(Vocal, Gospel) Paul Robeson - The Complete EMI Sessions 1928-1939 (7CD) - 2008, MP3, 320 kbps

CD1: The 1928-1929 Sessions
01. Ol' Man River (Kern) - 3:53
02. Seem Lak' to Me (Johnson) - 3:07
03. Down de Lover's Lane (Cook) - 3:03
04. Scandalize My Name (Trad.) - 2:10
05. Sinner, Please Doan' Let Dis Harves' Pass (Trad.) - 2:07
06. Weepin' Mary (Trad.) - 1:43
07. I Want to Be Ready (Trad.) - 1:32
08. My Lord, What a Mornin' (Trad.) - 2:52
09. De Li'l Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep (Trad.) - 3:30
10. Git on Board Li'l Children (Trad.) - 1:17
11. Dere's No Hidin' Place (Trad.) - 1:00
12. Plantation Songs (Part 1): So Early in the Morning/Carry Me Back to Old Virginia/Old Folks at Home/Goodnight Ladies - 3:54
13. Plantation Songs (Part 2): Away Down South in Dixie/Poor Old Joe/Oh, Susanna/My Old Kentucky Home - 4:18
14. Oh! Rock me, Julie (Trad.) - 1:35
15. Oh, Didn't It Rain (Trad.) - 1:22
16. Mammy (Tunbridge) - 3:51
17. Roll Away, Clouds (Trad.) - 3:14
18. Sonny Boy (Trad.) - 2:43
19. Little Pal (De Sylva-Brown-Henderson) - 3:31
20. The Lonesome Road (Shilkret) - 2:45
21. Just Keepin' On (Phillips) - 3:12
22. Mighty Lak' a Rose (Nevin) - 3:27
23. Mammy Is Gone (De Sylva-Brown-Henderson) - 3:23

CD2: The 1930-1931 Sessions
01. Hail de Crown (Trad.) - 2:13
02. Exhortation (Cook) - 2:11
03. I Stood on the Ribber Jordan/Peter Go Ring Dem Bells (Trad.) - 2:57
04. Go Down, Moses (Trad.) - 2:06
05. High Water (McHardy-Brennan) - 2:36
06. Old Folks at Home (Foster) - 3:20
07. Poor Old Joe (Foster) - 3:11
08. My Old Kentucky Home (Foster) - 3:31
09. Ol' Man River (Kern) - 2:50
10. River Stay 'Way from My Door (Woods) - 3:30
11. Rockin' Chair (Carmichael) - 3:33
12. Medley of Spirituals: I'm Rolling and Sing-A-Ho/Hail De Crown/Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho/I Got a Robe/Oh Lord I Done/De Gospel Train/Black Sheep/Heav'n Bells Are Ringin'/I'll Hear de Trumpet Sound/Swing Low, Sweet Chariot/Walk Together, Children - 7:47
13. My Heart Is Where the Mohawk Flows Tonight (Robinson) - 3:30
14. The Folks I Used to Know (Kester) - 2:53
15. Mary Had a Baby (Trad.) - 2:17
16. Li'l Gal (Johnson) - 3:01
17. Bear de Burden/All God's Chillun Got Wings (Trad.) - 3:32
18. That's Why Darkies Were Born (Brown-Henderson) - 2:41
19. When It's Sleepy Time Down South (Muse-Rowe) - 3:27
20. Seekin' (Marshall-Hall) - 2:36

CD3: The 1932-1933 Sessions
01. Nearer My God to Thee (Carey) - 4:16
02. There Is a Green Hill (Gounod) - 4:02
03. Ma Lindy Lou (Strickland) - 3:17
04. Ma Curly-Headed Baby (Clutsam) - 3:05
05. Pilgrim's Song (Trad.) - 2:40
06. Roll de Ole Chariot Along (Trad.) - 2:44
07. Since You Went Away (Johnson) - 3:10
08. Wid de Moon, Moon, Moon (Cook) - 3:32
09. Got the South in My Soul (Washington-Young-Riley) - 3:03
10. Hush-Aa-Bye Lullaby (Clapham) - 3:19
11. Round the Bend of the Road (Klenner) - 2:57
12. Take Me Away from the River (Parker) - 3:00
13. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Trad.) - 2:51
14. On Ma Journey (Boatner) - 2:10
15. Bye and Bye (Trad.) - 2:30
16. Were You There? (Trad.) - 2:48
17. Swing Along (Cook) - 3:22
18. Piccaninny Shoes (Sissle-Blake) - 2:54
19. In a Narrow Street (Warren-Berwick) - 2:49
20. Carry Me Back to Green Pastures (Pepper) - 2:57
21. Lazy Bones (Carmichael) - 3:27
22. Blue Prelude (Bishop) - 2:51
23. Paul Robeson Medley (Part 1): Roll de Ole Chariot/Mary Had a Baby/Swing Low, Sweet Chariot/Heav'n, Heav'n - 4:06
24. Paul Robeson Medley (Part 2) - Carry Me Back to Old Virginia/Mighty Lak' a Rose/Round the Bend of the River/River, Stay 'Way from My Door/Ol' Man River - 4:09

