Customer Reviews

Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar [Vinyl]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I agree with RedTunicTroll's review - I've waited a long time to see this great album re-issued on CD (hence the five star rating). I would add that the remastering is excellent. However, I am very sorry to say that Varese (the re-issue label) has substituted an alternate demo take of "Country Boy" instead of the full band version that appears on the original album. The version of "Country Boy" on this CD has just Cash with his guitar. It's a nice version of the song, but the one on the original album has Perkins on guitar and Grant on bass. I know this for certain because I have an original copy of this album from the late 1950s - it's a very beat-up copy, but it plays well enough for me to say without a doubt that Varese made a mistake!

Given how many times Cash's Sun catalog has been visited for CD reissues, it's truly amazing that his 1957 debut album -- and, in fact, the first long-player ever issued by Sun Records -- has never seen the laser-light of compact disc. Varese Vintage lovingly rights this wrong with a superb reissue of the original twelve tracks, five bonus cuts, newly penned liner notes from Bill Dahl, and the album's original cover art.

Though the album's hits and singles have been collected on numerous CDs, many of the other tracks have appeared sporadically at best, and several have only been available on in Bear Family's "Man in Black 1954-1958" box set. More enticingly, this reissue is the first CD that reproduces the original track order, placing the album's trio of iconic original composition hits ("Cry! Cry! Cry!" "I Walk the Line" and "Folsom Prison Blues") in the context of Cash's recordings of other's songs.

Cash's baritone, backed by the Luther Perkins' tick-tack guitar and Marshall Grant's upright acoustic bass, is equally at home fueling rhythmic train songs, such as Leadbelly's "Rock Island Line" and the traditional "The Wreck of the Old '97," as going down-tempo for prison laments such as Hank Williams' "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle Blow)" and Jimmie Skinner's "Doin' My Time".

These initial sessions for Sun, spanning the 1955 recording of Cash's first single, "Cry! Cry! Cry!" to the album sessions in August 1957, are a study in minimalism. Cash's voice is front and center, and the Tennessee Two's accompaniment, unslicked by the later production flourishes of Jack Clement, gain power from their spareness.

Bonus tracks include two contemporary flip-sides ("Hey, Porter!" and "Get Rhythm") and three previously unissued alternate versions. Of particular interest is the version of "Folsom Prison Blues" that was cut four months before the hit single. Cash's vocal is surprisingly tentative, rendered more towards his middle register than his trademark baritone's bottom end.

With Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis providing the foundation rock 'n' roll sound of Sun Records, one might wonder why Sam Phillips decided to employ Johnny Cash's decidedly different catalog for the label's first long-player. A quick spin through this rock-solid debut, with album tracks that measure up to the hits, explains exactly why.

This was Johnny Cash's first album. It was also the only album he released while he was still with Sun Records. (Sun Records did throw together several Johnny Cash albums after he left the label.) Most of the album was recorded in August of 1957. They also threw in four of his older hits, from 1955 and '56. It is an excellent album. Many people will remember his classic hits "Cry! Cry! Cry!", "So Doggone Lonesome", "I Walk the Line" and "Folsom Prison Blues". But there are also other great songs like "Rock Island Line", "Country Boy", "I Was There When It Happened" and "The Wreck of the Old '97". The CD adds five bonus tracks, which are b-sides of two of the songs on the album, and alternate takes of three songs from the album. The most interesting alternate take is "Folsom Prison Blues", which is sung in a much higher key than the regular version. It just sounds so wrong, hearing Cash trying to sing in a tenor voice. But other than that one misstep (which is still fascinating to hear), the CD is great. Johnny Cash fans will love this CD.

I agree with all the other reviewers of this album -it's terrific. And the clarity of sound makes it feel like it was just recorded. This was Cash at his best and most pure - edgy but clear and strong. And the arrangements don't compete with his voice, as they do a number of years later. The opening "Rock Island Line" is the finest arrangement of this great song that you'll find, and has you bouncing out of your chair with its vibrant energy. If you liked the recent "Walk the Line" movie, you'll like this CD, for this is the sound Joaquin Phoenix was attempting to capture. This is a winner and I'd give it 10 stars if I could!

Interestingly enough, this is the first fulllength LP ever issued by Sun Records. And even more interesting, it totally goes against the grain of the kind of music that "made" Sun Records. With rockabilly stars Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis, rockabilly was sun Records "bread and butter". But this CD is truly timeless. Johny's most inspired work by far. The Man In Black truly made a name for himslef based solely on the miusic on this CD alone. May God Rest His Soul.

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Take it from me, fearless music lover, this is the best Johnny Cash CD you can buy. A fine, fine addition to any collection whether your tastes lean towards Steve Earle or more towards the Meat Puppets.

This CD (this very one) is doubtless what inspires songwriters when they list Johnny Cash as one of their influences. It's old but not dated. It's been heard before yet still hits you where it counts.

...Is that a good-enough testimonial? I think so.