This Does NOT Contain The Missing Song
A reviewer below has made a mistake, or his review was misfiled: This compilation is not to be confused with "King of the Delta Blues SINGERS." THAT is the compilation which contains the alternate take of "Traveling Riverside Blues." It and its companion, "King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume 2" also have much better mastering than any other Robert Johnson collections that I am aware of. Unfortunately, between them, ten alternate takes have yet to be upgraded from either mastering of the "Complete" collection.

I have not heard "King of the Delta Blues"--I am basing this information on the song sample Amazon has provided. But given the song lineup, this is a confusingly unnecessary product.

not bad for what it is
So he sang some simple blues songs and played his simple guitar licks and died young. And thus begins the pattern that if you die young your importance and talent become magnified far beyond what it would have been had he lived another 20 years and drank himself into obscurity. Forget the hype and get real.

Poor sound quality... so what?
Mount Vernon Maven points out accurately that this recording sounds "horrific" and that it needs to be "remastered remastered remastered" to sound good on that "fabulous audio system". To be fair, it does sound bad.

What needs to be understoof is that these were recorded in the mid-1930s before audio tape was common. These recordings were most likely done on wire recorders or direct to phonograph. The fact that they've survived at all is impressive. Honestly, they sound fantastic considering the source - it's a clean signal with low noise and little distortion.

Even if these were remastered until the end of time, they will never sound like a modern recording. They were done with a single microphone picking up both voice and guitar simultaneously. There's nothing with which to work. They can be re-EQ'd (they have) and recompressed (they have), but beyond that, you can't make it sound like much more than it is without re-recording it and that will never be Robert Johnson.

Sorry to all of you that expect perfect sound from recordings nearly 70 years old - the technology was inferior. These will likely never sound better than they do here; however, the performance and inspiration remain completely intact - this is something that most modern music doesn't have and something which many people might deem more important. For those of you that are looking for substance over style, this should be the sort of music you're after.

The Title Of Ths Album Says It All!!!RIP Mr. Johnson
The Late, Great Robert Johnson was truly the King Of The Delta Blus. I have heard that his guitar work was unique because he played his instrument as if it was a Blues Piano and if you listen carefully to his technique you will realize that this is a pretty good assessment. This album contains many fine tracks such as "Cross Road Blues". Mr. Johnson lived hard and fast with a drink in one hand and a lady in waiting on his arm and he travelled on Railway cars as if he truly did have a Hellhound on his trail. One gets the impession that perhaps he believed that his time on this Earth would be short which it sadly was. RIP Robert.

Might be great...but who can tell?
This cd needs to be remastered remastered remastered. Reviews of future cds by RJ also mention this "great improvement after remastering." We have a fabulous audio system but this cd (and maybe in all fairness this particular disk) is horrific. I broke it/tossed it.