I took my first guitar lesson in
almost a year on Thursday, and I really enjoyed it. Learning to play music has
definitely increased the joy I get from listening to it, in the same way as
studying literature makes me enjoy a good read more.
This next album is yet another
compilation album – sorry about that. At least it is a good one.
Disc 701 is…. Classic Cash
Artist: Johnny
Cash
Year of Release: 1988 but with music
from the fifties and sixties (and two songs from the seventies as well).
What’s up with the Cover? The man in black!
Of course, everyone is black when in silhouette.
How I Came To Know It: Finding good Johnny Cash albums
on CD isn’t easy, so when I spotted a collection containing a lot of his
classics, I decided I’d go ahead and get a dreaded compilation album. I remain
on the lookout for good original Cash albums, though.
How It Stacks Up: I have a bunch of Johnny Cash albums to stack up
against each other, but this isn’t one of them. “Best Of” albums don’t get
stacked up!
Rating: “Best of” albums don’t get rated
either. That’s how we roll here on the CD Odyssey.
This album was like a return to the more pleasant parts of my childhood.
I grew up in a small B.C. industrial town, and Johnny Cash was a mainstay in
most of the blue collar houses there.
My house was no exception, with my Mom often putting Johnny Cash records
on when she was puttering around the house. I’d sit in the living room near the
stereo, reading a book or playing a game while Johnny told tales of tough
times, hard love and gun-totin’ cowboys.
This is Johnny Cash in his prime; his voice rough and soothing at the
same time, like a mountain stream burbling over gravel.
Cash and a few others like him took country music to a new place in the
fifties. It was a place filled with imperfect characters, made beautiful in
part because of their character blemishes.
“Long Black Veil,” “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” and “Folsom Prison Blues” are all songs about
people who make terrible errors in judgment yet Johnny puts you in their shows,
and makes you feel compassion for them.
In “Long Black Veil” a man
defends a woman’s honour by not telling a judge that his alibi on the night of
a murder was that he was sleeping with his best friend’s wife. It’s a strange
and twisted honour, but in Cash’ hands you still find yourself pitying the
doomed man’s lingering ghost. “Don’t Take
Your Guns to Town” is about a headstrong youth that goes to town looking
for trouble, and finds more than he can handle. As for “Folsom Prison Blues” – that guy shot a man in Reno just to watch
him die.
Cash doesn’t limit himself to these topics, though. He’s a born
storyteller who can find a narrative in just playing an instrument (“Get Rhythm”, “Tennessee Flat Top Box”) or lost love (“I Still Miss Someone”, “I
Guess Things Happen That Way”) and how the love of a good woman can inspire
us to be better men (“I Walk the Line”).
Unfortunately, Cash occasionally strays into the hokey, such as on “Five Feet High and Rising,” a stupid
song about a heavy rainstorm. Even worse is “Supper Time,” which has Johnny musing about having supper in heaven
with his dead mom. That should be a touching sentiment, but it just comes off
as plain goofy.
The songs are a mix of Cash originals (he is a gifted songwriter) and
excellent covers. My only quibble is “Sunday
Morning Coming Down.” Although Cash made it famous, I think Kris
Kristofferson’s original is better. That’s the only time that happens though.
For the most part when Cash sings your song, that song becomes his.
Musically, Cash’s sound has never been duplicated. His deep voice (I’m not
sure if he’s a high bass or a low baritone) is the first thing you notice, but
over the years I’ve also appreciated his guitar playing style. It is a bit ‘loose
in stays’ at times, but it has a perfect country swing that had my strumming hand
playing air while I listened on more than one occasion.
The songs are also often punctuated with a hint of piano or Spanish
guitar that helps round out the overall sound nicely.
Although this greatest hits package has 20 songs (six more than my usual
maximum) many are short, and the whole experience comes in at a relatively
reasonable 53 minutes. If anything, I was left wanting a little more.
Best tracks: Tennessee Flat Top Box, Long
Black Veil, I Still Miss Someone, Don’t Take Your Guns to Town, Guess Things
Happen That Way, I Walk the Line, Ring of Fire, Ballad of Ira Hayes, Folsom
Prison Blues
No comments:
Post a Comment