One of my first blues purchases all these years back was an (incomplete) Robert Johnson collection. As striking as these recordings were, even back then, the scratchy 30s era quality could make it hard on the ears. A friend told me this summer about this Centennial collection, entirely remastered and I decided to give it a shot. There's no doubt that the recordings are much improved, in particular the hissing is practially gone, but I noticed listening to it that it didn't make the music any more endearing to me. Maybe I'm too used to the hissy versions so that's now part of the Robert Johnson sound for me. The music is as fantastic and distinctive as ever, but if you already own pre-remaster recordings, I wouldn't recommend buying this. If you don't know Robert Johnson, that collection is definitely the best way to correct that grave mistake.
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