Johnny Cash Recomendations

Hey guys I have a hankering to listen to some Cash music. Now I know nothing about the guys music other than Highway Man.

How about some recomendations? Give me songs as opposed to Cds I am going to download them.

Thanks Gang!

Before anything else, you definitely need to get the Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden CD that was recorded in 1969.

It was just released a couple of years ago and should be owned by anyone who is remotely a fan of Cash.



Here's the tracklisting.

1. Big River
2. I Still Miss Someone
3. Five Feet High And Rising
4. Pickin' Time
5. Remember The Alamo
6. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
7. Wreck Of The Old 97
8. The Long Black Veil
9. The Wall
10. Send A Picture Of Mother
11. Folsom Prison Blues
12. Blue Suede Shoes (w/ Carl Perkins)
13. Flowers On The Wall (w/ The Statler Brothers)
14. Wildwood Flower (w/ The Carter Family)
15. Worried Man Blues w/ The Carter Family)
16. A Boy Named Sue
17. Cocaine Blues
18. Jesus Was A Carpenter
19. The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
20. As Long As The Grass Shall Grow
21. Sing A Travelin' Song
22. He Turned The Water Into Wine
23. Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)
24. Daddy Sang Bass
25. Finale Medley
26. Suppertime

I agree with you, Rob!

That is one helluva concert by the Man in Black!

Now, if you're into live shows, I would also suggest that you buy
the absolute essential cds

Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash At San Quentin

Make sure you get the complete concerts, i.e you purchase the new, remastered cd's of these events!

In addition to these, you should consider the American Recordings series,
vol. 1 - 4, and / or go for the Unchained box-set.

If you prefer the younger Cash, here are some cds worth checking out:

The Fabulous Johnny Cash
Orange Blossom Special
Ride This Train
Johnny Cash Sings The Ballads Of The True West

Once again, make sure it's the newly remastered cds, with additional bonus tracks.

Cash's discography is huge, so you might want to check out his available cd's on for instance http://www.cdnow.com

Br
Kristian

You can't go wrong with Bear Family

They're worth every penny

I'd recommend The Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983 (a 3 disc set) for the pre-Rick Rubin era stuff. Very strong chronological selection of tracks.

Jules

I have a lot of his Sun stuff on collections, plus the two "prison" albums.

Just two weeks ago, I found a copy of the Orange Blossum album. (Boy, I'd love to see Elvis catalog revamped as they have that of Cash's.


And this nice article ran the other day by David Hinchley of the NY Daily News (also an Elvis fan of sorts):

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... 8490c.html

Cash, a true 'Legend'

The first Johnny Cash song I ever bought was "Ring of Fire." I bought it because I found a promotional 45 on red vinyl and I thought that was cool.
It was.

Then, a few years later, my friend Mark, who owned a record store, got me copies of Cash's discontinued albums on the Sun label.

That was cooler.

Cash's Sun albums were laughably cheap productions, slapped-together afterthoughts by a company that liked singles.

But as I played them - over and over - I realized there wasn't a bad song in the lot. The worst tracks were good, and then there were the great ones, like "Home of the Blues."

Just around the corner there's heartache

Down the street that losers use ...

I won't say Johnny Cash never cut a bad song. It's just hard to find one on "Cash: The Legend," a new four-CD, 104-song set that marks the second anniversary of his death on Sept. 12, 2003.

"The Legend" is also available in a ramped-up $300 package with a DVD of early radio talk and songs, bonus tunes, great pictures and a book. But the music is the same in the regular, basic box set, and that's the news that matters here.

Unlike most box sets, you can play this one straight through.

Most box sets include some lulls. Equally critical, many box sets take good tunes out of the context in which we first got to like them. Hearing the songs from Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" or Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" next to songs from other records can be jarring.

That doesn't happen on "The Legend." "Give My Love to Rose" (1957) flows seamlessly into the Kris Kristofferson-penned "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" (1970) and Springsteen's "Highway Patrolman" (1983). They're all stories of broken connections, and Cash's power to tell those stories never falters.

What also helps glue this set together, oddly, are the novelty numbers Cash kept cutting amid his blues, gospel, country and American classics. He rescued the ditzy "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" (1958) as effortlessly as he redeemed the trite recitation "What Is Truth" (1970), simply because he understood what they were, and in neither song did anything ring false.

In any case, listening to Cash was like watching Michael Jordan play ball. You didn't tune out because he missed a shot.

Cash at his best, singing "I Still Miss Someone," "The Night Hank Williams Came to Town," "Peace in the Valley," "Big River," "Any Old Wind That Blows" and some gems that didn't make this set, like "Wanted Man," reminded us what music, on a really good day, can do.

Some say the Good Lord invented iPods so we could hear just the good songs.

You might also say that's why the Good Lord invented Johnny Cash.

Originally published on August 17, 2005

I have 40+ cds of the great man,and for a new fan?...i would try any of the following Tony.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 17-6851809

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 17-6851809

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 17-6851809

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 17-6851809

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 17-6851809


Look out for more unissued recordings before the year is out...just wished EP sang more of his stuff (and C.perkins too.)


Just MY view.

Johnny Cash fans might have missed the interesting piece
that the FECC's Rockin' Rebel wrote awhile back involving
Elvis and Cash. The article is an attempt to build on a
concept for an Elvis album that would mirror Cash's
"American" recordings theme.

Here's the link:

http://www.elvicities.com/~rockinrebel/American.htm

Hey Guys

Thanks for all the answers...

I do have a question though, during my search I downloaded a song out of curiosity....

