Sessions for Robert J. [CD & DVD]

Disc 1
1	Sweet Home Chicago 5:17
2	Milkcow's Calf Blues 3:49
3	Terraplane Blues 3:36
4	If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day 3:23
5	Stop Breakin' Down Blues 2:56
6	Little Queen of Spades 5:27
7	Traveling Riverside Blues 4:26
8	Me and the Devil Blues 2:50
9	From Four Until Late 3:01
10	Kind Hearted Woman Blues 5:39
11	Rambling on My Mind 5:14
Disc 2
1	Kind Hearted Woman Blues DVD
2	They're Red Hot DVD
3	Hell Hound on My Trail DVD
4	Sweet Home Chicago DVD
5	When You Got a Good Friend DVD
6	Milkcow's Calf Blues DVD
7	If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day DVD
8	Terraplane Blues DVD
9	Hell Hound on My Trail DVD
10	Me and the Devil Blues DVD
11	From Four Until Late DVD
12	Love in Vain DVD
13	Rambling on My Mind DVD
14	Stones in My Passway DVD
15	Love in Vain DVD
16	Little Queen of Spades Bonus Track / DVD
17	Traveling Riverside Blues Bonus Track / DVD

Barnes & Noble

Ostensibly a companion piece to Slowhand's tribute album Me and Mr. Johnson, this collection of demos and live rehearsals stands on its own surprisingly well, capturing the spirit of the legendary Robert Johnson even more effectively. That's attributable to the rougher edges retained on songs like "Kind-Hearted Woman Blues," which Clapton's band was only just coming to terms with. It's equally evident in the spare, eerie tunes -- "Me and the Devil Blues," "Hellhound on My Trail" -- that Clapton and fellow guitarist Doyle Bramhall II worked out acoustically in the same Dallas hotel room where Johnson had his only real recording session. The CD-and-DVD package contains plenty of material that didn't make it to the finished version of Me and Mr. Johnson, highlighted by a stinging version of "Sweet Home Chicago" and a loamy take on "Ramblin' on My Mind" -- which, coincidentally, was the first song Clapton ever sang professionally, back when he was a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. The DVD, which clocks in at 18 songs, as opposed to the CD's 11, also features two bonus tracks, interview footage, and behind-the-scenes looks at Clapton's studio activity. David Sprague

All Music Guide

It appears that Eric Clapton had more Robert Johnson in his blood than he thought -- or perhaps it was planned this way. This DVD/CD set (and really, it's not the other way around despite the packaging), showcases Clapton mining the Robert Johnson vein ever more deeply in no less than four different settings. The DVD features 19 acoustic and electric performances recorded in rehearsal spaces in Dallas and in England, as well as in the 508 Park Ave. in Dallas, a studio Johnson himself recorded in, in 1937. There is one more segment, a recorded solo acoustic in a hotel room in California. The band that joins Clapton in the rehearsal studios is comprised of guitar master Doyle Bramhall, organist Billy Preston, Steve Gadd on drums, pianist Chris Stainton and Nathan East on bass. The electric performances, particularly "Milkcow's Calf 's Blues," "Stop Breakin' Down Blues," and especially "I Wish I Had Possession Over Judgment Day," have some real life and stomp in them. Of the acoustic tracks, "Terraplane Blues" works best. The DVD also contains a selection of behind-the-scenes footage that will be of interest only to those fans who need to see everything. The CD contains 11 cuts culled from the DVD and the sequencing is in some ways preferable. Thom Jurek