Customer Reviews

Sun Years (Mcup)

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Three definitions of essential: "necessary...basic(nature of the man)...defining(characteristic of something that makes it what it is)" are the reasons for having this CD.

Johnny Cash, throughout his career, never pulled any punches. He said what he said, and if you liked it fine, but he wasn't doing it for you. He was doing it because that's what he believed. Always thought of as the rebel/outlaw(Folsom Prison Blues), these tracks reveal the devoted(I Walk The Line, Give My Love to Rose), fatalistic(Guess Things Happen That Way, Train of Love, There You Go) JR Cash. And oh yeah, listen to his first song for Sam Phillips at Sun records(Hey Porter), and you can feel the boundless joy of a man finally returning home.

People who don't like Johnny Cash will point out the Tennessee Two backing as stark and simple, but the strength of these songs is the singer. It is why the new American recordings have been so popular. Don't listen to Johnny Cash for flashy arrangements and production tricks. Listen to Johnny Cash for Johnny Cash.

The two Essential CDs of Johnny Cash are excellent. At Folsom and At San Quentin Prison CDs among the best live recordings I know of, but if you don't have this you'll be missing an essential piece of a complete music collection.

I am not absolutely sure but I have every reason to believe that the first Johnny Cash song I heard was "A Boy Named Sue." So when I first encountered the Cash persona it was as the guy who was performing to convicts on the classic "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison" and "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" albums. What I did not not know was that "Folsom Prison Blues" was one of the first songs that Cash ever wrote back in 1954 when he was in the Air Force and it was not recorded until two years later when he signed with the legendary Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis. These are some of the things that I learned from the Cash bio-pic "Walk the Line," and I suspect I am not alone in being interested in checking out Cash's early work after watching the film. That is what led me to track down this 18-track collection of Johnny Cash during "The Sun Years."

"Folsom Prison Blues" was set up in the film as Cash's first hit for Sun, but in fact when Cash came back to show Phillips that he could do more than gospel what he really played was "Hey Porter," which was released with "Cry, Cry, Cry" on the flip side and made #14 on the Country Singles chart in in 1955. The following year "Folsom Prison Blues" hit #4 and Cash had his first pair of #1 country hits with "Get Rhythm" and "Walk the Line." There are three more top Country singles with "Guess Things Happen That Way," "There You Go," and his biggest hit, "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen," which topped the charts for ten weeks. In 1958 Cash signed with Columbia and wrote fini to his days at Sun. Virtually every song here was a top ten single on the Country charts, "Give My Love to Rose" being the exception because it only made it to #13. You look at the chart success of these songs and you can see why Cash became a major figure in Country music in the 1950s: "Home Of The Blues: (#3), "Big River" (#4), "Next In Line" (#9), "Come in Stranger" (#6), "Train of Love" (#7), "So Doggone Lonesome" (#4), and "The Ways of a Woman in Love." Backing up Cash on all of these songs are the Tennessee Two, which originally consisted of guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant.

There are only 18 tracks here so this is not a comprehensive collection (there is a five-disc version that has a better claim to that distinction). A few hits like "Don't Make Me Go" (#9), "All Over Again" (#4), and "What Do I Care" (#7), so there is room to quibble, but they are minor all things considered (remember, this is a Rhino album and they are the masters of reissuing blasts from the past). Besides, the three songs that are included that are not "hits"--"Rock Island Line," "Luther Played the Boogie," and "Mean Eyed Cat"--certainly represent the early Johnny Cash, which is ultimately what this album is all about. Just do not be surprised if this collection only whets your appetite for going back to the early years and hearing more from that period.

If you, like me, have spent years perplexed by Johnny Cash's reputation, when compared to his best-known latter day stuff ("A Boy Named Sue"), this album THE SUN YEARS will straighten you out quick.

His 1950's output--"Folsom Prison Blues," "Get Rhythm," "Hey Porter" and others--were so different from anything else going on at the time. Luther Perkins guitar work was imaculate.

And "I Walk The Line" a downright apocolyptic look at love and guilt and shame and obsession, is one of the all-time great American records.

I love Johnny Cash like I love my father. That said, these Sun Recordings show that Johnny Cash and his original band's resolutely indiosyncratic style transcended the country genre and represent Music in it's purest form. The band's technical proficency and originality (Luther's bass, Johnny's deep semi-talking voice) started out risky and are now legendary.

These qualities are joined with courageous expressions of the deepest emotions: joy (Hey Porter, Get Rhythm); sorrow (Home of the Blues, Give My Love to Rose--ok, it's pathos, but it grabs you every time), resignation and hopelessness (Johnny's raw lament in "Big River" is one of the all time greatest songs ever recorded. Bob Dylan's LP Blood on the Tracks is just an extended addendum to "Big River").

The Sun Recording's range takes you through acceptance and hope in love with "Guess Things Happen that Way" and "Next in Line," which is also one of his most comic. Experience obsession ("Folsum Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line,") and the awesome, frightening power of love (June Carter's "Ring of Fire"). You get love lost ("There You Go," and "Train of Love," with it's shamesly ironic lament for love lost). Finally, the Man in Black is doggone funny! "Luther Played the Boggie Woogie," "Next in Line," "So Doggone Lonesome," "Train of Love," (yes, again) "Ballad of a Teenaged Queen," and "Mean Eyed Cat." are at once comic and also sometmes tragic.

With the masterful "Mean Eyed Cat", Johnny's hay seed, comically misguided protagonist showcases Johnny's somewhat under-appreciated songwriting: ironic, funny, tragic, and multi-layered. That great song deserves thoughtful, repeated and close listening, as well as recitation of the lyrics, word for word, to all of your friends... .

Whatever your genre of choice, this recording will grab you by the throat, but you won't want to let it go. Forget the excellent "Essential" 3 vol. for the moment--first get the remastered Live at Folsum Prison. You will never be the same.

If you only buy 1 Johnny Cash cd, make it this one(though your 2nd purchase should be his life stuff from Louisisana Hayride Shows). This cd has the majority of hsi Sun hit songs, and his finest and most rockabilly oriented material from Fulson Prison Blues to Get Rhyth, as well as novelty hillbilly bop numbers like Luther Played the Boogie Woogie and ballads like I Walk the Line. A great cd, and a perfect into to the Sun recordings of johnny cash.

This is a solid 18 track collection of some of the best songs that Johnny Cash recorded for Sun Records. Of course, almost everything Johnny Cash recorded for Sun Records was good, so this is by no means a complete collection of all his essential Sun recordings. But it is an excellent place to begin to discover the early years of Johnny Cash. Highly recommended.

Wow, Johnny cash songs with only Luther Perkins' root fifth guitar work. Every song has the unmistakable Luther Perkins beat. Amazing stuff!

An essential purchase for any music lover chronicling the A Sides of the country legend prior to his tenure with Columbia records and the subsequent stardom.
The influence and greatness of Cash as one of the major figures ,on all major forms of roots music is unparalled and these Sun recordings capture him in the pristine clarity and rawness of his early days and truthfully the best way to approach this artist is on this set of classics.
Not to be missed.

The Sun Years..is a excellent CD if your a Johnny Cash fan..some old songs that we haven't heard in a long time.If your a country music person...this is perfect for you.

Sun Studios, on Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, is best known for discovering Elvis Presley, but they also gave rise to Jerry Lee Lewis and The Man in Black himself, Mister Johnny Cash. The acoustic/electric/thump bass instrumentation is perfect in their simplicity and the songs will live forever. My personal favorite is his take on Lead Belly's "Rock Island Line"