More a musical presence than a musician but a GREAT one!

I recently listened to a remastered version of this classic album on CD … part of the Columbia Legacy: American Milestones series (CK 65955). While a great deal has been written about Johnny Cash and his music – much of it again (as though it were new) since the release of the film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon, there is always more to say about this remarkable performer. As I listened and enjoyed every one of the 19 songs – from the title track that plays first, to the end piece (“Greystone Chapel”) I found myself thinking about him and his performances in a way somewhat different than I had before.

His music is predictable. His guitar playing is fundamental, the drum sets are monotonously train-like, the driving base is uncreative and simple; Johnny’s always-slightly-wavering-off-key tremolo-baritone is ever-present and the themes of the tunes, themselves, are simple and well known. Death, dying, drugs, lonesome blues, broken hearts and bad guys facing the eternal footman. Playing at Folsom Prison was a stroke of genius! But is was not, I believe, the music that made him the performer he was or made this one of the seminally important albums of the 20th century: It was, rather, his presence as a person, as a man (in the most classical “manly” sense of the word) and as a performer.

From the moment he takes the stage until the recording ends, he is in complete control of everything – and makes no attempt to hide it. The band is his, as is the music, the style and the heart of the event. He successfully presents himself as ‘one of the guys’ and, depending upon your historical references – this is an exaggeration to one degree or another – but no one really cares. Men in confinement listening to what they see as one of themselves – free of the chains that bind them –getting rich being who they are or wish they could be. It is all about the presentation … and, I would suggest with Johnny Cash, it always was.

This CD contains 19 well known tracks, including:
1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Busted*
3. Dark As The Dungeon
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Cocaine Blues
6. 25 Minutes To Go
7. Orange Blossom Special
8. The Long Black Veil
9. Send A Picture Of Mother
10. The Wall
11. Dirty Old Egg Suckin’ Dog
12. Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
13. Joe Bean*
14. Jackson (with June Carter)
15. Give My Love To Rose (with June Carter)
16. I Got Stripes
17. The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer*
18. Green Green Grass Of Home
19. Greystone Chapel
*: Previously unreleased bonus tracks

Recorded, initially, in 1968, it has been reissued in many forms. This particular CD, in addition to the three ‘bonus’ tracks, also contains a photo and verbal essay insert that captures yet other aspects of the reality of that day in that time.

This CD is a must for any collector of country and/or Cash music. The quality of the remastering render it clearer and more satisfying than, in my opinion, the original LP – which I am pleased to own as well. This is the essence of Johnny Cash – the presentation of a lifetime.