Johnny Cash Album: “Essential Johnny Cash 1955-1983”

In my view, a box set should be an overall look at an artist's career that encompasses the cream of their "hit" material plus the best album sides and a little bit of material that examines the breadth of their experimentalism. This box set has a lot of great songs, but that's more because Cash is a phenomenal artist than that this makes the best case for his work.

First off, this set is at least a disc short...period. Cash hit the Top 40 country charts 104 times between 1955-1988. This set wasn't released until 1992 so there's no reason they couldn't have included material from all the way across this span. We'll be charitable though...after all many of those are songs that might not be remembered by the Cash faithful...so we'll cut that number back to top 20 songs only. That leaves 49 Top 20 hits of which 21 are missing.

The most egregious omissions are the #1 "Highwayman" (with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings) and several hit duets with June Carter Cash ("It Ain't Me Babe","Long-legged Guitar Pickin' Man","If I Were a Carpenter") and Waylon Jennings (#2 1978 hit "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang"). Any song that hit the Top 10 is likely to be remembered by any big fan of an artist and should have made this box.

Outside of that, there are some artistic highpoints that probably should have made the set, too: his duet with George Jones on "I'll Say It's True" from the SILVER album, his historic duet with Mother Maybelle Carter on 1973's "Pick the Wildwood Flower", "Bury me Not on the Lone Prairie" from his Old West concept album, patriotic recitation "Ragged Old Flag", the eerie acappella "Another Man Done Gone" (with June from folk album BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS) and late period environmental anthem "Don't Go Near the Water" (from BOOM-CHICKABOOM).

BOTTOM LINE:

This is still a must buy for any Cash fan. But I'm hopeful that in the next decade, they'll update with a 5 CD set that adds in material from the Mercury and Def American years as well as more concept album material and the missing hits from this set. Until then, buy this and cherish what we DO have here.

4 1/2 stars

I'm a year younger than Johnny Cash, so as I heard one after another of his songs through my life, I could relate in one sense or another to the stage he was going through. And so many of these songs bring back memories of where I was when I first heard them. Others I am hearing for the first time, and these only reinforce my realization of how much he has become part of our culture.

One great advantage of this set is how these songs have been grouped. The first CD consists primarily the singer's rockabilly songs; the second features story telling ballads; and the final one gives us his later work from the two prison albums on through 1980.

I am sharing my listening and my enjoyment of this set with an older friend who was raised in Canada, and this person's enjoyment and appreciation and desire to hear the records over illustrates the universality and agelessness of Cash's appeal. This set is a worthwhile investment for your pleasure.

The Sun years are well represented (perhaps over-represented) - they occupy over half of the first CD. All the early classics are here, including Hey porter, Cry cry cry, Folsom prison blues, I walk the line, Rock island line and Big river.

Within the Columbia years (which occupy the remainder of this set), the early years are strongly represented and include such classics as I still miss someone, Tennessee flat top box, Five feet high and rising, Don't take your guns to town, The ballad of Ira Hayes and I got stripes.

The mid sixties onwards are generally less well represented and some notable songs have been omitted, including It ain't me babe, The one on the right is on the left, Long legged guitar picking man, A thing called love and I would like to see you again. Many people (including Johnny himself) regard this period as patchy, but Johnny recorded plenty of good music during those years. Of course, these songs and others missing from this set can be found elsewhere, but anybody hoping that this CD would include all his famous songs will be disappointed.

The omission of some obvious songs leaves more room for some superb but very obscure songs. I particularly like Cisco Clifton's filling station - a very sad song about a business that collapsed following the building of a new road that diverted nearly all the traffic away.

Unquestionably, this is a very strong collection of Johnny Cash's music, but if you are sufficiently keen on JC to buy this, you will certainly want more than this to get some of the missing songs. If you only want his famous songs (and you want all the obvious ones), you may find one of the single or double CD's will suit you better.

This is the only Johnny Cash CD that I have, but I don't feel as if I need to buy many others. All of his classics are here, such as "Walk the Line," "Boy Named Sue," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "Ring of Fire." One will also find lesser-known, though no less exciting tracks, such as "25 Minutes to Go" (about a man on death row sweating out his last moments on earth). Cash, as we all know by now, was an American original. He was a commercial success, but never sold out; he had an edge, but was never offensive (except perhaps to the unfortunate guards at the Folsom and San Quentin concerts). Cash was a rebel that your mom would like to have over for dinner. And unlike Elvis, he never descended into self-parody. His voice was not great, but it was distinctive. The music was simple, but energetic. Cash's boom-chicka-boom sound seems like anyone could have done it. But no one else did, and it gets stuck in your head. In short, everybody should own a Johnny Cash CD, and this one is excellent. The early-80s tracks are not up to the standard of Cash's 50s-60s work, but they are not bad at all. Unfortunately, this CD collection, which came out in the 1980s, doesn't have any of the work that Cash did with Rick Rubin. Rubin spurred Cash's comeback in the 1990s, which introduced him to a new generation of fans. Cash collections abound, but this is a good place to start if one wants to listen to one of the few musicians who appeals widely to rock and country fans.

Outstanding collection of The Man in Black's greatest hits. Perfect for sitting around the bonfire enjoying a beer(or twelve). The best thing of all is that if you have a 5 disc player, you can play Johnyy all night long without ever getting up to change the tunes. Also included is a handsome Johnny Cash booklet describing his early years in country music. Looks great on the coffee table...or truck dashboard.