ROBERT JOHNSON Legendary Blues, Volume 1 - PABL001

"The most important blues musician who ever lived"
Eric Clapton on Robert Johnson

Newly restored using XR remastering technology 

This experimental release came as a result of a late-night conversation with the head of another classical record company, following discussion of the wider possibilities of Pristine Audio's XR remastering system. As XR relies on modern reference recordings to precisely re-equalise older recordings in order to correct the inadequacies of vintage recording systems, it's often hard to use outside of the classical sphere. However, the music of Robert Johnson has been widely recorded, and it was possible to find modern equivalents of many of these recordings, from which I was able to derive further equalisations for the remaining tracks.

What emerges from this process is quite remarkable - for perhaps the first time one is able to hear the full range, power and versatility of both Johnson's singing and playing in a sound quality that is more 1950's or 1960's than the 1930's hotel room, where these immensely influential recordings were made.

The sample chosen here, Ramblin' On My Mind, gives a very good indication of what to expect from the rest of the tracks, sound-wise. One or two of them have emerged even better from the remastering process than this. The overall effect of this collection is stunning to hear, especially for anyone used the thin sound of all previous Johnson reissues. Once you've heard this remastered collection you will not wish to return to anything else.

N.B. Due to a compilation error, track 8 "When you've got a good friend" appears twice on this issue, and another song, prepared for this release, was omitted. This missing song appears on Volume Two of our Robert Johnson Legendary Blues releases (PABL002), which will complete the entire set of his recordings.

Andrew Rose