78 RPM - Robert Johnson - Terraplane Blues / Kind Hearted Woman Blues - Vocalion - USA

78 RPM Record

Artist:	Robert Johnson
Label:	Vocalion
Country:	USA
Catalogue:	03416
Date:	4 Jan 1937
Format:	10"
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
Community:	3 Own, 10 Want
Price Guide:	$9333
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PRICE GUIDE

$9333

Track	Artist	Title	Composer	Rating
A	Robert Johnson	Terraplane Blues	Robert Johnson	8.0 Rate
B	Robert Johnson	Kind Hearted Woman Blues	Robert Johnson	Rate

Notes

Vocal Blues with Guitar Accompaniment.
Recorded on November 23, 1936, San Antonio, Texas.
Also issued on Perfect 7-03-56 (900 copies) and Oriole 7-03-56 (75 copies) in March 1937.

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Comments and Reviews


BigBadBluesMan 18th Feb 2015



BigBadBluesMan 18th Feb 2015



fixbutte 29th Aug 2014		I've added an advert for the "Completely New" Hudson Terraplane, from The Illustrated London News, March 1937, to be found on a page with a very interesting interview with Johnny Shines, who was a guitarist and an occasional travel companion of Robert Johnson from around 1935 to 1937, one year before Johnson's premature death: http://jasobrecht.com/johnny-shines-complete-living-blues-interview/



fixbutte 21st Aug 2014		It is hard to estimate the total circulation of Robert Johnson's records. Anyway, as said before, his first single was also his best seller, and this is confirmed by the fact that it was re-pressed with the blue Vocalion label that was standard in 1938. The blue label issue is said to contain the second take of "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" (as well as a later brown label issue) whereas the displayed first brown label issue has the first take with the guitar solo. Obviously it was common then to interchange different takes of a song on the same single without any indication on the label.



fixbutte 18th Aug 2014		Both sides were recorded on Johnson's first session on November 23, 1936, in a room of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, which then housed a temporary recording studio of the American Record Corporation (ARC), a label group with Brunswick and Vocalion among others. As on the second recording session seven months later, ARC's record producer was Don Law, a native Englishman. Although "Terraplane Blues" was only the seventh song that Johnson introduced on this session, it was selected for his first single, obviously with good reason, as it became the hit that made Johnson popular in the Delta for a time. A jaunty offering with several rhythm changes, it followed the basic structure of Kokomo Arnold's well-known "Milk Cow Blues". It does not belong to Johnson's most memorable recordings though, and its success may have been caused in a large part by the sexual innuendo, as the singer compares his woman with a Hudson Terraplane car model in various ways. Although someone else was "drivin' my terraplane for you since I've been gone" and it is obviously in a bad condition, he is confident that after several routine checks "your spark plug will give me a fire" again. "Kind Hearted Woman Blues", in contrast, is a musically sophisticated recording with elaborate yet contradictory lyrics, very much under the influence of the urban blues of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell. It was the first song that Johnson recorded, and the first of the two preserved takes contains his only recorded guitar solo. Not exactly a typical example of the rural Delta blues, it was nonetheless included in the highly influential first Johnson compilation of 1961, King of the Delta Blues Singers, as well as "Terraplane Blues" which had the bonus of being Johnson's only hit.



fixbutte 30th Jul 2014		Though one can argue if "Terraplane Blues" was the designated A-side of Robert Johnson's first record, it was his only hit, though a modest regional one, selling about 5,000 copies. That seems to justify the flipping of the sides. I've also edited the A-side image, added a better B-side image, added the exact release date and some recording notes.

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Linked Releases

USA - Perfect - 1937