Back in 1990, the digital processing of Robert Johnson’s known
\nrecordings was the talk of the town. The box set
\nThe Complete Recordings<\/i> (which we reviewed some time ago)
\nsparked a new interest in Johnson and his music, and quickly became
\nthe leading candidate for “comeback of the year”.<\/p>\n
Now, in 1998, Peter Green is the leading candidate for comeback
\nof the year – playing, of all things, the music of Robert Johnson.
\nThe Robert Johnson Songbook<\/i> is a disc that proves that in
\nGreen’s chest beats the heart of a bluesman – and for that, we
\nshould all be grateful.<\/p>\n
Long after his glory days with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and
\nFleetwood Mac, long after his dark days following a bad experience
\nwith acid and his rejection of his fame, people still know Green’s
\nname and his legacy. Until recently, Green was not ready to return
\nto the limelight and begin reclaiming his musical heritage, but his
\nlast outing, Splinter Group, was his first step into reclaiming
\nwhat was his. (I’ve not heard this particular disc yet, so I’ll
\nwithhold any further comment on it.)<\/p>\n
Now, again working with the Splinter Group (and his old friend
\nNigel Watson), Green lovingly runs through 14 numbers from
\nJohnson’s repertoire (which only boasts 29 different titles) and
\ntries to stay true to their original voice while adding touches of
\nmodern-day soul to them. With the backing vocals of Street Angels
\n98, this goal is easily achieved.<\/p>\n
Green looks and sounds much older than his age, but in one
\nsense, this almost gives him the perfect voice for the music he
\ncreates on
\nThe Robert Johnson Songbook<\/i>. When Green sings songs like
\n“32-20 Blues,” “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” and “Ramblin’ On My
\nMind,” you don’t just hear a musician paying tribute to one of the
\ngreats in his field… you hear someone who’s lived these words and
\nbears the scars as proof.<\/p>\n
The assembled band – Watson on guitar and vocals, bassist Neil
\nMurray, pianist Roger Cotton and drummer Larry Tolfree – tends to
\nkeep their performances to a minimum, again complementing the basic
\nsongs and the mood that Johnson himself might have captured had he
\nnot died in 1938. Songs like “Me And The Devil Blues,” “I Believe
\nI’ll Dust My Broom” and “When You Got A Good Friend” are all strong
\nperformances that make the music they create shine.<\/p>\n
Even ex-Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers – whose voice has
\ndefinitely changed since his glory days – lends a hand on “Sweet
\nHome Chicago,” though I would have much rather heard someone like
\nGreen take this number. The playing is good, but this one could be
\nthe only weak link on the whole album.<\/p>\n
\nThe Robert Johnson Songbook<\/i> not only is a wonderful
\nre-introduction of Green to the industry he rejected so many years
\nago, it also is a great primer for those who might not know who he
\nis (I lump anyone who only knows Fleetwood Mac from the
\nBuckingham-Nicks era in this category) and how important he was to
\nBritish music in general in the ’60s.<\/p>\n
The only thing I honestly don’t understand: My promotional copy
\nof this album had a parental advisory sticker on it. Why?!? There
\nis no language on this record, and the references to the devil are
\nnothing like what you’d hear piled high on some new releases.
\nAssuming the sticker wasn’t put on by accident, this is a good
\nreason why I think the stickering of albums is ludicrous.<\/p>\n
\nThe Robert Johnson Songbook<\/i> lets people know with no
\nuncertain doubt that Green has returned to reclaim his throne as a
\nmaster of the blues. Here’s hoping he sticks around for a while to
\ndefend it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7527],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39286","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-peter-green","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39286"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}