ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads

Was slightly hesitant to watch this documentary because I'm not extremely familiar with Blues history but then I thought that's even more of a reason to watch and I'm so glad I did. Just hearing the trials and tribulations Johnson went through lends a higher amount of respect to his music and himself as a person than can even be imagined. What a fantastic musician and also adds more fuel to the fire for all of you conspiracy theory folks out there. A MUST WATCH!

Finally a documentary by the Zybalists about Robert Johnson, a huge contributor to the blues. Only 2 photos of him exist. One of the great fathers of blues, Johnson heavily influenced the Stones, Hendrix, Eric Clapton and many others. Technically very good example of surround sound 5.1.

What I like about this Netflix series of documents is that they are short and sweet, you don't have to invest that much time in them and come out with a little bit of knowledge.

I had personally never heard of Robert Johnson before watching this and it was definitely interesting to learn a bit about his life and how influential his music was. I would have liked to gone deeper into his supposed deal with the devil, but maybe that's all there is.

The story of Robert Johnson is undoubtedly a fascinating one, It's incredible the impact he had on the music industry and I would absolutely recommend watching this or doing your own research.

The biggest problem is that (as the documentary self confesses) not a lot is known about the life of Robert Johnson and as such it feels like there is very little 'meat on the bone' for a documentary. (In short he couldn't play guitar, disappears for over a year and then comes back a phenomenon, before passing on way too soon).

The life of Robert Johnson, one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. A bluesman whose career ended before World War 2 and whose number of recorded songs is very limited, he influenced some of the greatest artists and bands of the century, including Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Cream and Eric Clapton.

A musician who is well known to me, largely due to covers of his songs by Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Cream, the White Stripes and the Blues Brothers, amongst others, but whom many people will never have heard of. He died in 1938 at age 27 and his body of recorded work amounts to 29 songs yet his influence is immense.

This documentary goes some way to detailing his life and career, showing his great musical talent and capturing how influential he is. It also examines the age-old myth that he sold his soul to the devil to gain his talent, a well-worn blues jealousy not reserved exclusively for Robert Johnson. The filmmakers humour this notion though by researching how he got to be so good in such a short space of time.

The film could have been a bit more comprehensive though. Most documentaries tend to be padded with unnecessary interviews and editorials instead of information but this feels like it could have done with more information. That's one of the problems with Johnson though: not much is known about him.