King Of The Delta Blues Singers

This latest incarnation of Columbia Records' early 1960s Robert Johnson collection, courtesy of Sony Music in Japan, is mostly blessed with killer sound, courtesy of the latest (c. 2017) state-of-the-art analog-to-digital transfer technologies and techniques. And for the most part, the results are more than impressive -- one gets actual room ambience on a lot of the material (most notably "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day"), which is remarkable for 80-year-old recordings. A couple of the songs are pushed a little too hard in the mastering, resulting in cracks in the sound at the crescendos, but what are you going to do about eight-decade-old audio artifacts, except live with it? In return for those momentary flaws, we get to experience the most vivid account yet heard of Johnson's playing and the richest showcase his singing has had since he was walking this earth.