onewilyfool Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 His voice sounds different on almost every song!!!???? He changes his voice to suit the song. I understand that Bob Dylan used to listen to Robert Johnson, and I do believe Dylan used to change his voice often through out his carreer.......hmmmmm.......just a thought.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Man, he brings it don't he? When he sings and plays a tune, he really does it. The ADDITUDE. And when he gets all sentimental, he really tries to tell it. I think it takes a whole different frame of mind to get out of his music than we are used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devellis Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Robert Johnson is amazing. Although I prefer playing country blues rather than delta blues, there's no denying what an extraordinary musician Johnson was. We're fortunate that his output during his all-too-brief life has been captured on reasonably good recordings for the era. I bought the complete set of his tracks a couple of years ago and it gets lots of air time around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 RJ is the guy who got me into blues....."Love in Vain"....was the first blues song I learned.....I MUCH prefer it to the Stones version...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaster Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Robert Johnson, no one comes close. He's started many Blues guitarists down the road and discouraged just as many, who have given up in disgust.. Now there's a big debate going on about how his records many have had the speeds altered. That's what happens when the digital pinheads start tampering with art. For the truly dedicated there's a new mega box set coming out towards the end of April 2011, which includes a new booklet, and a dozen replica RJ '78s, along with some once again reissued CDs, yours for a little north of $350. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Everyone should listen to Robert Johnson! The texture in the voice is something that should dissuade thousands from ever approaching a mike! Me? When I sing my wife doesn't know whether I am singing or the dogs are throwing up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 You have to remember that 78 rpms were generally not recorded at that speed but between around 70 and 85 rpm. There is also a line of thought that slowing and speeding up recordings was part of the mastering process. Just a theory but it may explain why Johnson sounded high pitched on one tune and like say Leroy Carr on the next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Everyone should listen to Robert Johnson! The texture in the voice is something that should dissuade thousands from ever approaching a mike! H.C. Spier, who recorded Johnson's audition records in Jackson, MS claimed that one of ther main reason Johnson got to record washis ability to sing in a falsetto voice which was very popular. He also recalled feeling that Johnson might run into problems since most of his repertoire was made up of covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I like RJ but he never fired me up the way House or Bukka did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 JohnT....I beg to differ....lol....here's Johnny!!! http://www.youtube.com/user/MrThermionik#p/u/21/zH0sUL42DFs Everyone should listen to Robert Johnson! The texture in the voice is something that should dissuade thousands from ever approaching a mike! Me? When I sing my wife doesn't know whether I am singing or the dogs are throwing up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotTheSilver Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 I have been a big fan of RJ for a long time. Learned many of his songs. As a friend of mine once put it, "He is the alpha and the omega." Johnson codified the blues. Sure, everything he played was not original, but that's the way the blues has always been. His body of work contains so many of the blues templates that the entire genre was based on for decades. While there were a lot of blues guys around at the time, I don't think you can point to any one other player's recordings and say "this represents the foundation of the blues." You can say that about Johnson. A friend of mine played me a CD of RJ's songs slowed down to what some believe are the correct speed/pitch. It was eye opening. I don't know if the recordings were really sped up or not, but listening to the slowed down versions, everything seemed very natural. The pitch of his voice sounded more natural and less strained. The cadence of the music seemed very natural. Again, I don't know if the theory is true or not, but the slowed down versions sounded really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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