Customer Reviews
Cash at his best for not much cash - By: Dr. W. E. Allen, 20 Jun 2008 
I ordered this set after seeing it advertisedin an email from Amazon. I was not very familiar with Johnny Cash, with the exception of Boy named Sue & Ring of Fire. This double CD really has blown me away. Cash's voice is great but the entertainment comes as much from his banter with the prisoners as from the songs, many of which have jail themes. Allin all a great showcase for a natural performer. The sound quality is also excellent demonstrating better stereo effects than many modern albums.
2 classic CDs better than the original releases! - By: Musicfan, 02 Oct 2007 I had both the Folsom Prison & the San Quentin live albums seperately & both were very good. I therefore hesitated about buying this package. However, I bought this & it is much better. Both CDs have been very well produced. The sound quality is excellent. The hugely irritating bleep on A Boy Named Sue has been removed. Both include never before released tracks & dialogue from Cash & a result the excitement & tension of both concerts can really be felt. The CDs almost make you feel that you are at both concerts. This is Cash at his peak. This package is superb, great value & very highly recommended.
Fantastic Package - By: J. M. Salinas, 26 Sep 2007 For starters you get two albums for the price of one. And not only that, you get TWO HISTORICAL records.
Live at Folsom & Live at St Quentin are two live albums like nothing I've listened to before.
Musically, the albums do not have much to get excited about; guitar, bass & drums with very basic country style rythms underpinning Cash's voice.
Having said that, you don't buy this stuff for the music, you buy it for the stories, for each song is more than just a few lyrics thrown togethers, they are tales, morals & poems on their own right. "Cocaine Blues", "Starkville City Jail", "St Quentin", "A Boy Named Sue", there is enough material there to evolve each song into a different movie.
The rapport Cash builds with the prisiones is unmatched on any other live album, he doesn't preach, he doesn't pass judgement, he is simply telling stories which quite likely could be the stories of their lives.
At Folsom sounds more polished, Cash's voices brushes perfection & the album feels tighter than At St Quentin. However, At St Quentin has all the classics & maybe just for that has an edge over At Folsom, even though the execution of classics such as "Folsom Prison Blues" & "I Still Miss Someone" sound better on the former.
Both records are a permanent fixture on my MP3 player.
Two absolutely classic live albums for the price of one - By: Greg Farefield-Rose, 29 Dec 2006 The recent film Walk The Line tells the story. After years of pill popping & declining sales, a newly clean Johnny Cash plans his comeback. Rather than making a new record with contemporary late 60s influences as his record company wish, Johnny resolutely decides to record a live album at the notorious Folsom Prison with his classic sound. As usual, the artist is right and, aided by Cash's deep resonance with the plight of the inmates, Folsom Prison is a massive, career reviving success. A few months later a second equally successful live album from San Quentin jail is recorded & released. This brilliant package collects together the full concerts of both performances & is enhanced further by extensive liner notes.
A major theme of the songs performed at both concerts is the plight of the blue-collar man who has fallen on to the wrong side of the law, sometimes but not always under circumstances beyond his control. Not surprisingly, the prison audience relate well to such sentiments yet it is Cash's between song banter & the sense that he has been there which strike the biggest artist-audience bond. Only Bruce Springsteen & Christy Moore come closein displaying such genuine empathy with the working man.
Despite the albums being recorded only months apart, there is virtually no track overlap & highlights a plenty. The Folsom Prison LP begins appropriately enough with Folsom Prison Blues with other highpoints including the intense 25 Minutes To Go, Orange Blossom Special & a duet of the brilliant Jackson with Cash's soon to be wife June Carter. There is also welcome humour with the daft Dirty Old Egg Suckin' Dog & increasingly ridiculous metaphors of Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart.
Humour is also very much present on the San Quentin LP which features Johnny's unveiling of A Boy Named Sue, a song which became one of his most famous recordings. Other highlights include the classics Ring Of Fire & I Walk The Line as well as Bob Dylan's Wanted Man & a nice spiritual departure with He Turned The Water Into Wine. The San Quentin set also features a new Cash-penned song about San Quentin prison which the audience like so much that they demand an immediate repeat performance. Being the full concert, the San Quentin LP of course includes both versions...
Given the lavish packaging they deserve, these two seminal LPs are among the very best live albums ever recorded. With classic but simple & disciplined songs & a special rapport with his audience, they show Johnny Cash at his peak, doing what he does best. A blue collar hero indeed.
Cash well spent - By: Mr. G. Helliwell, 09 Apr 2006 
Two defining momentsin the career of Cash, & the development of music to the masses.
The production of these disks is excelent, the sleeve notes cover everything the casual listener could wish for & the music is great fun.
How Cash pulled off these performances has always invoked wonder. I could never understand how the authorities thought they could control the crowd, but Cash had them eating out the palm of his hands.
These disks are an essential addition to any music collection.
