Complete Live at San Quentin [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Live]

Johnny Cash | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 4, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Live
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004U2GH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,796 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #40 in Music > Rock > Oldies & Retro > Rockabilly
  • #42 in Music > Country > Outlaw Country

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

While Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, the 1968 album that made Cash a household word, spent only two weeks at No. 1, this 1969 follow-up topped the charts for 20 weeks. As with Folsom, the San Quentin LP had to be edited due to space limitations. Now, 31 years after the fact, the show can at last be heard in true perspective. All the original performances hold up, including the album's hit single: Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue," presented unbleeped for the first time. Equally impressive are the eight restored tracks and unexpurgated between-song patter. Cash's opening renditions of "Big River" and "I Still Miss Someone" are bracing. So are four closing songs teaming Cash with his complete performing troupe (the Carter Family, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers). Their gospel performances ("He Turned the Water into Wine," "The Old Account," and an early version of "Daddy Sang Bass") are electrifying, as is a concluding medley featuring everyone. Cash is presented here at his roaring, primal best. --Rich Kienzle

Product Description

Digipak reissue of 1969 album that's out-of-print in the US. 2001. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

197 of 204 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American classic, May 26, 2005

By 

Greg Brady "columbusboy" (Capital City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Complete Live at San Quentin (Audio CD)

Asking "Which Cash prison album is best: San Quentin or Folsom Prison?" is like saying "Which of your lungs is your favourite?". They're both essential to ANY music collection. (If pressed by a particularly menacing and armed inmate, I'd lean towards the more atmospheric FOLSOM.) Which one you like best will probably depend on whether you want a more comprehensive take on Cash's music (the love songs and gospel on this one) or one aimed square at his audience (the prison song laden "Folsom").

Read the glowing praise from Merle Haggard (or Marty Stuart if you want someone of more recent vintage) and look at any critic's list of "Essential" country music and this will be on it. Look at the better pop critics' lists and even they will recognize this as the epochal moment in music that it is.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Choosing the best tunes here is hard, but I'll try. As on Folsom, Johnny performs an actual prisoner's song (T. Cuttie's "I Don't Know Where I'm Bound"). Cuttie's lyric is a classic tale about "rambling" and the search for identity. The reaction to the title song's line "San Quentin, may you rot and burn in He*l" is a "goosebump" moment for me. The audience loved it so much they demanded he sing it again...immediately. (Afterwards Cash remarks "I'm starting to like it myself" with a grin...) "Wanted Man" is surprisingly "commercial" for a collaboration with Bob Dylan. The "funny" songs on this one are also better than "Folsom": "Starkville City Jail" and alltime classic "Boy Named Sue" (which the liners note was being performed for the first time at this show..Cash actually had to read the lyrics off a sheet). "Daddy Sang Bass" is a great number,too...no doubt because the lyric (from Carl Perkins) reflected Cash's own upbringing. It's abetted by June Carter Cash, Perkins himself, and the Statler Brothers' harmony.

LOWS:
No clunkers at all this time. There's nothing here I'd remove...and that includes the bonus songs. This is as perfect as it gets on a song by song basis.

BOTTOM LINE:
I hope you're looking at this for 1 of 2 reasons:
1) You came here to vote on reviews
2) You're updating the copy you have to the newer remastered version.

If it's because you don't actually own this, click "Buy this" and hope that no one sees you do it. If someone does, lie and say you HAD a copy but it was stolen and you're replacing it.ESSENTIAL to every music collection.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just totally awesome., July 5, 2005

By 

H3@+h "Over 1500 reviews!" (thanks for the helpful review votes) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Live at San Quentin (Audio CD)

I can safely say that any positive comment directed towards this album is 100% true. I have this on vinyl also, and this remaster is ten times as great. Just look at the tracklist here, it's practically a live hits album. Included is "I Walk The Line", "Darlin' Companion", "Boy Named Sue", "Peace In The Valley", "Ring Of Fire", and numerous other classics. However, what really makes "At San Quentin" amazing, is the between song chat between Johnny and the prisoners. It adds emotion and humor, and a real look at the kind of man Johnny was. This album alone solidified his status as rebel and legend. Another major plus besides the better sound and extra tracks is the price. This is the no-brainer of no-brainers. In summary, "At San Quentin" is the real Johnny Cash, it's real country, and even more than that it's just real good music.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among best live albums of all time, August 6, 2000

By 

Tom Mees (Belgium, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Live at San Quentin (Audio CD)

This album, as 'At Folsom Prison', is a 'Classic' in the true sense of the word. Johnny is raw, honest, in control, moody, funny, scary, moving, inspired and unforgettable. A man's Man. This remastered version of San Quentin is truly a REVELATION! I've had these 2 prison-albums for quite a while, but now the best got even better; Johnny sounds like a hellhound and a saint at the same time. You will never hear an album like this and 'At Folsom Prison' again in your life, it's that impressive,unique, powerful, moving. Also his backing band which features Carl Perkins and June Carter a.o. is super. The sound of this album is just so incredible, it burns a whole through your soul, its contents: rockabilly, blues, gospel, country, folk, all rolled up in one blistering performance. I really hope that this amazing Man will go on with making great music and fully recover from his medical problems. I've got over 600 cd's and rate Johnny Cash as a musician, person, personality among the likes of Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Muddy Waters. Quintessential, go and buy this jewel!