Reviewed by James Lewis

Led Zeppelin, Russ Taff, Ry Cooder, Glenn Kaiser, Bruce Cockbum, Seventy Sevens, Phil Keaggy - what do they all have in common? All these people plus many more have all done covers of Blind Willie Johnson songs. This compilation includes all known recordings by the 1920s street evangelist/singer/guitarist extraordinaire gathered together for the first time over here, although all these tracks have previously been available on two separately available Yazoo imports. The songs may be out and out gospel but the slide guitar is what most people listen to him for. Ry Cooder based the style of the whole of his highly acclaimed soundtrack to 'Paris, Texas' on the Johnson classic "Dark Was The Night". The man is widely acknowledged to be a master of the bottleneck style up there with Robert Johnson - no relation as far as anyone knows. If you have the Yazoo imports this is probably not worth your money - the sound quality has only been slightly improved, although the sleeve notes are a bit more extensive. Whether or not you will like this collection is a moot point - Johnson has an extremely gruff vocal style, and the sound quality is what you'd expect from a 1920s recording, but what is indisputable is the historic value of these tracks and the enduring influence on blues guitar that these songs hold. For this alone it deserves a full house.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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