Customer Reviews

Ring of Fire: Best of

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I can't believe that anyone who'd enjoy this album hasn't heard it yet. But Johnny Cash's appeal is timeless, and there must be young people who have discovered him yet, or others who want the best sampling they can find of his music. This CD is the one for those people.

Ring of Fire: All time classic, #1 on the charts when it came out. What can I say that hasn't been said?

I'd Still Be There: This is one of four songs on this CD which I'd forgotten about and was glad to rediscover, a song full of the feeling and perception unique to Johnny Cash.

What Do I Care: This one hit #7 on the charts at the time, and another song expressing his deeper feelings.

I Still Miss Someone: Again, deep feelings...do notice the Luther Perkins guitar, especially important on this song.

Forty Shades of Green. I had also forgotten that he ever sang any Irish songs, and this one makes me wish he had recorded more.

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord: Gospel singing is a basic part of Johnny Cash's output and this well known spiritual is perhaps the most powerful and feeling example.

The Rebel-Johnny Yuma: A TV western theme, and a darn good example of a western song as opposed to country.

Bonanza: Same here, though the TV series this came from is much better known.

The Big Battle: A story song that brings out the singer's social consciousness...an anti-war classic for all time. This record hit #24 on the charts, no mean feat for a song with such a heavy subject.

Remember the Alamo: I also had forgotten this western song, inspired by the epic movie, THE ALAMO.

Tennessee Flat-top Box: A tuneful story that reached # 11 on the charts.

There'll Be Peace in the Valley: Yes, it's quite appropriate to end this collection with another gospel song. It just sets off the whole collection just right.

There are loads of Johnny Cash collections, but my advice is to get this one and then, as is likely, you have to get more, check out the box set, THE ESSENTIAL JOHNNY CASH.

For anyone confused with the numerous box sets & greatest hits of J.Cash, here is the classic original. Recorded in 1963 but still timeless. I first listened to this on LP when I was seven years old (23 years ago)and it has stuck with me ever since. I recommend this to anyone who wants to here J.C. before mainsteam commericalism took over. Now I want to buy it for my CD collection.

If you consider that this album is supposed to be a greatest hits collection, there are a lot of songs that you can not find on any other cd. Starting off with the title track, Ring of Fire, it moves right into one of them, I'd Still Be there, then another, What Do I Care. Then they go back to The Fabulous Johnny Cash album for his timeless standard I Still Miss Someone, before yet another unreleased tune Forty Shades of Green. Those three songs might not make it onto one of the hundreds of trashy greatest hits cds that have hit store shelves in the last ten years, but they are great in this collection. It continues on with one of his greatest spiritual recordings, Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord). This song is really a glimpse of heaven as a rough voiced Johnny sings with June or Anita (I'm not sure which) and the rest of the Carter Sisters in a positively electric showcase of talent. After that The Rebel Johnny Yuma lightens things up for a heavily distorted guitar intro to Bonanza!. The Big Battle and Remember the Alamo make up a little Americana before returning to the light hearted Tennessee Flat Top Box and finishing with (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley For Me. For a first time buyer, this cd offers great insight into the vast talent of Johnny Cash and his work in the early sixties. But it is with someone like myself, a Cash fanatic that it resounds the deepest. I hate greatest hits cd's with a passion as they merely throw the same eight or ten tunes on to a cd, add one or two less familiar songs and then wait for the money to roll in. But since this had been originally released in '63, they didn't defile his name as shameless companies no a days would.

I originally purchased this as an LP in the early 60's. To finally re-obtain it as a CD is wonderful. The quality is superior to the original in every way, and the songs themselves are timeless. Having seen Mr. Cash many times in person during the 60's, he's one of the few country/rock pioneers who's songs retained that original essence that modern country lacks through to the end of his life. The influence of the Carter Family is very present in many of the songs, and their background vocals, especially June's, can still bring a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye. My personal favorite on the album is Tennessee Flat-top Box. As a young guitarist, it was one of the first country pieces I learned. If you like old style country with bits of original rock-a-billy mixed in, you'll like this album

This is not a Johnny Cash "Greatest Hits" album. Rather, it's a collection of singles (a-sides and b-sides), that had not already been on an album. So, some big hits like "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" were not included, because they had already been on an album. But, it is still a solid collection of songs. Johnny Cash's fans should enjoy it.

In early 1963, Johnny Cash, with a Columbia contract about to expire, no top hit since '59, and little chance he'd be resigned, "had a dream" - whether it was chemically induced or not, as Cash would often remark, is another matter. Influenced, further, by the popular sounds of the Tijuana Brass hit around that time, he envisioned horns backing up a song written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, and already recorded & released with little notice by Anita Carter in 1962. Recorded in March 1963 Cash's dream became a musical reality as "Ring of Fire" (released a month later in April)and help contribute to the first resurrection of Cash's legendary musical career. The single reached the C&W No. 1 by late July 1963. The LP "Ring of Fire - The Best of Johnny Cash" was put together quickly by Columbia using previously recorded material from their vaults, coincided closely with the release of the single - it reached certified gold status also that summer of 1963. While remaining one of Cash's most popluar albums ever ( but hardly really his "Best"), it serves as a true testament to Cash's being what he always was: A true orignal stylist in American music. The rest, as they say, is history...

This album contains the theme song from THE REBEL played by actor Nick Adams. I had the pleasure of working for Nick and had a hard time getting or finding this song anywhere. Well, I now have it and love this album by Johnny. It's hard to find and indeed a collectible. I purchased it on Amazon too.

It is SO good to hear these beautiful songs. My favorite is FORTY SHADES OF GREEN. You can just picture yourself in Ireland. I do want to clarify something regarding an earlier post though...I agree that Johnny should have done more Irish songs because they would have been brilliant but to refer to this as an Irish song is not entirely correct. It is a song ABOUT Ireland. Johnny Cash WROTE the song. However, now it has pretty much become synonymous with Ireland and I think that is wonderful. His body of work can't be held to one country! I also love TENNESSEE FLAT TOP BOX (his daughter's version was just as good...love them both.)

This is not the BEST compilation but as I said above, any Johnny is GREAT.

My admiration for Johnny Cash started in the summer of 1963 when Ring of fire was a big hit in The Netherlands and Western-Europe. After buying the single, and later that year the LP Record, I bought almost everything of him. I think Ring of fire one of his best albums. All the songs are beautiful, with highlights: Were you there, Remember the Alamo, Forty shades of green, Tennessee Flat Top Box, etc. I think Bonanza a little bit less, but not bad. After 37 years I still listen to this album with pleasure, especially now I have bought the CD. Beautiful!

While not a true Greatest Hits, this crisp sounding CD reissue of a 1963 LP touches on all of Johnny's strengths. Two catchy familiar hits "Ring Of Fire" and "Tennessee Flat-Top Box". Two Westerns "The Rebel-Johnny Yuma" and "Bonanza!". Two country Gospel numbers with The Carter Family "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) and "(There'll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me). "I Still Miss Someone" makes an appearance here as well. The lesser knowns "Forty Shades Of Green" and "The Big Battle" also balance this package out. These are such fine and welcome songs that a rarity in country music is achieved here, no filler, no throwaway, just 12 perfect Cash tunes from arguably the best time in his career.

This budget collection pulls no tricks on us. It's a fantastic, short mix of Johnny Cash songs. I dig where he was at in 1963. He hadn't become too earnest, which I think dogged some of his later recordings. Cash was still OK with making perfect 2 or 3 minute records. He was still a legend in the making, obsessed with American legends, which would start his own rise to becoming an American Icon. Much of that begins right here in these songs.