Customer Reviews
Perfection - By: Simon Lee, 16 Oct 2006 
This is the first of the so-called American recordings, & arguably the best. The songs have been carefully selected by Cash, & I believe there is certainly something here for everyone. If you love music you will soon fallin love with this album. Most artists today don't have one percent of the emotional intensity that Cash had. I highly recommend this album without reservation.
American Recordings - A series of 5 albums, 5 stars each. - By: JW83, 16 Aug 2006 Johnny Cash is one of those artists that almost everybody has heard of, but is all too often filed under the "past sell by date" category that long-lived musicians often fall into. I myself once believed that; but following the Manin Black's departure from this world I was amazed to see the incredible respect that this aged hero was commanding from beyond the grave. The release of "Walk the Line" & "Ring of Fire" greatest hits albums were my first insights into what has now turned out to be a lifetime of epic proportions.
Whilst listening to said album, I came across songs that I knew already, & at first was shocked to think that JC had written one of U2's biggest hits & even a 9 inch nails song. On further investigation, I discovered the truth, which led me to the "American Recordings" series.
These albums are, quite frankly, some of the greatest, most honest & heart rending collections of music that have ever been compiled. The first album is as stripped down as music can get, meaning you really listen to the words of the song & get completely immersedin the imagery & stories being described. JC's voice is so distinctive & inescapable you will almost feel guilty if you ever have to stop the album midway, like cutting off a grandfatherin the midst of a war story. No one else seems to convey the amount of pain, longing & pity that he does, & you often become so immersedin a song you feel like he's right next to youin the room.
And the pace doesn't slow down at any pointin the series. JC has an incredible talent of immersing himself into every song he performs, like a great actor giving the performance of his life. The only difference is that you know Johnny is singing from experience rather than putting on a show, & is making this music from the bottom of his soul for our enjoyment, not to fill his pockets. Even songs like "Danny boy" & "bridge over troubled water" are imbued with that indescribable Cash-ness, to the point that you forget that they're not even his songs. Combine that with the religious aspects that give many of his songs a prayer like quality, & you'd have to have a heart of stone to not be moved at some point during listening.
Each album is another stepin a journey, & is impossible to fault, therefore represent some of the only examples were 5 stars are completely justified. If you buy them one at a time you'll be desperate for the next by the time you've listened through the previous, & it keeps on going even when you reach the end of the series when that terrible, hollow feeling creeps into your stomach. It's only then that you realise the world has been deprived of one of the most unique, emotive, distinctive & talented artists to have ever lived.
The Manin Black, A Solitary Man, A whirlwindin a thorn tree, whatever you want to call him one thing is for sure; Johnny Cash will live onin the hearts & minds of countless people for many, many years to come.
An honest record... - By: David Calcano, 04 Jul 2006 The stripped down style of this record showed how much of that J.R was still leftin his soul. An honest & deep voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar that makes you thinkin those lonesome times of your life... a record to think, enjoy, laugh & be lonely.
A kind of truth that can only be heard from Johnny's voice ... Just listen...
Cash let out of artistic prison - By: Mr. D. S. Stadler, 14 Jun 2006 This album finally showed what Cash could do when allowed out of the cage which the 'Cash sound' had become for him. Much of Cash's very best work over the years has been singing without the support of a band, acoustic guitar only - but this is the first album he did with that theme. There are so many superb songs on this album. My particular favorites are 'Beast In Me', 'Delia's Gone', & 'Man Who Couldn't Cry', but three others come very close & the overall level of quality is astoundingly high.
Buy it, but don't stop with this one. It gets better with the later albums 'Unchained' & 'Solitary Man'. Believe it or not!
Rebirth and Revelation. - By: Mr. C. J. Davidson, 08 May 2006 Perhaps the best analogy i can use to describe the impact these American Recordings had on Johnny Cash admirers, is to try & imagine how the disciples must have felt upon dicovering the stone had been rolled away & the tomb was empty.Sure we all knew what Johnny Cash stood for, what he sounded like & what he sung about, but even so these songs were & still are, a revelation.An artistic rebirth virtually without comparison.
Stripped down to only his guitar & that wonderful deep voice, Cash commands a presence so powerful & stirring these songs are carvedin granite for witnesses to marvel at many, many years from now.
And the songs themselves, whether from his own pen, or from those of others, all now become Johnny Cash songs.It almost doesn't matter the talents behind such classics as "Why Me Lord" or "Bird On The Wire", the composers give way to the singer, because it's the way Johnny Cash gives a voice to the infatuated murdererin "Delia's Gone", or to the Vietnam veteranin "Drive On", or to his own deepest fearsin "The Beast In Me", or to his own highest beliefsin "Redemption" or "Down There By The Train", or to his own long, troubled lifein "Like A Soldier" or "Let The Train Blow The Whistle", that make this album a deeply honest journey into the artists own sucesses & failings.But one that connects to all those willing to listen forin doing so he speaks for all the little partsin whole of us that make up the whole, neither fully good or completely bad.Cash had the unique gift of being able to take you to the very gates of hell with one song, but always offer up the chance of redemption with the next.
So if you have any interestin Johnny Cash,in music, or justin what makes us who we are, then buy this album, buy the other American Recordingsin the series, buy the "Unearthed" boxset, just so you can say you saw & heard the legendary Manin Black walk & talk it like only he could, for the very final time.