CD4: The 1933-1936 Sessions
01. Fat Li'l Fella wid His Mammy's Eyes (Trad.) - 2:04
02. Shortnin' Bread (Trad.) - 1:10
03. Snowball (Carmichael) - 3:22
04. Water Boy (Trad.) - 2:40
05. Doan' You Cry, Ma Honey (Noll) - 3:37
06. Steal Away (Trad.) - 3:04
07. Scarecrow (McCarthy-Redmond-Simon) - 3:29
08. Wagon Wheels (Hill-De Rose) - 3:27
09. So Shy (Boretz-Samuels) - 3:25
10. Piccaninny's Slumber Song (Murray) - 3:08
11. St. Louis Blues (Handy) - 3:33
12. Mammy's Little Kinky-Headed Boy (White-Trinkhaus) - 3:16
13. Little Man, You've Had a Busy Day (Wayne-Hoofman) - 3:20
14. I Ain't Lazy, I'm Just Dreaming (Dave-Franklin) - 2:51
15. The Banjo Song (Homer) - 3:08
16. Paul Robeson Medley No.2: Lazy Bones/Scarecrow/Fat Li'l Fella/Wagon Wheels/Deep River/Ma Curly-Headed Baby/Carry Me Back to Green Pastures/Old Folks at Home - 8:46
17. Love Song (Spoliansky) - 3:26
18. Congo Lullaby (Spoliansky) - 3:11
19. Canoe Song (Spoliansky) - 3:04
20. Killing Song (Spoliansky) - 2:26
21. Shenandoah (Trad.) - 3:19
22. Jes' Mah Song (StricklandD) - 2:30
23. De Ole Ark's A-Movering (Trad.) - 1:05
24. Ezekiel Saw de Wheel (Trad.) - 1:20
25. Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho (Trad.) - 2:02

CD5: The 1936-1937 Sessions
01. Honey (Dat's All) (Alstyne) - 2:20
02. Gloomy Sunday (Seress) - 2:48
03. Ol' Man River (Kern) - 2:39
04. I Still Suits Me (Kern) - 2:49
05. Sleepy River (Ansell) - 3:05
06. Lonely Road (Ansell) - 3:20
07. Song of Freedom (Ansell) - 2:42
08. The Black Emperor (Ansell) - 2:50
09. Mam'selle Marie (Guion) - 1:57
10. Dere's No Hidin' Place (Trad.) - 0:57
11. Oh! No John (Trad.) - 2:16
12. Passing By (Purcell) - 2:24
13. Hammer Song (Trad.) - 1:53
14. Li'l David (Trad.) - 1:35
15. My Way (Carr-Kennedy) - 2:51
16. Golden River (Carr-Kennedy) - 2:07
17. Ho! Ho! (Spoliansky) - 2:14
18. Climbing Up (Spoliansky) - 3:14
19. Lazin' (Ansell) - 2:51
20. I Don't Know What's Wrong (Ansell) - 3:22
21. Roll Up, Sailorman (Ansell) - 2:17
22. You Didn't Oughta Do Such Things (Ansell) - 2:18
23. Deep Desert (Carr-Kennedy) - 3:01
24. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (Trad.) - 2:24
25. Minstrel Man (Hughes) - 0:30
26. The Wanderer (Trad.) - 2:44

