Disco de Johnny Cash: “American IV: The Man Comes Around”

This collection of songs from various artists sung by the great man in black is superb. All of the songs tell tales of heart-break, loves, losses, armageddon, and hope. The great thing about Cash on this album is that he really uses his voice to evoke the emotions behind the songs. On "Hurt," a tune by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Cash sings "What have I become/My sweetest Friend/Everyone I know goes away/In the end," and boy can you tell that he means what he sings. It's so brilliant that I prefer Cash's version to the original. Cash has never been known for his beautiful voice, so like Dylan, he uses his own phrasings to really carry the song. He was very wise in his choices of what songs to record on this album. He chose stuff that you wouldn't think he would choose, such as "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode, and "Bridge Over troubled water" by Simon and Garfunkel. Rick Rubin did a perfect job with the production on this album, it's somewhat spare. With so much passion and range of emotion on this album I couldn't give it anything less than five stars. It deserves a place in any music lovers collection.

I don't listen to a whole lot of country music, but when I do I generally like it undistilled. There are a few C&W artists I like without reservations and then there are those who are enigmatic enough that you never know what to expect from them. Johnny Cash fits into both categories.

Cash's "American" series has been interesting and I was eager to hear what was on offer here after his tremendous Solitary Man album. For once, here's an album which lives up to industry hype. I'll be hard pressed to improve on amazon's adulatory paean to Cash's latest work.

I was floored by the ragged glory of Cash's interpretations of this eclectic material the first time I heard it. Very little of it has any connection to traditional country, but with Cash behind the mike, the country just seems to burst forth.

Some of the more familiar songs I heard with new ears. Songs like Hurt, In My Life and Desperado have a whole lot more meaning when sung by a man of Cash's age as he can look back on life's triumphs and disappointments and sound as if he really means what he's singing.

I like the entire CD, but my favorites are the hellfire and brimstone The Man Comes Around, the mournful Hurt, the remorseful I Hung My Head, the reflective In My Life, the swaggering Sam Hall, the plaintive classic Streets of Laredo, and an uplifting rendition of We'll Meet Again.

The video of Hurt is well worth the extra buck fifty. Watch it...again and again and again! Cash's beloved wife appears in it and her recent death gives it a poignancy money couldn't buy.

I agree with the reviewer who said that Johnny Cash is every bit as important to American music as Elvis Presley. In the autumn of his life, he proves with American IV: The Man Comes Around that he still has what it takes to take his place in the pantheon of American music greats

This music stands with Astral Weeks, Sgt Pepper, and Blonde on Blonde, and Big Pink.

It's stark, and overwhelming, and so beautiful...

All of the songs you thought you knew you didn't. You haven't heard 'Bridge Over Trouble Waters.' Paul Simon couldn't have meant this much when he wrote it. Cash couldn't have understood 'Give My Love To Rose' when he wrote it. 'In My Life' was pretty sentiment, then. Here, it is a bedrock statement, a will, a legacy of dignity and love.

Listen here to a Great American Hero, a hero like Whitman, or Ginsberg, or Hawthorne or Woody Guthrie. Listen here to the reason that John Ford made 'Fort Apache,' and Pynchon wrote

People, this is the sound of a man dying, with the strength, grace and the dignity of an angel, or a cowboy. Thank Christ that you were alive to hear him.

About two months ago I was flipping through channels when MTV2 ran a video of Johnny Cash doing a cover of Trent Reznor's "Hurt" -- which is an excellent song/video in its own right -- but the Cash version gave me chills. Whether or not you're a fan of either, it must be said that Mr Cash's interpretation is simply mesmerizing. Here is a man that has been kicked to the ground so many times and has battled so many demons that the pain registers. It's unnerving and it's frightening. In this cover, he just hangs on to each word of the song beautifully. And there's a scene with his wife (June Carter Cash) that's almost too painful to watch. She's clearly uncomfortable with the subject matter. Breathtaking. I immediately bought the album and was BLOWN away. With pared-down vocals and sparse arrangements, you're given an intimate and very dark look into the psyche of a man so multi-dimensional that he can BEAUTIFULLY remaster otherwise feeble works written and performed by "artists" like Sting and The Eagles. It's a shame that kids are SO over-exposed to unoriginal, rehashed garage punk (it's over); the "diva" caterwalling (it's WAY over) and over-sampled hip-hop (when it's popular in the Burbs kids, then it's time to step away from the gangsta-rap aisle). Mr. Cash is a true legend. This CD is a masterpiece.

