Although he's considered to be a blues musician, I myself hesitate to call him that. I tend to think of him as the most intense gospel musician ever. He has the total package... great voice, superb guitar playing (oh that slide work!), and for the most part, a great repertoire.

If there's anything that you may either love or hate, it's his voice. He at times posessed a snarling growl (best in "blues" history for my money) that would make you think this is music about Satan, not about God. I hate to scare people off by saying that about his voice though. He is one of my very favorite singers. I have never liked Howlin' Wolf's voice but Wolf was obviously extremely influenced by Willie Johnson. I'll put it this way... if you like Howlin' Wolf's voice (or if you don't but you're familiar with it) and if you like Don Van Vliet's (Captain Beefheart's) voice, you'll like Blind Willie Johnson's voice because his is the most intense and emotive of all of them... with Captain Beefheart's voice being a close second.

One bit of advice... there is a single-disc package called "Dark Was The Night" (I think that is the name). I don't have it but I know it's out there. On this complete set that I am reviewing there is indeed a lull in the "greatness factor". In 1929 Willie did some songs with an unknown female vocalist and quite honestly, that stuff pales in comparison to everything else contained in this set. I never checked out the Dark Was The Night single-disc set, but I am guessing that it's the 1929 "unknown vocalist" stuff that was left out to make that a one-disc package. If that is indeed the case then that cd wouldn't be a bad one to get rather than getting this 2-disc complete recordings. If you're reading this and you're curious, feel free to e-mail me and I'll go look at that disc, or I'll tell you the names of all the absolutely essential Willie Johnson performances and if one or more of those isn't on that one-disc package I would tell you to purchase this complete package instead.

If there's one thing I can say for sure, it's that Eric Clapton did the music world a huge disservice by constantly touting Robert Johnson as the greatest blues musician ever. Not that Robert wasn't great, but way too many people mistakenly think that pre-war blues began and ended with Robert, and thus, brilliant musicians of that general era such as Blind Willie Johnson are all too often forgotten, overlooked, or just unknown. That's quite a shame, because Willie's best stuff is easily the equal (or better) of Robert's best stuff. Completely different styles, but Willie was an emotional powerhouse, the likes of which the world will never be graced with again.

53 of 54 found the following review helpful:


PURE, TOTALLY PURE  Nov 19, 2002 By adam david
Maybe you're interested in Blind Willie Johnson because a number of his songs ("Nobody's Fault ut Mine", "Motherless Children", "You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond") have been recorded by varius rock stars annd blues artists.

Maybe you read how Ry Cooder believes that "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" is the most soulful piece of music ever comitted to wax and are curious to hear it for yourself.

Maybe you're aware that Johnson is considered among the finest slide guitar players of all time.

Whatever it is that got you here, the point is this: You're about to discover just about the purest music ever. Wonderful, awesome stuff. Please get it and take the time to appreciate this rare beauty.

Try listening to this on a rainy night with the lights out, maybe a few candles burning, and be transported to a place beyond space and time. To paraphrase Sam Philips when he first heard Howlin' Wolf, "THIS IS WHERE THE SOUL OF MAN NEVER DIES."

17 of 17 found the following review helpful:


Searing  Jun 13, 2004 By Gene DeSantis
When people blithely gas of bad rock stars "taking risks" with their latest CD filler they don't know the pre-Depression record biz, which sent producers out in the field to capture the latest in country and "race" music. Thanks to this enlightened practice we have the thirty imperishable tracks of Blind Willie Johnson, of whom we know little otherwise, except that he only lived to his forties, and died after a fire. (The cover photo from a Columbia ad is the only one we have of him.) And what music it is -- raw, searing, with an uncompromising vision, sung with a voice that pebbles gravel against the haunting riffs of his slide guitar. I do not know why the twenties blues has such peculiar power -- possibly because so much of it was sung by people who came from nowhere, tragically to go back to nowhere, or maybe it's the sound quality that seems almost sui generis to this music, that muffled sound that lends a certain eloquence and distance not readily explainable. Whatever the case, Blind Willie's isn't everyday music, or music to rest by, but it is music to open your heart, and to make you think.

12 of 12 found the following review helpful:


God moves on the water  Feb 25, 2005 By DJ Rix
The astonishing double negative of "God Don't Never Change," with its existential contradiction, sums up why this collection should be in the home of every gospel music lover in the world. Johnson's songs encompass the entire spectrum of spiritual experience from despair to hope to acceptance to mystical transcendence. & he leaves no doubt that he's been through all of it. Inspired by God's love, these songs, the singing, the guitar playing, are absolutely revelatory. Of course, Blind Willie Johnson is listened to mostly in the spirit of dispassionate appreciation by blues afficionados. Believers will have that plus the added pleasure of knowing what's really going on here. "Everybody Ought To Treat a Stranger Right" takes sound Gospel advice & makes it a request for spare change. "John the Revelator" kicks like rock & roll. "God moves on the water," indeed!

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:


Stunning  Dec 19, 2000 By Chris Johnson
The gospel blues singer/guitarist Willie Johnson was as influential as Robert Johnson and this album contains his complete recorded output. Every song on this CD is fantastic but two stand out. "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine" is the greatest piece of slide guitar playing ever recorded by anyone and "Dark Was The Night - Cold Was The Ground" is one of the greatest achievments in the history of any form of American music.

Buy this right now.

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