Johnny Cash – American Recordings

Just Johnny and his guitar, with vocals, guitar, and humor all in fine form. Zero issues with this pressing, it has a warm, intimate sound, and it's flat, clean, and quiet, with no surface noise noted. Glad to have this one on vinyl.

Picture this: you are a 60 year old legendary country-folk singer in the dusk of his career, sitting down in a darkened backstage after a concert, when you’re approached by a young, wild bearded man half your age.

You think you know him… ah, yes. He’s the guy that produced “Walk This Way”, that weird song Aerosmith and some rap guys released some years ago. An unlikely mixture that, still, turned out to be a hit.

Lo and behold, the bearded boy says he is interested in recording and producing your next record! Of course, you are reluctant at first. You don’t think he’ll be able to understand your music but, what the hell, it’s not like you have anything to lose don’t you, so off you go with the hippie.

The result is the start of a friendship that will last to the end of your days and a string of albums that will be regarded as some of your finest works, works that managed to both look back respectfully to the legacy of your past, but also challenge your interpretative powers by making you cover songs penned by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and, hell, Glenn Danzig!

Because, as history has shown, the first of that string of albums, aptly titled “American Recordings”, is still a late landmark in the late Johnny Cash’s discography.

You need to listen to the sincerity flowing out of Johnny’s vocal cords and guitar, how his voice breaks here and there, still managing to cast his monolithic authority and presence thanks to his deep, resonant voice while he sings about everything, from the humour-tinged “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” to the reflective, religious and elegiac tone of “Why Me Lord?”, “Redemption” or “Oh Bury Me Not” contrasting with the brutal and grim lyrics of “Deliah’s Gone”… as only a man who has seen and lived long and wide can.

"American Recordings" succeeded with flying colours in the task of recovering Johnny Cash to a generation of music fans that didn't quite know how much they owed to his attitude, talent and authenticity.

First step: Remove the black innersleeve. Replace it with a poly lined.
Second step: Clean the record with disco antistat.
Thrid step: Enjoy a popless record from a real master :)

really poor pressing of a great album. hopefully we will get a repress that does this amazing album justice.

Prior to this, the first release in the American Recordings series, Cash had suffered an ostrich-related abdominal injury, kicked drugs, had double by surgery on his failing heart and was dropped by Columbia Records. His last long player, that wasn’t a compilation, was released in ‘91, ‘The Mystery Of Life’. It peaked at #70 in the Country charts and, according to Cash, received an initial pressing of only 500 copies by Mercury. It seems fair to say that his stock was at an all time low, until an unlikely investor appeared in Rick Rubin, who is perhaps best known for starting the rap record label Def Jam from his dorm room while in college, or for working with hard rock bands like Metallica and System of a Down.

Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded the album in his living room, accompanied only by his guitar. They put together a sparsely arranged collection of original compositions by Cash, traditional songs, and covers. Two of the songs, "Tennessee Stud" (Jimmy Driftwood) and "The Man Who Couldn't Cry" (Loudon Wainwright), were recorded live at Johnny Depp’s then nightclub, The Viper Room in Los Angeles. Cash also included versions of songs by more modern artists, such as Tom Waits (“Down There by the Train”) and Glenn Danzig ("Thirteen" written specifically for Cash) which contributed to the albums critical success and the receipt of a 1994 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album of the Year.

Cash composition ‘Drive On’ spoke from experience. He was not a er of the Vietnam conflict, and the Country Music establishment were somewhat upset by his outspoken view, however, it was Johnny and June Carter Cash who paid for their own trip and lived in a trailer on an American Base, entertaining the troops on their way to the front and visiting them in hospital when they returned. ‘Drive On’, with its almost spoken verses and sung chorus, repeats the soldier's mantra, "It don't mean nothin'”, and speaks, with a sadness, of the ambivalence felt towards many of the returning soldiers that still exists to this day, with many Veterans still suffering, “It was a real slow walk in a real sad rain/ And nobody tried to be John Wayne/ I came home, but Tex did not/ And I can't talk about the hit he got/ I got a little limp now when I walk/ Got a little tremolo when I talk”.

‘Redemption’ is ostensibly a creation story, but also reads as a rumination by Cash on his finding of God once more, the old testament God rather than the gentler version presented by the New Testament, and coming to with his past and looking forward, with a clean slate, to the future. “And the blood was the price/ That set the captives free/ And the numbers that came/ Through the fire and the flood Clung to the tree/ And were redeemed by the blood.”

At 62, Cash was once again creating simple music. No orchestras, no barbershop quartets, no gimmicks, just his careworn voice and the honesty he is able to convey. ‘American Recordings’ was the beginning of a turn in fortunes for Cash, with the video of the first single "Delia's Gone" (directed by Anton Corbijn and featuring Kate Moss), being put into rotation on MTV for a new audience whose interest was peaked and who began to delve into his back catalogue, and it was a reminder for many long time followers, whose interest in Cash was re-ignited.

Prior to 1994 all I really knew of Cash was ‘A Boy Named Sue’ and ‘Ring of Fire’ so this release opened me up to a whole new area of music. I had previously dismissed Country as a genre, but with Cash seemingly performing as though he had nothing to lose, with nobody listening, there was in ‘American Recordings’ a purity that led me to explore a vast plain of unheard music, but for me, little will ever match the simple beauty of this album.

All sorts of pops and crackles throughout the record, plus a nice factory gouge mark covering three tracks. No printed inner sleeve.
Also, no DL Card.

No inner sleeve or DL card with my copy. :-/

Does anyone know anything about the Americans Recording LP on green colored vinyl ? When it comes up on DiscDogs it has a disclaimer saying it is blocked from sale in the marketplace.

I have the original genuine vinyl LP. This LP sounds so fantastic I use it to demo my $12,000 system. Johnny sounds like he is in the room. Kudos for Rubin's recording team

Great music indeed. Unfortunately the pressing is only mediocre. Even washing did not help. Surface noise throughout, which is really a pity.