Note to Marks & Spencer: Whispering over the top of slow motion footage of food doesn't make it tast...
Note to Marks & Spencer: Whispering over the top of slow motion footage of food doesn't make it tastier or any less fattening.
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WHO'S THIS THEN? ----------------------------- It's Johnny Cash: the biggest and possibly most famous country singer ever. He recorded well over 75 albums and some 1100 tracks in a career spanning 50 years. He died at the end of 2003, shortly after the release of this album.
WHAT'S THE ALBUM LIKE? --------------------------------------- Johnny knew he was dying when he recorded this album and so it makes it possibly one of the saddest, sentimental albums ever in that respect. He recorded a quadrilogy of albums in the 21st century with Rick Rubin (who produced Beastie Boys and Run DMC in the 80s and Korn in the 90s). I personally detest country music, but there's something about Cash's voice - and this album in particular - that proves the exception to the rule.
THE TRACKS -------------------- 1. The Man Comes Around "And I heard as it were, the noise of thunder and one of the four beasts saying "come and see". And I saw. And behold: a white horse", so starts this first track of this fabulous album. It's a song about dying and reaching the gates of Heaven. References to golden ladders and thornbushes add to the apocolyptical theme. An acoustic guitar and bass are the only other instruments - aside from Cash's extraordinary voice - on the song and what a superb, uptempo, portentious way to start this "death album".
2. Hurt This track was released as a song at the end of 2003 just prior to his death. The video - if nothing else - remains ever so sad as it backtracks through Cash's life via concert footage and home video tapes and allied to lyrics such as "I hurt myself today" and "the old familiar sting/tried to kill it all away" and "what have I become?" only serve to add to the sense of resignation Cash must have felt throughout the recording of these sessions. Again, there's
beautiful, scarse acoustic guitar at play here, but it's Cash's grizzled voice that wins through.
3. Give My Love To Rose The first track on the album that be described as "country". The opening line of "I found him beside the railroad track this morning/I could see he was nearly dead", let's you know you're in country territory. There's references to getting to know a lost song, time in prison and trying to get back to Louisiana. I really like storytelling in a song (so much better than "oh baby I love you"). This has morals, twists and superb scene setting capabilities. Never a fan of country, I could be tempted with these lyrics.
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water There are a couple of ill-advised covers on this album, but this one manages to err on the side of cool as opposed to "bad idea!" It's the Simon and Garfunkel classic of course, and no lyric has ever suited Johnny Cash than the opening "when you're weary": he sounds it too. Superb, inspired version using just a guitar and a cello.
5. I Hung My Head This track was originally included with a free CD on the front of Q magazine last year and hence served as my introduction to Cash. And what an intro! It's another "story-song" about Cash out on the plains taking shooting practice with his rifle when it accidentally goes off and kills a lone rider in the distance. He tried and found guilty and hung and the song is sung from the perspective of both the pre-trial Cash and the dead, post-hung Cash. It's OK, though, because Cash and the guy he killed become mates in Heaven. Fantastically graphical and - again - you hardly notice there's only a guitar and tinkling piano involved.
6. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Another cover, this time an old country standard, I believe. It's beautiful and poignant and you wonder, vocally, how a 73 year old man can reach both up and down to some notes. A morbid cello moans away in the background and Cash serenades his way through the first love song on this album. Of course, he would prefer to refer to it as an ode!
7. Personal Jesus This is fab! It's the Depeche Mode tune done in a really different and unique way. Essentially all the ingredients that made the song great in the first place are still here: the nagging guitar motif, the Jesus-at-the-end-of-the-phone lyrics and the sense of paranoia. But gone are the tuning forks and synths and in comes bar-room piano a la Jools Holland. A wondrous, original take on a track that Marilyn Manson recently paralised.
8. In My Life The opening few bars sound like a riff, the unplugged Nirvna would have come up with about 12 years ago. It's a "regret" track and Cash recalls past acquaintances, friends and lovers. Another touching acoustic track as Cash comes to terms with the fact that he's fighting a losing battle with life. Sad and affecting.
