Kudos to Rick Rubin for letting Johnny be Johnny. This doesn't have the fire and shake that the early stuff has, but it's refreshing to hear Johnny singing in an honest voice, and mostly songs that he's known his whole musical life. A unique piece of Americana, and a great album to listen to in a dark room.
On a radio show that I hosted on KOTR in San Luis Obispo, I played U2's Wanderer at the suggestion of my co-jock/bed buddy, because she had heard it at some party. It was okay, but I wasn't into it. So when this dropped, I initially dismissed it without giving it a listen, in spite of being a huge fan of Rick Rubin. When I finally did listen, I realized that someone older than my parents could record something I wanted to hear. Delia's Gone even ended up on Beavis and Butthead! It is a great album, something that a man of Cash's stature surely deserved, and Rick Rubin did a fantastic job giving Johnny the opportunity to shine. The other American Albums are good too, but you begin to hear the falter in Johnny's voice, and you know Rubin had to do more with less. This has the feel of you sitting with Johnny and him playing you some songs. One of my desert island discs.
Good stuff.
Johnny Cash has the simplest and most recognizable sound imaginable - and yet the Man in Black managed to create one of the most diverse, surprising catalogs in American music. From 1955, when he first signed with Sun Records, until 1994, when he made his first album with producer Rick Rubin, the trademark Cash boom-chicka sound of acoustic and electric guitar, electric bass and his own rich baritone voice - occasionally augmented by strings and… more »
