There is not much point in trying to conjure up words not already written about Johnny Cash. To say Johnny Cash is unique is true but is inadequate because the word "unique," like so much of our language, has been robbed of its power by overuse and incorrect usage (I will save the language rant for another day). Unique. Icon. Mystique. Legend. If you were to describe Johnny Cash you might begin with those four words but you would not be the first to do so. All the good words to describe the man and his recorded legacy have been used.
And what a legacy! Damn near everything you care to say about the man and his records has been said. Not only that - he long ago reached that rare status where reviewing one of his albums is pointless. It would be like having some silly scribe reviewing the stone tablets Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. They are the Ten Commandments. What else is there to say? In that same way, this is Johnny Cash. He makes Johnny Cash records. No one made those records before and no one will make them again.
It is difficult to count the number of albums he released during his lifetime due to the number of knockoff compilations and other record company shenanigans inflicted upon his recorded works. He released his first album in 1957 for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. After that, it gets tricky. He had a 46-year recording career which does not take into account the cringe-inducing number of albums released since his death in September 2003. It does not require a lot of imagination to see the flood of posthumous releases and compilations as vultures picking at the bones.
Posthumous 'new' releases are often a disappointment on some level because artists rarely die with a completed album. That means someone else has to oversee the finishing of the album and it usually means the finished product is something less than what it could have been. It also calls motive into question. Is the estate or the label trying to make a quick buck on work an artist never intended to release or are they presenting work the artist wanted fans to hear?
Article comments
1 - Duke De Mondo
a perfect review, Sir DJ, nothing less and a damn sight more.
I love this record, think it may, in fact, be the most consistent of all the American Recordings numbers, all of which i love dearly. It's heartbreaking and yet more than that, on account of the songs being wonderful and that voice still having being fit to part the oceans should Johnny have so desired. A beautiful thing, and one to be played often and with much hurrah. Becuase music that good, it should be celebrated.
Again, fantastic screed, and thank you for the wee nod up yonder by way of a lovely link!
2 - Mark Saleski
Cash was an amazing man and really will be missed.
there aren't a whole lot of artists who were so prolific and good in their final few years.
3 - DJRadiohead
Thanks, fellas.
I have four of the five American albums and also have the box set. I need to get that copy of Solitary Man this week. Yes. Definitely will do that. It is a consistent, elegant release. The song selection and arrangements are first rate.
4 - Duke De Mondo
DJ - Solitary Man is my favourite of the five, definately. you'll have heard his version of The Mercy Seat from the last disc in the box-set, and the majority of the record is up to that standard, or damn near it. i still think the cover of One was a bit of a mis-step, mind, but the world seems to think otherwise.
5 - Mat Brewster
Beautiful review, lovely really. Will have to go out and get this record soon. It truly is amazing the stuff Cash put out not long before his death. Gut wrenching, haunting, magnificent stuff. Of course that could be said about much of his work.
6 - Glen Boyd
Very powerful review DJR. I haven't heard it yet but your words have definitely whet my appetite.
If he comes even close to capturing the loneliness and desolate feelings a man looking his own mortality square in the face must feel, in even near the same way he did on "Hurt," this album will easily end up on my Ten Best list this year.
I'm very anxious to see what he does with "Further On Up The Road" too. In my head, I already sort of hear the refrain of "I'll Meet You Further On..." song in that haunting, aged, weary voice.
The boxed set has been a favorite of mine for awhile and I was actually fortunate to be a part of American's marketing team for "American I" during the early going. I remember we all knew that it was going to be something very special.
Looking very forward to this. Thanks for the preview.
-Glen
P.S. Since Now is as good a time as any to say this, I apologize for the swipe at you and Saleski a week or so back. Bad attempt at humor on my part...but honestly, thats all it was intended to be.
7 - El Bicho
"Johnny Cash's willingness to immortalize his frailty and mortality was one more act of defiance from a man personified the act."
Agreed. He was able to take the emotion from "Hurt" and make it an entire album without diluting the power or emotion.
8 - DJRadiohead
Fellas, thanks for checking this out. I am really glad to see this album has struck such a chord with so many both here in the comments as well as in the form of so many reviews being written for the site. I plan to get over and read them all.
Sir Brewster, you might not enjoy any pudding with this album but it is a wonderful record and worth having.
Glen, no apologies necessary at all. I am glad you enjoyed the review. I think you will really love this album.
Duke, I am with you on the U2 cover. Cash is great and the version wasn't terrible but I don't think it was a good fit. "The Wanderer," on the other hand, is gold.
ElB, thanks for scoping out my review. I'll be doing the same with yours today.
9 - Connie Phillips
A very thoughtful review of a legend. Thanks for a great read!
10 - Glen Boyd
My GOD!...this is amazing. The version of "Further On Up The Road" alone turns what was in my mind a fairly minor Springsteen track into something absoluterly poetic. "God's Gonna Cut You Down"...incredible. Easily the best disc I have heard this year, "American V" will be hard to top for bext this year. Period.
Review forthcoming once I've had more time to digest, but right now I rank it near or at the very top of the entire American series.
I mean, WOW!
-Glen
11 - Mary K. Williams
Better late than never here. I finally read this Josh - and man you did great. I never followed his music really, a shame, because now I've been hearing some great tracks.
When WWE's Eddie Guerro died last fall, the TV tribute used the Cash version of "Hurt" during a montage of Eddie clips. Very powerful.
12 - DJRadiohead
1000 thank yous Sir Mary and Connie. I was never a huge Cash fan as a kid. My grandfather had a couple of his albums on vinyl and I remember listening to them at his farmhouse. The "Hurt" single really re-awakened me to him and caused me to investigate his career a little. For me, a non-country fan, I like his early material recorded for Sun Records and his later stuff with American Recordings (this album being among them). The stuff in between, what I refer to as the Nashville era, is a little more hit and miss with me because I just can't get into the whole country thing really at all.
Glen, I will look forward to reading your thoughts (I'll get you included on the master post we just put together for all of our BC reviews of this album). I don't see how this one won't make my end of year list, either.
13 - Glen Boyd
My review is up now DJR. I'd be most interested in your thoughts.
Thanx!
-Glen
14 - Larry Garrett
Superb review. You nailed the essence of just who Johnny Cash was/is: a human being. I've followed him since I was 8-9 years old. For years it was the music, but as I matured I began to see so much more. Fortunately for all of us, he was far beyond being a mere superstar with all of the celebrity trappings. He was Johnny Cash. A real human being.
Thanks for the review. You won't dance to this album, but after listening to it you will be profoundly moved, perhaps even changed. If this album doesn't choke you up, you are likely already dead.
15 - Glen Boyd
Here, here.
-Glen