9. Sam Hall Hurray! Back to storytelling. This time we get a lot chirpier as a faux-country picked guitar rings as Cash sets out his stall with "my name is Sam Hall/and I hate you all". Throughout the track we learn of Sam's fate after murderin his fellow man and it's another song - like I Hung My Head - that has this healthy fixation with the gallows and the act of being hung in public. Damn your eyes!
10. Danny Boy Now I do believe you didn't wanna do that. (Especailly given the fact that you're singing an Irish folk song over a church organ).
11. Desperado Another sombre track as Cash exorcises his demons before he pops off this mortal coil. He sings to an unnamed "desperado" but you get the sense that, as he's listing the crimes and misdemeanours the person has committed over the years, he could be singing to himself in a mirror. A very introspective and melodic song where the lack of instrumentation speaks volumes.
12. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry This is the old Hank Williams classic given no new sheen or angle or update, just a very faithful rerecording of this old, old tune. Whilst the lyrics now sound dated, the sentiment and intention are just beautiful and are still relevant today especially in such a confused world as the one that we inhabit in 2004. The guitar is barely audible under Cash's vocals and the descriptive power of the song ("under purple skies") is fab. Great stuff.
13. Tear Stained Letter I say, is that a drumbeat I hear on this song? That's a first for this album and kind of spoils the poignancy and overall doomsday effect of American IV. It thumps along at a fair old pace as Cash insists that he's "gonna write a tear stained letter", over the top of bluesy, bar-room piano and skiffley beats. Say what you want about country (I'm not a huge fan), but the singer and writers certainly know how to tug at those heartstrings.
14. Streets Of Laredo The one thing you can guarantee with this album - and Cash in particular - is that the title of every song is pretty much utteed within the first two lines or ten seconds (whichever is sooner). Another storyteller about cowboys, cardhouses and whores. These country boys sure know how to spin a yarn and if even half of Cash's stories are true, then: WHAT A LIFE! This retains the sombre mood of earlier tracks on the album such as Hurt and I Hung My Head as Cash thumbs his way autonomously through a simple country acoustic riff. The great thing about this track is that the lyrics never let up and that's why it makes such rich listening. You have to hear some of the tracks three times before you've managed to work out what the bloody hell's going on.
15. We'll Meet Again The forties WWII standard. Not good.
16. Big Iron This is a UK only bonus track and is added as something of an afterthought for us much burdened Brits. It's certainly fits in nicely with the rest of the album and Cash talks of Texas Red with "a big iron on his hip" and again the storytelling in once again top notch. Can't help thinking that this album would have been near perfect with the omission of We'll Meet Again and Danny Boy, though.
OVERALL --------------- A very sad, affecting album made all the more so by the fact that poor Johnny knew he was dying when he recorded this album. Rarely is there a drumbeat or anything electronic involved here, it's mainly cellos and other strings and acoustic and steel guitars everywhere. He sounds tired, but experienced, and soulful in maudlin, weary kind of way.
Of course, this isn't an album for everyone and - like your grandad on her deathbed - you may not wish to visit it and just remember him as he used to be. In which case, check out these Johnny Cash classics:
-Live At Folsom Prison -Johnny Cash At San Quentin -The Man In Black: Best Of Johnny Cash
Alternatively, I suggest legally downloading Ring Of Fire, A Boy Named Sue, One (U2 cover) or even this album's title track from iTunes or Napster.
IN A NUTSHELL ------------------------ Imagine your 80 year old granndad singing his life story and Depeche Mode songs with an acoustic guitar in a bid to get you to sleep.
Thanks for reading.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Personal Jesus is great. this is my BF's fave singer. Em x
kthdsn 12.02.2005 13:47
This sounds like such a sad album. Kate xx
jesi 06.01.2005 01:44
I'm falling asleep just listening to this review. I always DID like to be sung to sleep - and returned the favour to my younger brothers and sisters. jes ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{::::: |||||<
On first thought, the idea of the Man in Black recording such covers as "Bridge over ... more
Troubled Water", "Danny Boy" and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" might seem odd, even for an artist who's been able to put his personal stamp on just about every...
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![The Man Comes Around [Australian Import] - Johnny Cash](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/89375741.jpg "The Man Comes Around [Australian Import] - Johnny Cash")
Dec 9th, 2004
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