Johnny Cash, Johnny Rebel - Send Those (input racial slur) Back

What is the story on this song? If this is his ideals I am afraid he lost a fan before he ever gained one.

I listened to this song and then right after I listened to Hurt. Quite appropriate I think.

I am hoping you guys tell me this is an imposter or an impersonater but I don't think so...this did sound like a underground recording. Possibly never meant for public consumption.

I am very interested in a reply to this and will start a new topic on this if this seems to be buried, if this is his values and everyone knows it what does it say about the people that are his fans?

Hey Guys

Thanks for all the answers...

I do have a question though, during my search I downloaded a song out of curiosity....

Johnny Cash, Johnny Rebel - Send Those (input racial slur) Back

What is the story on this song? If this is his ideals I am afraid he lost a fan before he ever gained one.

I listened to this song and then right after I listened to Hurt. Quite appropriate I think.

I am hoping you guys tell me this is an imposter or an impersonater but I don't think so...this did sound like a underground recording. Possibly never meant for public consumption.

I am very interested in a reply to this and will start a new topic on this if this seems to be buried, if this is his values and everyone knows it what does it say about the people that are his fans?

At this point, I've no idea, really!

I've never heard of this song before, and I'm not even sure if it's Cash singing it.

A quick search for this song title on various song databases gave me nothing, so it might be an underground recording..?

Anyone else have an explonation for this one?

Where/ how did you find it?

Br
Kristian

Johnny Cash was not "Johnny Rebel", folks!

As one article notes:
"In the 1960s, C.J. Trahan, as 'Johnny Rebel',
recorded an album's worth of racist songs in a
renowned south Louisiana studio. The story of
Johnny Rebel was merely an ugly footnote in
local music history -- until last year, when the
singer became a fad in "hatecore" music.
Now, his music serves as a recruiting tool for
racist groups worldwide."






And I suspect that Johnny would say to C.J. Trahan, the self-
styled "rebel" :

"F--- Off "

I am glad to hear that this might not be Cash. It is definatly underground and a it is also a duet with one person sounding just like Cash.

I wish I knew a way to share this song with you guys but I don't. If you go to Morpheus and type in Johnny Cash you will see the song listed as a duet with Johny Rebel. Hopefully this is somebodys idea of a joke.

TONY!...

Fill yer boots loon.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... fae5cqr~T2

My recommendations for a Johnny Cash collection:

ALL OF THEM!!

A true legend but the absolute musts are listed in various responses above.

jeff R

You have to be careful downloading. A lot of people don't really know that have and mislabel stuff all the time. I have seen Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" attributed to Elvis many times. If something sounds a little like an artist, it often just gets tossed under that artist's name.

A Cash newcomer should start from the Sun Sessions where he built his legend and work their way out. There are several good Sun compilations around, the most recent and lengthy on Varese Vintage.

I would also pick up one of Columbia's various greatest hits albums. Cash's work in the '60s and '70s was often spotty but singles like "Ring of Fire" are essential.

"Songs of the True West" and "The Fabulous Johnny Cash" are his definitive album early album statements. "Songs" is a real concept album and one of the only ones that doesn't sound pedantic and wear thin.

"Folsom Prison" is a terrific live album.

All the American albums are worth hearing although "Solitary Man" is my favorite.

1988's duet album "Waters From the Wells of Home" has many admirers. So does his "Hymns" album.

If you want to go whole hog and start with "Legend" and work from there you probably won't regret. I saw it at Circuit City for $35 a great price for four CDs.

Thanks everyone!

And an extra thanks to you LTB, I know I rag you sometimes on the political threads but your contribution to this board in terms of music and otherwise is unparalleled.

I bought this recently on the extended CD reissue and really liked it.
It's sort of a folk album, with things like "Don't Think Twice."

The man's growing on me.

Those songs by Johnny Rebel are also often contributed to Johnny Horton.

When it comes to Cash I also recommend his Sun era + the chronological Bear Family boxes. The Bear Family box that puts together his 8 American West (concept-)albums is not among my favourites.
And also (of course!) his albums with Rick Rubin + the Unearthed box set are essential.


For everybody interested, here you can watch the excellent video for 'Hurt':

http://www.johnnycashmusic.com/

Thanks Blue Gypsy.

Johnny Horton didn't seem like he had that kind of nasty edge. He did have a Civil War story song called "Johnny Reb" but it wasn't racist.

I have heard it was Johnny Paycheck. My gut tells me it was just a workaday performer and racists have tried to attach a star's name to the record to give it an air of legitimacy. Even "Johnny Cash thinks this way".

Cash and Horton were best buddys and went fishing together a lot etc,and i also have afew of hortons cds...but he was like cash,a well liked man...so it aint him.

Johnny Rebel:




http://www.johnnyrebel.tk/

Click on the Discography on the left to view this man's work ....


I started a topic about this a few years ago on this Board, mainly because I was under the assumption it was Johnny Horton who had sung these. But after a little research I found out Horton had absolutely nothing to do with these.
Still, if you search on Kazaa, you will find a lot of these songs behind Horton's name.
True, Horton wrote a song called Johnny Reb, but this is totally innocent and deals with Confederate soldiers and not with racists.

Horton's complete work is available from Bear Family in two excellent box sets of 4 CD's each. Especially the 2nd box is EXCELLENT !

That's the kind of mislabelling that gets started on the internet. Because Horton had a song called "Johnny Reb" they assume he's Johnny Reb. Sometimes we forget a lot of the people that surf the web are not as interested in this stuff as we are.