So Many Roads

by

John Hammond

Edit

This is one of my favorite blues CD's and much of the reason is Robbie Robertson's incredible edgy guitar playing, which I don't think he ever equaled in his work with The Band or elsewhere. Other members of The Band are also on this CD -- Garth Hudson, Levon Helm -- as well as the already mentioned Mike Bloomfield (inexplicably on piano, but I don't think even he could have surpassed Robertson on guitar in this set) and Charlie Musselwhite. John Hammond's dramatic vocals are great as is his choice of some of the best blues tunes in existence. Highly recommended for all fans of blues, and blues-guitar.

Unfortunately, I can't yet comment on the quality of the music on this 1993 reissue--there is so much crackling and distortion throughout EVERY SINGLE song that the entire CD is totally unlistenable. And I bought it new! I'm not someone who nitpicks a whole lot about quiet or flat or "old" remasters, but the faults with this edition are overwhelming. I couldn't even make it through, the distortion was too overbearing and distracting. What were they thinking allowing this to reach the shelves of stores? I immediately returned my copy to Amazon.com, and luckily received my money back.

Now, as to a reissue that is actually listenable, I sampled a few of the songs on iTunes and they sounded fine; it's still the same label (Vanguard) but the release date is 2005. I haven't yet purchased the 2005 reissue from Amazon yet, but will be sure to comment when I do. Unfortunately this review will probably show on both due to Amazon's dim-witted review system AI. Whatever you do, don't buy the slightly cheaper 1993 issue!