King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II

King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II
Compilation album by Robert Johnson
Released 1970
Recorded November 1936 and June 1937
Genre Blues
Length 41:00
Label Columbia
Producer Don Law (original recordings),
Frank Driggs (Reissue Producer)
Robert Johnson chronology
King of the Delta Blues Singers
(1961)King of the Delta Blues Singers1961		 King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II
(1970)		 The Complete Recordings
(1990)The Complete Recordings1990
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Hartford Courant(favorable)[2]
Los Angeles Times(favorable)[3]
New York Times(favorable)[4]
PopMatters(favorable)[5]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[6]
Sing Out!(favorable)[7]
Stereo Review(favorable)[8]
Virgin Encyclopedia[9]

King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II is a compilation album by American blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1970 on Columbia Records. In 2003, the album was ranked number 424 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[10]

Music

The album compiles sixteen recordings, ten of which were previously available as 78s on the Vocalion label, originally recorded during five sessions in 1936 and 1937. Through the course of the 1960s, blues music had become more visible in the popular music landscape of the day. Songs from Johnson's first album had been covered by popular rock artists in the late sixties, including Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin, who based their "Lemon Song" partly on "Traveling Riverside Blues." The Rolling Stones placed a version of "Love In Vain" on their 1969 landmark Let It Bleed before it had been released on LP, having heard the song on a bootleg recording circulating at the time.

Columbia decided it was time to issue another Johnson album, scoured the vaults again and came up with nine additional Vocalion masters, four unreleased alternate takes and one unreleased track. Likely finding no further acceptable recordings, to bring the number of tracks to the same sixteen as on Volume I, the alternate of "Ramblin' On My Mind" and masters of "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" and "Preachin' Blues" from the earlier LP were issued again. Although not quite as popular or influential as its predecessor, it includes recordings of two Johnson songs that have become blues standards, "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Love in Vain." In contrast to the deeply emotive songs released on the 1961 album, many of the tracks on Volume II display Johnson's lighter side.

King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II was reissued on August 10, 2004 by the Legacy Records subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, with the master version of "Ramblin' On My Mind" appended as a bonus track. The original recording engineer was Vincent Liebler.

Track listing

Side one

TrackRecordedCatalogueReleasedSong TitleTime
1.November 23, 1936Vocalion 34161937Kind Hearted Woman Blues2:28
2.November 23, 1936Vocalion 34751937I Believe I'll Dust My Broom2:57
3.November 23, 1936Vocalion 36011937Sweet Home Chicago2:57
4.November 23, 1936Columbia CL 1654 (alternate take)1961Ramblin' On My Mind2:50
5.November 23, 1936previously unreleased1970Phonograph Blues2:38
6.November 27, 1936Vocalion 35631937They're Red Hot2:56
7.November 27, 1936Vocalion 34751937Dead Shrimp Blues2:29
8.November 27, 1936Vocalion 46301939Preaching Blues2:49

Side two

TrackRecordedCatalogueReleasedSong TitleTime
1.June 19, 1937Vocalion 37231937I'm a Steady Rollin' Man2:35
2.June 19, 1937Vocalion 36231937From Four 'Til Late2:22
3.June 20, 1937unreleased alternate take1970Little Queen of Spades2:16
4.June 20, 1937Vocalion 36651937Malted Milk2:20
5.June 20, 1937unreleased alternate take1970Drunken Hearted Man2:26
6.June 20, 1937unreleased alternate take1970Stop Breakin' Down Blues2:21
7.June 20, 1937Vocalion 40021938Honeymoon Blues2:16
8.June 20, 1937unreleased alternate take1970Love in Vain2:20

2004 reissue bonus track

TrackRecordedCatalogueReleasedSong TitleTime
17.November 23, 1936Vocalion 35191937Ramblin' on My Mind2:23

Notes

  1. ↑ Greenberg, Adam. Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II. Allmusic. Retrieved on August 7, 2009.
  2. ↑ Starger, Steve. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II". The Hartford Courant: 8. April 10, 1971.
  3. ↑ MH. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II". Los Angeles Times: M50. December 20, 1970.
  4. ↑ Marcus, Greil. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II". The New York Times: 506. November 22, 1970.
  5. ↑ Cober-Lake, Justin. Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II. PopMatters. Retrieved on August 7, 2009.
  6. ↑ Goodwin, Michael. Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on August 7, 2009.
  7. ↑ Tearson, Michael. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II". Sing Out!: January 1, 2005.
  8. ↑ Columnist. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II". Stereo Review: v. 26. 1971.
  9. ↑ Larkin, Colin. "Review: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II". Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music: March 1, 2002.
  10. ↑ Columnist. RS500: 424) King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on August 7, 2009.

References

  • Colin Larkin (2002). Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Edition 4. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-923-0.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.