes made familiar to rock audiences decades later through countless cover versions. An excellent introduction to Johnson, this single disc will inevitably send a listener in search of the comprehensive double-CD set, The Complete Recordings. Steve Futterman

All Music Guide

Robert Johnson may not have been as innovative in the country blues field as many people think, but as one of the last of the great Delta players to record, he brought a late-era refinement to his material, and with striking songs like "Love in Vain," "Hellhound on My Trail," and the assured "Last Fair Deal Gone Down," he certainly deserves his lofty position in the early blues canon. This set has all of those, but lacks some key tracks, most notably the impressive "Stones in My Passway," and while it makes a decent introduction to Johnson, there is really no reason not to simply pick up the double-disc Complete Recordings on Columbia. It has the best sound, the best liner notes, and everything is there, alternate takes and all. Steve Leggett