Customer Reviews

The Legend of Johnny Cash

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The recently released "Legend of Johnny Cash" compilation is the first single-disc collection to cover the legendary Man In Black's entire career. While it would take literally a half-dozen CDs or more to cover every important piece of music Cash has made, this compilation offers the basics and is an excellent overview of his most important and classic work. The legendary Sun records hits, "Cry Cry Cry", "Hey Porter", "I Walk The Line" and "Folsum Prison Blues" are included here as well as "A Boy Named Sue", "Ring Of Fire" and "Highwayman" (his collaboration with Country legends Kris Kristoferson, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson). Also included is Johnny's cameo appearance from U2's 1993 "Zooropa" album, "The Wanderer" and to close out the disc, there are several tracks from his American Records series with producer Rick Rubin including the final hit "Hurt" (originally by Nine Inch Nails).
With that said, "the Legend of Johnny Cash" is an essential collection and offers an excellent brief history lesson of his most acclaimed work. For the few who have never heard of Johnny Cash, this CD is an excllent introduction to his music. For everyone else, this is probably the best collection of Cash music to date.

I own some of Johnny Cash's older albums as well as the spectacular 2-CD The Essential Johnny Cash. But since I didn't have any of his American recordings he did with Rick Rubin, I got The Legend of Johnny Cash for the six songs representing those albums. It's rather obvious that this collection was aimed at young people who have heard and liked Cash's music but wouldn't otherwise be caught dead in the record store's country music section (and who am I kidding; that includes me).

In that sense, it's a good CD. It includes the biggest of Cash's big hits: "Cry, Cry, Cry," "I Walk the Line," "Ring of Fire," "Hurt," etc. But as a definitive greatest-hits collection, The Legend of Johnny Cash falls well short. "I Still Miss Someone," "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," "The Rebel- Johnny Yuma," "The One on the Right is on the Left," and (probably most bafflingly) "Daddy Sang Bass" are all absent from here. What's more, "Folsom Prison Blues" is the *studio* version- anyone at all can tell you that the definitive version is the live version recorded at Folsom Prison itself. This CD is only an hour long- that leaves plenty of time for more deserving cuts. The six American Recordings songs collected here are all great, and I think I'm going to spring for the albums themselves. "The Wanderer," featuring U2, also made it on here; I think that's one of Cash's best ever.

If you want a single-disc Johnny Cash collection, you could do worse. But I still think that The Essential Johnny Cash is a better bet. Even though there's no American Recordings material on there, it still includes every other song this collection does, plus many, many more great songs.

I have never been a big fan of country music. My main music of choice is of the heavy metal genre such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, and newer groups like nine inch nails, and the harder edged industrial stuff. I always thought Johnny Cash was kind of cool, but until today I never really listened closely to his music. I recently became curious about the CD, and was happy to get it as a Xmas gift. I went for a ride on this cold, cloudy day in late December, and it could not be a better day to introduce myself to the man in black's music. All I can say is this Cd, of what are his classic songs, is just brilliant, and timeless - a very enjoyable listen. The CD is a real gem, and I would suggest anyone who is even the least bit curious about Cash to go out and get this. To me, it's a work of art that deserves a spot on my shelf right alongside the other CDs from varoius genres that I consider essential classics.

For those who are still unaware, Johnny Cash is a true American legend. His music has defied category, which makes it as easily accessible to fans of Kenney Chesney and Coldplay as it is to fans of Metallica and Eminem. For those interested in hearing his music, then "The Legend of Johnny Cash" is a fine place to start.
Spanning his entire recording carrer, which lasted from 1955 to 2003, the listener gets to hear Cash grow both musically and lyrically. On these 21 tracks, we get a glimpse of his life and legend. There are no standout songs on here. For me, it is really hard to pick a favorite song from Johnny Cash, as they are all classics.
If you're a new fan of Johnny Cash, then this is definitely a must-have CD. As for longtime fans, you, too will not be disappointed.
Grade: A+

I just bought this album this last weekend and have listened to it a number of times since. It is absolutely fantastic. As other reviewers have noted here, this is the perfect single disk collection of his work. I have a random mix of a couple of his albums plus some "greatest hits" disks, but none have come close to this one in encompassing his career and giving you nearly every track you would probably be looking for.

If you are a pretty serious Johnny Cash fan, then you almost certainly have all of these songs, so this disk may not be a "must have" for you. If, however, you are like me, a casual fan looking for a solid collection of his hits, then this is most definitely the one for you. Pick it up, you will not be disappointed.

This compilation is a superb tribute to the Man in Black. Not only does it provide a sampling of his best known songs, like "Ring of Fire" and "I Walk the Line", but it shows us a possibly lesser-known side of Cash through songs like "Rusty Cage", "Hurt", and "Highwayman"; THE LEGEND OF CASH truly captures it all, from the near rockabilly sound of the mid-fifties to the grilling electric riffs of the nineties. It absolutely explores every side of Johnny Cash ever put to music.

In addition to the perfect musical content, the liner notes are very eye-opening. Pages of vintage photos combined with a four-page biography of the country music pioneer enhance this compilation. There's even a snapshot inside the famous Folsom Prison gig.

This disc is perfect beginning to end, and would serve as an ideal purchase for a first-time Johnny Cash listener. Then again, it would be a good buy for a longtime fan, too, offering a good overview of the Man in Black's repertoire. Whoever you are, THE LEGEND OF CASH is in every way worth a listen. Not many are worthy of the title "legend", but Johnny Cash was just that.