CD6: The 1937-1938 Sessions
01. Dere's a Man Goin' Round' Takin' Names (Brown) - 3:10
02. No More (Trad.) - 2:32
03. Work All de Summer (Trad.) - 1:36
04. Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? (Trad.) - 1:07
05. Silent Night, Holy Night (Gruber) - 3:29
06. All Through the Night (Trad.) - 3:26
07. Solitude (Ellington-De Lange-Mills) - 3:36
08. Mood Indigo (Ellington-Mills-Bigard) - 3:21
09. Summertime (Gershwin) - 2:40
10. It Take a Long Pull to Get There (Gershwin) - 3:07
11. It Ain't Necessarily So (Gershwin) - 2:36
12. A Woman Is a Sometime Thing (Gershwin) - 2:23
13. Just A-Wearyin' for You (Jacobs-Bond) - 2:39
14. At Dawning (Cadman) - 2:25
15. Song of the Volga Boatmen (Trad.) - 2:50
16. An Eriskay Love-Lilt (Trad.) - 2:55
17. Encantadora Maria (Kilenyi) - 2:43
18. Goin' to Ride Up in de Chariot (Trad.) - 1:02
19. Every Time I Feel de Spirit (Trad.) - 1:19
20. Lay Down Late (Trad.) - 2:29
21. After the Battle (Mussorgsky) - 2:23
22. David of the White Rock (Trad.) - 3:28
23. Trees (Rasbach) - 2:31
24. Songs My Mother Taught Me (Dvorak) - 2:16
25. Loch Lomond (Trad.) - 2:39
26. Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes (Calcott) - 3:28

CD7: The 1939 Sessions
01. Down de Lovers' Lane (Cook) - 2:30
02. Lullaby (Grechaninov) - 2:07
03. Night (Trad.) - 2:54
04. The Little Black Boy (Blake) - 2:20
05. Dear Old Southland (Layton) - 2:57
06. Jerusalem (Parry) - 2:27
07. The Blind Ploughman (Clarke) - 2:09
08. The Cobbler's Song (Norton) - 2:42
09. Oh, Could I But Express in Song (Malashkin) - 1:53
10. Love at My Heart (Libbie-Davidson-Carpenter) - 2:09
11. Nothin' (Layton) - 2:24
12. The Rosary (Nevin) - 1:40
13. A Perfect Day (Jacobs-Bond) - 2:36
14. Absent (Metcalf) - 2:12
15. Black Eyes (Trad.) - 2:33
16. Oh, Promise Me (De Koven) - 2:39
17. Plaisir d'amour (Martini) - 3:42
18. Sylvia (Speaks) - 2:02
19. She is Far from the Land (Trad.) - 2:52
20. Thora (Adams) - 3:29
21. Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (Quilter) - 2:24
22. Sea Fever (Ireland) - 2:12
23. Ebenezer (Williams) - 2:33
24. Land of My Fathers (Trad.) - 2:26
25. Deep River (Trad.) - 2:30
26. Lord God of Abraham/Baal chorus (Mendelssohn) - 2:20

This seven-disc set is the most comprehensive account of Paul Robeson's art that we're ever likely to see -- the only other significant bodies of his work held by single recording entities are his post-blacklist Vanguard sides, which have made it out on CD in a couple of not-quite-comprehensive compilations, and his 1930s and early-'40s Columbia sides which have been compiled in part by Sony Music. Robeson was American-born but, like a relative handful of distinctive African American performers (including actress Josephine Baker, singer Adelaide Hall, and choreographer Buddy Bradley), he found it easier to pursue his career in Europe in the early to mid-'30s, and much of his work in music and film emanated from England until the advent of the Second World War. This collection assembles all 170 sides that he recorded for EMI across 11 years, ranging from stage-generated compositions such as "Ol' Man River" from Show Boat (which featured Robeson in its London cast) to classical, pop, folk, and gospel material. Some of the selection may seem bizarre and even demeaning in a 21st century context, but one must remember that Robeson was aiming to entertain and raise audiences' consciousness with his performances and recordings and -- within strictly proscribed limits determined by his own judgment -- he was willing to cater to public sensibilities of the period; thus, there are pieces here that use words such as "darkie" or "piccaninny" in their texts or titles; he always retained a degree of dignity and often these performances led audiences to question the basis for their own sensibilities; he also gradually altered the words of "Ol' Man River" to embrace a growing sense of dignity and irony in the piece, as his own consciousness evolved. There are also topical songs of the period, and pieces that reflect his fascination with the songs and folk traditions of various European nations (most notably Russia) in whose music he found parallels with African song. And there are songs that represent fragments of notions and projects that were never otherwise realized, such as the goal -- on the part of composer George Gershwin and at least one London producer -- of getting Robeson in the role of Porgy in the opera Porgy and Bess. And there are places here where we see Robeson's talent crossing paths with other African American figures, most notably Duke Ellington on a couple of compositions and actor/composer Clarence Muse (on "When It's Sleepy Time Down South"). The quality of the digital transfers is extraordinary, given the age of most of the material represented, though it also speaks volumes about the power of Robeson's voice as well. The whole box is a rich sonic feast, crossing a multitude of genres and history, accompanied by a well-annotated booklet. And the only complaint that one might reasonably have after listening to all seven CDs is that there couldn't have been more.