Sings Hank Williams & Other Favorites

Johnny Cash | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 17, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B00009P1PV
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,829 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)

2. You Win Again

3. Hey, Good Lookin'

4. I Could Never Be Ashamed of You

5. Next in Line

6. Straight A's in Love

7. Folsom Prison Blues

8. Give My Love to Rose

9. I Walk the Line

10. I Love You Because

11. Come in Stranger

12. Mean Eyed Cat

13. Cold, Cold Heart [*]

14. (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle [*]

15. Come in Stranger [#][*]

16. Wide Open Road [#][*]

17. I Love You Because [*]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine re-working of post-Sun collection of Sun sides, July 23, 2003

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sings Hank Williams & Other Favorites (Audio CD)

When Johnny Cash bolted from Sun into the welcoming arms of Columbia, he left a good helping of unreleased material in his former label's vault. Sun's owner savvily packaged this material across several singles and albums and placed it in the market to compete (often very successfully) with Cash's newer Columbia releases. The original issue of this 1960 album was just such a collection, combining a quartet of Hank Williams covers with a helping of Cash's original songs (picking up singles that were hits shortly after Cash left Sun, such as "Straight A's in Love," for example), and a cover of Leon Payne's "I Love You Because."

Varese's first-ever CD reissue of this album takes several liberties, including, most substantially, using the undubbed masters in preference to the original chorus-dubbed tracks. One can argue as to whether Cash originally intended for the undubbed trio recordings to go out, but there's no arguing that removing the syrupy chorus (most likely charted by Jack Clement) only amplifies these tracks' true grit. Ironically, many of Williams' own recordings were similarly overdubbed after the singer's death, only to be re-released in original form in more recent times.

Williams' songs fit Cash's tic-tac rhythms to a tee, with the pining "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" and mournful "(I Heart That) Lonesome Whistle Blow" matching Cash's emotional delivery particularly well. The latter, along with "Cold Cold Heart" appear here as bonus tracks, having inexplicably been left off the original album. Additional bonuses include alternate versions of Cash's "Come Stranger" and "Wide Open Road," as well as a chorus-backed take of "I Love You Because."

Like many of the post-Sun assembly albums, this one isn't completely coherent, and duplicates key Cash tracks available in many places. But with a chance to hear the undubbed masters of the Williams' tracks, this provides compelling, new ground for domestic Cash collectors.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Material, Wasted Release, July 3, 2003

By 

jbembe (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sings Hank Williams & Other Favorites (Audio CD)

THis is a nice CD, but you should save your time and money by purchasing the Box Set Man In Black 1954-1958. With this box set, you will have every song here, and will be able to simply burn a CD exactly the same as this one if you would like to (which is what I did.) I have also generated several other Best of Sun years-type collections all from this one box set. These releases are only useful to give me new interesting ways to organize the music I already own.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A REAL DISAPPOINTMENT, December 25, 2004

By 

treffler2 (Minnetonka, MN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sings Hank Williams & Other Favorites (Audio CD)

If you purchase this CD with the idea that you're going to get the exact sound of Johnny Cash singing Hank Williams you remember from the original recording, you will be disappointed. Although many rave about the remastering, the cutting of the background chorus and several musicians takes a heavy toll on the nostalgic value of the music. What you now get is the voice of Johnny Cash with minimal accompaniment--all well and good if pure vocal is your desire, but not so well and good if you want the original package.