The All-TIME 100 Albums: Blue by Joni Mitchell

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The All-TIME 100 Albums

97 of 101

By Alan Light Published: November 13, 2006

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ALBUM: King of the Delta Blues Singers

YEAR RELEASED: 1961 LABEL: Columbia ARTIST: Robert Johnson

TIME 100 ALBUMS PODCASTS

PODCAST: Welcome to the All-TIME 100 Albums - the musical compilations of the last half-century that need no introduction. That said, listen in below as music critics Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light introduce the list and talk about the top albums of the 1950s and '60s.

PODCAST: We know. Twenty-nine of the 100 greatest albums of all time come in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd isn't there. Play this podcast to learn why we picked the titles we did, and if you have something to say, tell us about it using the talkback link below.

PODCAST: Maybe it's a Sign O' The Times that you're listening to critics' audio recordings about great music, but this podcast about how we chose the best albums of the 1980s really is a Thriller. Give it a listen below.

PODCAST: Here's music even the younger set will know by heart. Listen to selected clips from the 1990s through present day as music critic Josh Tyrangiel discusses his picks.

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Johnson is serious, like the scorched earth, wrote Bob Dylan. "He seemed like a guy who could have sprung from the head of Zeus in full armor." The story at the time was that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to learn how to play guitar. The revisionist history is that he wasn't really the greatest blues musician of his era, he was just lucky enough to get recorded. The response to both stories is simple — just listen to his songs, all 29 of which are contained on the two-disc King of the Delta Blues set. Though he was dead at age 27, Johnson's masterful writing, with its perfect control of images and emotion, and magnificent guitar playing loom large over music to this day. If you only know his songs through covers by the likes of the Rolling Stones ("Love in Vain"), Led Zeppelin ("Traveling Riverside Blues"), and Eric Clapton ("Crossroads"), buy this record today.