Johnny Cash

I have come to believe that Johnny Cash's American albums are the best 5 albums presented by any artist, ever. The fact that they were released sequentially over a relatively short period of time also adds to their impact. These are not albums separated by many years, or the occasional good album amongst a sea of ordinariness and bland.

For a little background on the albums, go here or here or here, or for a bio on Cash, go here. It's truly an amazing story, the way that Rick Rubin met Cash and together they collaborated on these albums that not only revived his career, but won him multiple grammys and put him back at the top of the public consciousness and showed the American public what a truly great artist and singer he was.



I don't think that these albums have much of a presence in Australia. Personally, I'd heard the Cash version of Hurt by the Nine Inch Nails on Triple J, plus a couple of others that I can't remember. I'd also listened to some of his older stuff and seen the movie Walk the Line, which features some fantastic music. It seems that his older stuff is still very popular with country music fans and most music fans stock a range of it, however the American albums are only stocked spasmodically and certainly not featured strongly.

Anyway, I ended up downloading the 5 albums off the web and they are amazing. Now I wouldn't say that every single song is good, it's certainly going to appeal to individual taste, but as albums, they are simply stunning. Some of the songs are reworks of older Cash songs, some are newly written, some are old spirituals and gospel songs and some are covers of modern songs. Most prominent of these are probably Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, One by U2 and Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode.

I'll put my hand up right now and say that Cash's versions are better than the originals, in all three cases.



Now this guy makes a pretty compelling argument about the overall theme of the albums being somewhat cheesy (plus heaps of interesting background material), but I tend to disagree. Johnny Cash was always a fan of the melodramatic. I've read an article about the movie Walk the Line, explaining how he was a big fan of Joaquin Phoenix because of his work in Gladiator, where he plays a particularly nasty character. Cash might have given up the drugs and booze, but he still looked fondly back on those days and never really gave up those "outlaw" days that saw him write songs about crime, murder and gaol time, even though the biggest crime he ever committed was being busted for drugs.

I tend to see the American albums as a continuation of the existing Cash character, particularly the idea of the "Man in Black", a dangerous, dark, mysterious person, who is fundamentally good, but a solitary outsider, choosing to live away from society. Now that's not necessarily the real Johnny Cash, but it's a persona that he created and pushed and enjoyed and one that has a lot of romance about it, such that it is very appealing.



All 5 albums of this collection are great, but I prefer the later stuff. The music gradually gets more and more sombre as time progresses.

For me the overall theme of the albums is melancholia, a deep sadness and even mourning. Some of the songs are up tempo or lighter, but these are not generally happy songs. They feature, loss, mourning, love, loneliness, death and solitude. But they're not songs to make you want to kill yourself either. Listening to a sad song when you're sad can make you feel like you're not alone, while a great song is great, no matter the mood you're in.

Contemplating these albums, the biggest thing I've noticed is this. These songs make me WANT to believe in god. Not that I do, but when Cash sings about death or loss or Jesus I really wish that the things he's talking about are true and that there is a heaven out there where we can meet up with those we care about.

The sound of these albums is very stripped down, a lot of the songs feature nothing but acoustic guitar and vocals. Later on a few strings (mainly violin), piano and harmonica also feature, but the main act is the amazing vocals. Even in the last album, recorded very soon before his death, with Cash physically unable to do much singing, his voice still retains real power.

My favourite song out of the five albums is Four Strong Winds, which is apparently a "Canadian Folk Classic". It used to be on youtube but seems to have disappeared. Having heard most of the different versions, including some by very notable country artists, the Cash version is head and shoulders above the rest.

Other notables are Wayfaring Stranger (which I would like played at my funeral), Further On Up The Road and The Mercy Seat (very dark). Overall, I would say that probably half of the songs on these albums are classics, and all of them are good to listen to, although I do find myself skipping some of them, especially the lighter ones.



Some of the songs feature some very basic rhymnes to make the song work, such as "Uncle Fud" to rhymne with "Tennessee Stud". A little more work might have improved these songs, but a lot of the songs where this occurs seem to be older Cash songs. For me, the biggest problem with his older stuff was the steel guitar, which gave a jangly, fast paced feel to his songs and to me, grated on the ears. The acoustic guitar sounds much better. I imagine that if some of his older stuff was remixed today (think Elvis vs JXL) you could come up with some real classics, let's wait and see.









It's really hard to write about such a visceral topic like music, but I've heard these 5 albums at least a dozen times over, probably more and they still have a huge power whenever I hear them. Cash can take any song, make it his own and make it better than the original, especially if the material is a little dark. If you haven't done so, do yourself a favour and get onto Youtube, check out some of the songs and maybe get the albums.

cheers

Harry