The Complete Recordings [Longbox]

Disc 1
1	Kindhearted Woman Blues 2:49
2	Kindhearted Woman Blues Alternate Take 2:31
3	I Believe I'll Dust My Broom 2:56
4	Sweet Home Chicago 2:59
5	Rambling on My Mind 2:51
6	Rambling On My Mind Alternate Take 2:20
7	When You Got a Good Friend 2:37
8	When You Got A Good Friend Alternate Take 2:50
9	Come On In My Kitchen 2:47
10	Come On In My Kitchen Alternate Take 2:35
11	Terraplane Blues 3:00
12	Phonograph Blues 2:37
13	Phonograph Blues Alternate Take 2:32
14	32-20 Blues 2:51
15	They're Red Hot 2:56
16	Dead Shrimp Blues 2:30
17	Cross Road Blues 2:39
18	Cross Road Blues Alternate Take 2:29
19	Walking Blues 2:28
20	Last Fair Deal Gone Down 2:39
Disc 2
1	Preaching Blues (Up Jumped The Devil) 2:50
2	If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day 2:34
3	Stones in My Passway 2:27
4	I'm a Steady Rollin' Man 2:35
5	From Four Till Late 2:23
6	Hellhound on My Trail 2:35
7	Little Queen of Spades 2:11
8	Little Queen Of Spades Alternate Take 2:15
9	Malted Milk 2:17
10	Drunken Hearted Man 2:24
11	Drunken Hearted Man Alternate Take 2:19
12	Me And The Devil Blues 2:37
13	Me And The Devil Blues Alternate Take 2:29
14	Stop Breakin' Down Blues 2:16
15	Stop Breakin' Down Blues Alternate Take 2:21
16	Traveling Riverside Blues 2:47
17	Honeymoon Blues 2:16
18	Love in Vain 2:28
19	Love In Vain Alternate Take 2:19
20	Milkcow's Calf Blues 2:14
21	Milkcow's Calf Blues Alternate Take 2:20

Barnes & Noble

Robert Johnson the most mythical figure in all of blues, played his music with the cool, calculation, and self-possession of an assassin. Believe him when he sings (of an allegedly "Kindhearted Woman") that "she studies evil all the time," but listen more closely for the real story. The guitar is playing a deep, murderous counterpoint to the lyric. If anyone has studied evil, it's the man picking those marrow-chilling phrases -- no wonder legend has him striking a deal with the devil in exchange for his soul-stirring sound. This two-disc collection, which gathers every take Johnson ever put to tape, finds the blues legend embodying the dual thrusts of African-American music: calculated abandon and icy passion. His piercing vocal and devastatingly seductive riffing is so unsettling that he can sing "two and two is four" (in "Sweet Home Chicago") and leave his listener in doubt whether even that is the simple truth. When he moves from math to rhetorical questions -- "Baby, don't you want to go?" -- there's more confusion. The mind knows not to go, no good could come of this man, but the heart and the body hopelessly follow that killer falsetto. Combine this haunting music with a package of extensive notes, and you've got the biggest-selling blues box set in history. Chris King

All Music Guide

A double-disc box set containing everything Robert Johnson ever recorded, The Complete Recordings is essential listening, but it is also slightly problematic. The problems aren't in the music itself, of course, which is stunning and the fidelity of the recordings is the best it ever has been or ever will be. Instead, it's in the track sequencing. As the title implies, The Complete Recordings contains all of Johnson's recorded material, including a generous selection of alternate takes. All of the alternates are sequenced directly after the master, which can make listening to the album a little intimidating and tedious for novices. Certainly, the alternates can be programmed out with a CD player or mp3 player, but the set would have been more palatable if the alternate takes were presented on a separate disc. Nevertheless, this is a minor complaint -- Johnson's music retains its power no matter what context it is presented in. He, without question, deserves this kind of deluxe box set treatment. Stephen Thomas Erlewine