2008 reissue of this album from the British Blues guitarist. On this release, Green serves up 16 outstanding interpretations of Robert Johnson classics. The songs that Robert Johnson recorded in various Texas hotel rooms ... more »in 1936 and 1937 are amongst the most significant and influential works in the history of Blues music. It was thus very appropriate that it was to these landmark songs that Peter Green turned when recording 1998's outstanding award winning Robert Johnson Songbook. This record shows a real return to form for the founder of Fleetwood Mac and one of the greatest ever white Blues guitarists. In 1999 The Robert Johnson Songbook won Peter Green a prestigious W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation. Complete Blues.« less
2008 reissue of this album from the British Blues guitarist. On this release, Green serves up 16 outstanding interpretations of Robert Johnson classics. The songs that Robert Johnson recorded in various Texas hotel rooms in 1936 and 1937 are amongst the most significant and influential works in the history of Blues music. It was thus very appropriate that it was to these landmark songs that Peter Green turned when recording 1998's outstanding award winning Robert Johnson Songbook. This record shows a real return to form for the founder of Fleetwood Mac and one of the greatest ever white Blues guitarists. In 1999 The Robert Johnson Songbook won Peter Green a prestigious W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation. Complete Blues.
"I bought this CD back when it was issued but hadn't listened to it much until recently when Peter Green's fellow British guitar wizard Eric Clapton issued his own tribute to Robert Johnson called Me and Mr. Johnson. Although the two CDs are very different in both approach and sound, I like them both. The one I would pick as the "best" would depend on my mood on any given day. But if its "authenticity" you seek, then Green's Robert Johnson Songbook comes closest to the Delta Blues sound.Since I have not actually heard most of Johnson's own work, I won't inject myself into the "what would Johnson do?" speculations. I have a feeling that he would be pleased and amused that so many white boys see him as a blues god and want to cover his music. However, I have heard all these songs before covered by a variety of artists from across the rock and blues spectrum, so I can comment on their relative merits.
There is a lot to like here. Green and his sidekick Nigel Watson put their hearts into this recording and serve up some very tasty Delta Blues, London style. I like the whole CD, but my favorite renditions here are of Phonograph Blues, a gospel-flavored Last Fair Deal Gone Down, a slow, Stones-like Love in Vain Blues, the mournful Stones In My Passway, the macho I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, and the swinging Sweet Home Chicago.
The CD comes with an informative booklet that compares and contrasts the lives of Robert Johnson and Peter Green. It also offers some intimate observations on how the idea for this tribute was born. If you like the blues in general and aren't a stickler for note-for-note authenticity, then I recommend The Robert Johnson Songbook highly.And for the record, some reviewers mentioned erroneously that Peter Green had been away from recording since his Fleetwood Mac days. Not so. He made a number of albums, some of them quite good, during the late 70s and the 80s. If you were unaware of that, its because none of his albums were given proper promotion.
Some of that period's music is available here on this site, mostly in compilation form."
Drop-Dead Gorgeous
C. S. Junker | Burien, WA USA | 04/03/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I admit I was disappointed when this CD came out. Since Peter Green had returned to performing and recording in 1996, I was hoping for new songs from him. A whole album of Robert Johnson covers? Why?After listening to this, however, I began to appreciate it more and more. Nigel Watson and Peter Green manage to be respectful without being overly reverent, well aware that they're updating Johnson's classic songs for contemporary audiences. (It's worth noting that the only Peter Green compositions to appear on any Splinter Group CD are re-arrangements of ... old Peter Green songs.) Peter's voice is getting pretty creaky, but on this record it's warm and husky, just hoarse enough to give you the feeling of someone who's lived the blues. The piano and rhythm work are excellent, as are Nigel Watson's singing. And a special word for the Street Angels backup singers, whose performance on some tracks gives them a gospel feel that's entirely appropriate to the material.There's no point in comparing this to Robert Johnson's originals. However, you can compare it to Eric Clapton's new release, by contrast a rather dry, lifeless exercise that goes in one ear and out the other. If you're a Clapton fan, you can string me up and call for the executioner, but first... listen to this CD. It's a must for any blues fan.(And don't forget to buy "Hot Foot Powder", the follow-up album with more delicious blues!)"
The Robert Johnson Songbook
csmith606 | Drakesboro, KY United States | 11/25/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Like a little Blues in your life? Well, You can't beat this. Did you ever buy a record that only had one good song on it? (Manfred Mann's "Quinn The Esquimo" comes to mind.) Well, There's 16 songs on this album - and 14 of them will knock your socks off! I got this CD in the mail about three days ago. I've listened to it about a hundred times. This is one of the best."
Comeback Player of the Year
Stephen Hedt | Clayton, NC United States | 12/17/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"An excellent return from a welcome old friend. Riveting & gut wrenchingly beautiful, simple, sraightforward blues with a feeling. A guitarist and bluesman who certainly still belongs in the same class as his bretheren Kim Simmonds and Eric Claptin. I enjoy this very much and listen to it frequently with growing appreciation."
A nice idea well realized
Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 11/21/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"On "The Robert Johnson Songbook", and its 13-track companion volume "Hot Foot Powder", Peter Green goes through all of Robert Johnson's twenty-nine recorded songs. Or rather through twenty-seven of them, according to the track list here on Amazon, which doesn't feature "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" or "Terraplane Blues" (they are both on my CD, however, but that may be a European thing).
The arrangements are mostly acoustic, featuring guitars and dobros, piano and the occational harp, and while former Fleetwood Mac-guitarist Green's vocals aren't excactly powerful, he sings with a lot of soul and an impeccable sense of rhythm, sounding in fact very much like Eric Clapton.
Bad Company's Paul Rodgers guests on a couple of tracks, and vocal group Street Angels 98 lend a distinct gospel-like flavour to "Last Fair Deal Gone Down".
This isn't aggressive electric blues with lots of fiery lead guitar, rather it's mellow and rather faithful to Johnson's original readings. And virtually every song is excellent, from the classic guitar/piano duet on "When You Got A Good Friend" and the harp-driven "Stop Breakin' Down Blues", to the Paul Rodgers-sung "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and the delightful low-key rendition of "Sweet Home Chicago".
And Robert Johnson's version of "Walking Blues", which incorporates the rhythm, the phrasing and even the main slide guitar riff from Son House's "Death Letter", sounds even more than usual like "Death Letter". Not that I'm complaining, I love that song!
There isn't a whole lot to complain about here, actually. This is Robert Johnson's songs, after all, and while Peter Green has updated the arrangements to a certain degree, he doesn't really alter any of the songs enough to offend any Johnson lovers. A little bit more variation might be nice, but "The Robert Johnson Songbook" is a perfectly good record as it is.
And it's successor, "Hot Food Powder", is even better, so don't forget to pick up both of them."