"There's a man coming around taking names...the hairs on your arm will stand up...." So begins the title track of Johnny Cash's last released album, before his death last month. Prophetic, apocalyptic, and staring death in the eye...Cash delivers a profoundly moving farewell. His American Recordings series, produced by Rick Rubin, has been a triumph, returning Johnny Cash to his bare-bones hardscrabble country roots. Yet, the spare instrumentation provides Cash space to dig deep into each song, bringing a richness and poignancy that is as deeply affecting as a thousand symphony orchestras . His voice on AMERICAN IV-by turns rumbly, trembly, growly, stately, and even pleading-is the voice of Everyman...conversely, if Mount Rushmore could sing, it would sound like Johnny Cash. It should be noted that Johnny is backed by some amazing musicians, including Marty Stuart, Billy Preston, and members of The Heartbreakers. Opening up the CD is Cash's own song, "The Man Comes Around," which is a chilling meditation on the Biblical Book of Revelation, and Cash sings it as though he is giving a personal eyewitness narrative. And, in many ways, he is qualified, having been to hell and back more than once in his life, which gives the anti-drug "Hurt" a special resonance. The author of "Hurt," Trent Reznor, said that he literally stopped and wept when he saw Cash's video presentation of the song...he called it a highlight of his life. One would imagine that any author would feel the same way, no matter how prestigious or notable the author. Johnny next sings a re-make of his own classic "Give My Love to Rose," a heartbreaking prison ballad that takes on added emotion and depth in this new recording. Then, coming from "way out in Left Field" is Paul Simon's standard, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," featuring the vocals of Fiona Apple and a strange lovely mellotron. You have to hear it to believe it; and the end result is surprisingly beautiful. After listening to "I Hung My Head," a tragic tale of accidental death, I was shocked to discover that the author of the song was none other than Sting...it certainly sounds like vintage Cash, and Johnny absolutely makes the song his own. Rarely has personal love been expressed in a more intimate or vulnerable way than when Johnny sings "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face," and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is singing it straight to June. Next up is a curious choice: "Personal Jesus," which was written and recorded by the new wave synth band Depeche Mode more than a decade ago...Cash turns it into a biting, sarcastic indictment of wolves in sheep's clothing who prey on the innocent behind a façade of religion. The Lennon/McCartney ballad, "In My Life," fits Johnny to a "T"...the acoustic melody washing over Johnny's warm vocals. But, this being a Johnny Cash record, he doesn't want things becoming too warm and cuddly, so he presents-how can I say this-a very funny, wry murder/execution song called "Sam Hall." He portrays Sam as a mean-spirited, hateful, frustrated villain. Here is Cash at his most feisty and ornery, but you can almost hear the twinkle in his eyes as he sings Sam's cursing and raving. Having taken the listener on a wild ride thus far, Cash next leaps over to Ireland for a hymn-like rendition of "Danny Boy," which is sung with great tenderness, without a trace of irony or cynicism. Then...how about the Eagles? Why not? Johnny Cash sings "Desperado" as a personal testimonial...here is another character that Mr. Cash knows all too well. And Hank Williams, Sr. could have been writing about certain seasons of Johnny's life when he composed "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and Johnny seizes upon those memories as he effectively covers this song in a duet with Nick Cave...no stranger to dark nights himself. "Tear-Stained Letter" is a very dark song of lost love, so of course then, the music and arrangement is sprightly and upbeat...a good thing, because if the music matched the lyrics, it might be unbearably sad. This album, having long passed the plateau of "epic achievement," continues with the dying cowboy ballad, "Streets of Laredo"-Johnny sings the cowboy's funeral instructions, even as he was no doubt contemplating his own. And is it morbid? Not for a second...it's a fitting tribute to every "young cowboy" who died before his time. And just when it seems Johnny's heart-and yours-can bear no more, Johnny goes all jaunty on us for the closer: "We'll Meet Again." Doggone if he doesn't bring out clarinet and dobro and "The Whole Cash Gang" for a hopeful, almost whimsical sing-along about death and dying, that is highlighted by Johnny's touching spoken-word affirmation: "So honey, keep smiling through, just like you always do, `til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away." And then, Johnny went out...he went onward and upward to a better place...singing this song.