The Essential Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, U2, Waylon Jennings, Marty Robbins, June Carter Cash
Legacy Recordings, 2002
2 CD
Catalogue #: 86290
EAN: 0696998629028
UPC: 696998629028
You save: 25%
Personnel includes: Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Marty Robbins, The Carter Family, June Carter Cash, U2.
Producers include: Sam Phillips, Jack Clement, Don Law, Frank Jones, Bob Johnston.
Compilation producers: Nick Shaffran, Nedra Olds-Neal.
Recorded between May 1955 and May 1993.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
In the past, if you wanted a Johnny Cash compilation, you were basically confined by licensing issues, as Cash's seminal Sun recordings weren't generally available in the same place as his more eclectic Columbia output. THE ESSENTIAL JOHNNY CASH solves that problem, tying together the various eras of Cash's career on a generous 35-track, two-disc set. Accordingly, this anthology is damn near definitive. From the raw, sparse rockabilly flavor of "Hey Porter" and "Get Rhythm" to the gospel roots of "Where You There (When They Crucified My Lord," the first disc moves neatly through Cash's early career.
Disc two documents Cash's expansion into ever more varied stylistic avenues. Countrified covers of Bob Dylan ("It Ain't Me Babe") and Tim Hardin ("If I Were a Carpenter") exemplify his fascination with folk-rock. The socially conscious "Man in Black" and the patriotic "Ragged Old Flag" perfectly display the ostensibly conflicting sides of this complex artist's sensibilities. Album-closer "The Wanderer" finds Cash collaborating with U2, filling his role as icon to a whole new generation of artists.
Tracklist
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash was part rockabilly rebel, part campfire storyteller, part outlaw in black. Cash made country and rockabilly history on the Sun label in the 1950s. During the '60s, the ruggedly charismatic Cash rose to superstardom, ending the decade with both his marriage to June Carter and his own television show. In the '90s, Cash began his highly successful and acclaimed AMERICAN RECORDINGS series, reaching a new audience with an amazingly diverse set of songs, ranging from traditional tunes to alternative rock covers. With his lean, angular sound and hearty, passionate baritone, Cash forged one of the most unique styles in all of popular music, one that delved into gospel, folk, and rock, but also remained the essence of country music. Four months after his wife died, Johnny Cash passed away on September 12, 2003. And in 2005, the Oscar-nominated biopic WALK THE LINE brought Cash's music and legend to his largest audience yet.
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson began working in a conventional Nashville style and had great success as the songwriter of Faron Young's hit "Hello Walls" and others, but he was initially unable to make it as a performer. In the 1970s, he and Waylon Jennings made history with their outlaw country sound and image, growing their hair long and utilizing a raw, rock-influenced sound that endeared them to millions of country fans and rockers alike. Subsequently, Nelson ventured into Sinatra territory with STARDUST, an album of standards that became a huge success and established him as a singer who transcended genre boundaries. Throughout the '80s, '90s, and into the 21st century, he crossed over into pop and back again continually, even releasing an album of reggae covers, working with artists as diverse as Julio Iglesias and Ryan Adams.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan began as a Woody Guthrie acolyte, imitating the dust-bowl balladeer as faithfully as a baby boomer from Hibbing, Minnesota, could. It wasn't long before he found his own voice, spearheading the early-1960s folk revival as well as the singer-songwriter movement, and introducing poetry into pop music. Through countless changes in sound, image, and even religion, he retained his unique artistic vision even when his popularity occasionally waned. By the 21st century, he was enjoying an upsurge of critical and popular interest based on a series of powerful late-career albums that crystallized his aesthetics and unique world view.
Kris Kristofferson
In the 1970s, Kris Kristofferson changed the direction of Nashville with his poetic, irreverent songs. Influenced by rock, unafraid to write about carnal pleasures, and a dyed-in-the-wool rebel, he fit right in with the blossoming "outlaw country" aesthetic. Kristofferson was much more successful as a songwriter than as a performer, and his songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, and countless others.
U2
U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to post-punk, with Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's distinct guitar lines interacting seamlessly with the rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. In 1987, U2 broke through to superstardom with THE JOSHUA TREE, a grand culmination of their '80s sound. In the 1990s, however, the band very purposefully deflated that epic image, simultaneously adding ambient, dance, and electronica touches on 1991's ACHTUNG BABY. Mining that vein for much of the decade, U2 kicked off the 21st century with a triumphant return to form that was embraced by new and longtime fans alike.
Waylon Jennings
Texan country singer Waylon Jennings was always a bit of a rocker. Early on, he played bass with Buddy Holly, and his first solo records included Beatles covers, highly unusual for a country artist at the time. Jennings was one of the key figures of the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, rejecting the lush countrypolitan sound in favor of a raw, electrified approach that owed more to the Rolling Stones than to Billy Sherrill. With a small band and simple arrangements, Jennings introduced contemporary rock-oriented grooves into his hard-hitting country sound, adding some funky grit to common-man poetics on tunes about the tougher side of life. He inspired a subsequent generation of country iconoclasts, and spurred on contemporaries like Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser.
Marty Robbins
Although best-known for such cowboy songs as "El Paso" and "Big Iron," 1950s, '60s and '70s country star Marty Robbins enjoyed a varied career that spanned the entire gamut between pure honky-tonk and countrypolitan. Robbins was gifted with one of country's most beautiful singing voices, one particularly well-suited to his many pop forays.
