Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Johnny and June in peak form, July 6, 2002
I've been a huge fan of Johnny Cash for many years, while I've always wished that June had spent more time in the recording studio.This particular album was recorded at a time when country duets were highly fashionable. Had Johnny and June recorded more albums together, they may have had the same success as Porter and Dolly, George and Tammy, Conway and Loretta. This was a very successful album, but they didn't follow it up. Instead, they simply included their duets on Johnny's solo albums. It ain't me babe had been a hit a couple of years before this album was recorded. The other songs were all recorded in 1967. Long-legged guitar picking man and Jackson were the two new big hits that every country oldies fan will recognise. The other songs are also excellent and demonstrate that the chemistry between Johnny and June was brilliant. This was and remains one of the more significant albums of Johnny's long and distinguished career, and also leaves us wondering how big a star June could have been had she taken a music career seriously.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout, December 10, 2005
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash are largely responsible for starting off the country star duet cycle in the late 1960's and they won every duet award to be had but they only record three albums together despite decades of performing together. This first album is the best, recorded actually before they were married. These tracks are packed with the sexual sparks these two soul mates displayed on the stage. Cash certainly seems to be enjoying himself more in the duets than in any of his solo work, he's clearly having fun! And who wouldn't, June gives such a delicious comic sass to their toe-tapping numbers. Their legendary hit "Jackson" is here as well as their sassy smash "Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man". Just as good is their first duet hit, "It Ain't Me, Babe". The Carter Family adds their unmistakable harmony to "Shanytown" - with all these Johnny and June reissues on the market, there is a definate need for some of the 60's/70's Carter Family recordings to come out of the vaults. Johnny & June weren't as prolific as Porter & Dolly or Conway & Loretta or even George & Tammy but they certainly take a back seat to no one when it comes to producing great music together.
Be sure also to get the brand new 16 BIGGEST HITS collection by Johnny and June which has all of their popular duet hits in one package.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A rebuttal, May 23, 2005
I don't know if the disgruntled reviews I'm seeing here stem from the fact that Johnny and June are flying afield from country songwriters quite a bit here, but I can't say that I honestly believe the covers here are misbegotten or poorly performed. The pair are in the blush of new love here (it's still "hotter than a pepper sprout" to quote from the song "Jackson") and I hear that good-natured spark in "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" for instance. The out of genre tunes are given requisite country touches (the harmonica in "I've Got a Woman") to make them the duo's own. I never get the feeling it's a record label attempt to get them a "pop hit" but rather the pair's natural affection for the songs leading them to try and put their own stamp on them (and to prove that Ray Charles' love letters to country music could be a two-way street).
HIGHLIGHTS:
"Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" is a great start to the disc and one of the rare occasions where June steals the show. She turns in a sassy "ain't taking no s**t offa YOU" vocal that's thoroughly winning. The pair's take on Dylan's "It Ain't Me,Babe" utilizes a Western "campfire harmonica" and oddly enough the same mariachi trumpets they'd used on "Ring of Fire" 4 years earlier. Reading it in print makes it sound like a sloppy stylistic pastiche, but when you hear it, you realize that it works just fine. A spry "hillbillyized" version of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" is a keeper, too. "Jackson" was probably the "biggest" song here (They re-issued the album to be named after it since it went Top 5 country and won a Grammy to boot). While it's nice in the studio form, vocally it's a bit detached. I would call the roaring live rendition on "At Folsom Prison" definitive. The "high class girl slums with the poor boy" sentiment at the heart of "No,No,No" plays into the pair's own relationship (Carter from the gospel stalwart Carter Family, Cash with an acknowledged rebel image and coming off an addiction to pills) and is a natural fit for them. The banshee yell from Johnny on "What'd I Say" is all you need to hear to tell the couple is far from "phoning it in".
LOWS:
The bonus tracks ("The Wind Changes" and "From Sea to Shining Sea") are fairly mediocre..far from essential. Of the two, "The Wind Changes" is the better.
BOTTOM LINE:
While not a Cash essential, it's still very very good. I'd recommend it for fans of Americana music and people who have the "comeback quartet" of Johnny's albums for Def American and the prison records (San Quentin and Folsom) and who wonder what to get next.
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