And the legend himself would have been proud of this compilation.

This CD is a great compilation of many of Johnny Cash's biggest songs, from 1955-2003, spanning virtually his entire career, and since this came out recently, I presume that it probably is technically more refined than CD collections released years or decades earlier.

The only thing that I see missing is that there are no Gospel songs, though Johnny recorded and released Gospel songs and albums. I would recommend buying GOSPEL GLORY to fill in a good chunk of his Gospel works, affordably priced.

THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY CASH comes with a nice, b/w CD booklet, with many photos and some text which talks about his career. I found this all to be very interesting.

The CD cover, under the CD, shows a big photo of Johnny flipping his middle finger at the photographer, so be careful. This was actually taken and used for his 1969 live album, JOHNNY CASH AT SAN QUENTIN (which I also recommend highly). Apparently, Johnny was having trouble with the BBC TV crew filming the concert, getting between him and the audience seeing each other, so he got mad, and this photo was taken.

This has many of his most famous songs, so it is great to have if this is someone's first Johnny Cash CD. You will get "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," "Ring of Fire," "A Boy Named Sue," "One Piece at a Time," and many other good, but less famous songs.

I can also recommend that you pick up the affordably priced JOHNNY CASH READS THE COMPLETE NEW TESTAMENT, a 16 CD set for around $30. This is very fun to listen to Johnny's great spoken word project.

If you liked the WALK THE LINE movie, then the CD of JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON is a great live album that was part of the film, and the movie's soundtrack is also a very good tribute to Johnny's songs, and some of the performances rival the original Johnny Cash versions of some the lesser known songs.

It's always difficult to make a greatest hits package on one single CD for an artist with a career of half a century (Ray Charles, Elvis Presley and others) so let's be honest and say that everything is not here. BUT it's a good collection of Johnny Cash's legacy. It mainly focuses on the early days at Sun and the last days with Rick Rubin and there's only a few tracks of his sixties and seventies recordings.
So I'd say that it's a good way to learn where the legend began and where it ended but it's frustrating to hear almost nothing from the rest except A BOY NAMED SUE, SAN QUENTIN or MAN IN BLACK among others.
ONE PIECE AT A TIME (from the seventies) or WHAT IS TRUTH (from the sixties) could have been better choices than THE WANDERER (a bad song from a 1993 U2 album) for example.
Anyway, it's a superb album that deserves its success. It can already be considered as THE Johnny Cash collection.
PS: When I say it's a pity ONE PIECE AT A TIME is not on the CD although it is, it's because I made the review after the European tracklist of the CD where we don't have ONE PIECE AT A TIME. Anyway, the tracklist is quite identical.

What people say about leaders is also true about Johnny Cash fans: They aren't born, they're made.

As a child of the 80s--a time when "Karma Chameleon" was considered the height of musical sophistication--I never knew much about Johnny Cash. I just knew him as The Man in Black, a vaguely famous country singer. Then I saw Walk the Line, bought The Legend of Johnny Cash CD, and was converted. Cash has IT. He has that something that makes the listener stop and connect with the song.

So, as a new fan, it's a difficult if not impossible task to pick the "best" songs on this career-spanning album. All the older hits are there--"Cry Cry Cry," "I Walk the Line," "Get Rhythm," "Ring of Fire"--and haven't lost their original luster. ("I Walk the Line" is my personal favorite from this era because the lyrics cut straight into the soul of anyone who's ever been cynical, lonely, and completely surprised by love.) "Jackson" is a firecracker-hot duet with June Carter, but "It Ain't Me, Babe" is conspicuously absent.

His more contemporary works--"Delia's Gone," for instance--also stand out as testaments to the timelessness of his rolling bass line and world-weary voice. Cash's covers, too, are brilliant. His rendition of Hank Snow's "I've Been Everywhere" is appealing, as is his take on Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage."

But, for me, the number one song on the album is "Hurt," Cash's interpretation of Nine Inch Nails' paen to addiction. His quavering vocals bely the universality of the pain of addiction, and the slowly-building background music makes the reader understand the increasing desperation of dependency. The song wraps you up in its raw emotion and nearly overwhelms you. For a second, you know what it means to be an addict, to give anything--"my empire of dirt"--to change. For a second, Cash sets up shop in your soul.

After hearing "Hurt," I knew why so many people love Cash. While his voice may quiver, it has a dramatic urgency that burns the songs into your brain. That voice is the sound of redemption from a man who's been to the bottom and barely made it back up.

Bottom line: This is an excellent introduction to The Man in Black. It's a small slice of his talent, but it's sure to leave you wanting more.

In an era when the term legend or icon is thrown at anyone who has had a hit record, Johnny Cash is to country music what Bob Dylan is to pop music. He is a true music icon, who has touched more than one generation of music fans everywhere. This single disc 21 cut career overview is the best single disc compilation available. It is the first best of collection to touch all three phases of his recording career, with cuts from his Sun years, Columbia years and his recently acclaimed American recordings. As mentioned before, an uncensored version of "A Boy Named Sue" appears as well as the studio version of "Folsom Prison Blues". The disc ends with the phenominal "Hurt", Johnny's last hit record that found it's way to the MTV generation. This affordable collection is the perfect starter set for anyone wishing to discover the legendary Johnny Cash.