Ride This Train [Original recording remastered]

Johnny Cash | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 19, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000636Y5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,454 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This concept album ranks with the most thematically ambitious of Johnny Cash's career, though the title's a little misleading. Instead of a collection of train songs (the sort featured in the Cash catalogue from "Hey Porter" to "Orange Blossom Special"), he alternates the spoken-word narrative of a rail trip that crosses the country (and cuts across centuries) with songs about the characters you might meet along the way. From a Kentucky coal miner ("Loading Coal") to an Oregon logger ("Lumberjack") to a convict on a Mississippi chain gang ("Going to Memphis"), Cash inhabits the various manifestations of what he calls "the heart and muscle of this land." In "Slow Rider" he combines the folk standard "I Ride an Old Paint" with the gunfighter legend of John Wesley Hardin. The reissue of this 1960 release adds four bonus tracks, story songs in a similar spirit but without the narration. --Don McLeese

Product Description

Japanese remastered pressing includes 4 bonus tracks. Ride This Train took Cash's conceptual explorations into previously unimagined realms. A full-blown concept album featuring sound effects and lengthy narratives would never have happened on Sun founder Sam Philips's watch, but the newly unfettered Cash reveled in the opportunity to make this striking, distinctive record. The album was billed as a "travelogue of America," and Cash neatly combines his passions for American history, storytelling, and the magic of trains to present portraits of the country he loved. Each track on the album begins with Cash delivering a monologue over train sounds, taking the roles of characters from different walks and eras of American life, followed by a song further illustrating the tale. CBS. 2006. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Johnny Cash fans, Get on board!, June 17, 2004

By 

Robert Miller (Eastern USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ride This Train (Audio CD)

As with several other albums/cd's I've bought, I didn't like this at first. After repeated listenings, I'm a true believer. This is a concept album in the truest sense of the word - between tracks you hear Johnny talking about America, along with the sounds of a steam locomotive - it's as though Johnny is travelling cross country and telling stories of various Americans including slaves, slave-owners, outlaws, Cajuns, lumberjacks, miners etc. This cd could be used by history teachers - it's that interesting. My favorite track is Dorraine of Ponchartrain - it's a real tear jerker along the lines of a 19th century Ebony Eyes (Everly Brothers). Goin to Memphis is also really cool - reminds me of John Fogarty's "Workin on a building". All four bonus tracks are excellent - Willie Brown is a feminist's delight - the "player" dies of a broken heart. The Ballad of the Harpweaver isn't really a song, it's a narration along with an ethereal sounding reverb on the electric guitar - it's an other-worldly psychic tale - genuinely weird and interesting. Smiling Bill McCall is hilarious - a Nashville radio star idolized by all the kids who attempts suicide because he hates his theme song and turns out to be 4 feet tall and bald. If a Cash fan loves "Boy named Sue" - he/she will positively love Smiling Bill McCall. I think the 1959-1963 period was among Johnny's finest years of output. I love this CD so much, it's a narcotic to me - I have trouble removing it from my cd player. I recommend it as highly as possible.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, May 4, 2004

By 

Cory L. Schwent (Bloomsdale, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ride This Train (Audio CD)

If you read my reviews, you will know that I generally don't hand out a 5 star rating for just anything.

This is a masterpiece. It is like watching a movie. All the songs tell a different tail, but they all fit together somehow.

For a recording this old, it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. The songs are clear and Cash's voice sets far up front of the instruments.

None of these songs were ever released as singles as far as I know, so if you haven't heard the album, then most likely you haven't heard any of the songs before.

And also, most Johnny Cash fans know that in the 60's he was having voice problems that seriously hindered some of his recordings. I really take that into account when I buy his albums from that period. This album, however, was before all the voice problems, and his voice is as robust and clear as it ever was. In fact, I dare you to find a recording where Johnny is vocalizing any better than he does here.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goin' to Memphis, October 14, 2003

By 

"rubbernipplesalesman" (Boyertown Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ride This Train (Audio CD)

I have almost everything Johnny released now on CD. To me this album stands alone on a par by itself. I have never been a huge fan of contemporary country/pop but have always been a fan of good story telling. I mostly prefer loud bombastic heavy metal and rowdy, beer drinkin' honky tonk like The Outlaws, Kevin Fowler and Roger Creager. Johnny is one of the exceptions. I guess having it played constantly back in the early 70's by my folks psychologically preconditioned me. Storytelling is a lost art and when it is done as masterfully has it has been done here...you are at a loss if you don't get to hear it. I recommend this to anyone who likes storytelling or Johnny.