Hear Robert Johnson's Come On in My Kitchen in Remarkably Restored Audio, Taken from a Rare Test Pressing

Robert Johnson died at 27, with legends linking his fate to a crossroads bargain. Before his death, he recorded 29 songs between 1936 and 1937 under poor studio conditions, leaving limited audio quality. Decades later, sound restorer Nick Dellow digitized and uploaded clearer test pressings to YouTube. A higher-quality version of “Come On in My Kitchen” appears labeled as take one, while a different second take was released by Vocalion Records in 1937. Take one later gained recognition among serious listeners, but the public heard it in 1961 through the compilation King of the Delta Blues Singers. Johnson’s lasting influence comes from understated virtuosity and emotionally haunting musical power rather than crowd-moving appeal.

"Robert Johnson died at just 27 years old, some say as a consequence of selling his soul to the devil at a crossroads. But before his time came, he managed to record 29 songs, a scant body of work that nevertheless secured his artistic immortality as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time."

"It's unfortunate that his recordings, all of them made between 1936 and 1937 in less-than-ideal studio conditions even for the time, leave something to be desired in the audio quality department. But now, some 90 years later, sound restorer Nick Dellow has been uploading relatively crisp digitized test pressings of Johnson's songs to YouTube: last month, for example, we featured one of Cross Road Blues here on Open Culture."

"You may notice that the title labels this particular recording as take one. Johnson also recorded a much different second take, which his label Vocalion Records released in 1937, possibly because it sounded less mournful and thus according to record-industry logic more viable as a hit. Though take one now seems to be regarded as the true rendition of the song by his serious enthusiasts, the public didn't get to hear it until 1961, when it was included on the compilation King of the Delta Blues Singers."

"But the reasons Johnson's music has endured so long have less to do with his ability to get a crowd moving than with his combination of understated virtuosity and preternatural-sounding ability to reach into genuinely haunting emotional realms."

Read at www.openculture.com