American IV: The Man Comes Around (Bonus DVD)

Johnny Cash | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 4, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: American/Lost Highway
• ASIN: B00008IAMD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,422 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Interviews
  • #65 in Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Spoken Word

Track Listings

1. The Man Comes Around

2. Hurt

3. Give My Love To Rose

4. Bridge Over Troubled Water

5. I Hung My Head

6. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

7. Personal Jesus

8. In My Life

9. Sam Hall

10. Danny Boy

11. Desperado

12. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

13. Tear Stained Letter

14. Streets of Laredo

15. We'll Meet Again

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

On first thought, the idea of The Man in Black recording such covers as "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Danny Boy," and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" might seem odd, even for an artist who’s been able to put his personal stamp on just about everything. But American IV: The Man Comes Around, which also draws on Cash’s original songs as well as those by Nine Inch Nails ("Hurt"), Sting ("I Hung My Head"), and Depeche Mode ("Personal Jesus"), may be one of the most autobiographical albums of the 70-year old singer-songwriter’s career. Nearly every tune seems chosen to afford the ailing giant of popular music a chance to reflect on his life--and look ahead to what’s around the corner. From the opening track, Cash’s own "The Man Comes Around," filled with frightening images of Armageddon, the album, produced by Rick Rubin, advances a quiet power and pathos, built around spare arrangements and unflinching honesty in performance and subject. In 15 songs, Cash moves through dark, haunted meditations on death and destruction, poignant farewells, testaments to everlasting love, and hopeful salutes to redemption. He sounds as if he means every word, his baritone-bass, frequently frayed and ravaged, taking on a weary beauty. By the time he gets to the Beatles’ "In My Life," you’ll very nearly cry. Go ahead. He sounds as if he’s about to, too. Unforgettable. (This special 2003 version includes a bonus DVD with the music video for "Hurt.") --Alanna Nash

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: CASH,JOHNNY
Title: MAN COMES AROUND
Street Release Date: 03/04/2003
Domestic
Genre: COUNTRY

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ragged Glory, May 31, 2003

By 

Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American IV: The Man Comes Around (Bonus DVD) (Audio CD)

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

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OH MY GOD, May 21, 2003

By 

MYLILY (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: American IV: The Man Comes Around (Bonus DVD) (Audio CD)

I have heard both Trent Reznor's and Johnny Cash's versions of HURT. Trent's version speaks from a young person's point of view and is fine...but in the hands...and voice...and soul of Johnny Cash, it takes on a resonance and meaning that NIN can't even begin to touch. I have seen the video and listened to the song numerous times and I cry every time. It is particularly heart wrenching now that June has passed...Everyone I know goes away in the end...how much more than one man take?

The other songs are good...and the album is superior...but I honestly listen to it for HURT. This album is the crowning touch to a phenomenal career but HURT is the diamond in the crown...his whole life in one song. People need to get over categorizations. This is brilliant MUSIC, no matter what the genre. This is a brilliant musician. He does not have the best singing voice, but his vocals have more soul in them than ANYONE else out there now. I would put him with Billie Holliday when it comes to singing from the very core of being.

Singers like Johnny come our way so infrequently...we need to hold on to him as long as we can.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! Literally makes your hair stand on end., December 4, 2003

By 

RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American IV: The Man Comes Around (Bonus DVD) (Audio CD)

Johnny Cash doesn't have the greatest voice, technically speaking. He'll go flat or off-key frequently. And are there many other artists who would allow that sort of thing to get cut to a master, burned to CD and sold? The very rawness makes each of these tracks seem live, almost as though he started singing them at the perfect moment when he FELT the songs most, and no matter that it wasn't perfectly sung...it was perfectly emoted.

The results are some the most hair-raising songs ever released, in my opinion. Cash turns each song into one of utter sadness. This is a man who has felt deep loss, deep disappointment (mostly in himself) and doesn't really expect things to change.

What's wild is that many of the covers he does sound like they were songs written for him. BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER is the blandest of the bunch, but even that sounds new in his voice. But PERSONAL JESUS!! Who would have thought he'd cover that song...and yet in his hands, it is transfored. No longer cold and impersonal, it is a heartfelt, non-cynical song about reaching for the forgiveness of Jesus. It's a hymn. And HURT???? Yikes...good luck getting through that one intact. My skin is prickly just remembering it. When Trent Reznor sang it, sure it was creepy, but did we REALLY believe this young guy had the life experience to sing "everything I've loved goes away in the end." Boy, you better believe Johnny Cash makes that line resonate!! You don't need to see the video (thankfully included on DVD in this version...don't just buy the DVD single...it's only a few bucks more to add the whole darn album!!) to know this is a classic take.

I won't cover every song, but some of my personal favorites include IN MY LIFE (I'm a huge Beatles fan, and it's great to hear this cover...so melancholy) and I HANG MY HEAD, which I swear COULDN'T have been written by Sting. It sounds like a classic western / folk tale. Great stuff.

The title track, written by Cash, is all the affirmation I need that this guy wasn't just sitting around in the studio waiting for Rich Rubin to hand him a sheet of music. He was actively involved, and could still write a mean tune. This one is based on the book of Revelations, and it's spritely, mischievous and more than a little scary. Then man had chops right until the end.

The fact that this was Cash's final effort certainly makes the album more poignant, particularly also knowing that his love, June Carter, left this world before him. I'm sure there will be tributes to Cash for years to come...but none will serve as a better tribute than this haunting masterpiece. It's not for the faint of heart!