Johnny Cash – Unchained

Really pleased with the sound on this pressing, there's plenty of depth and richness to the music, Cash's voice sounds so full and sonorous, the soundstage is textured and atmospheric, just sounds very, very pleasing to the ear. My copy was purchased new and plays nice and clean with no noticeable surface noise.

Should have been pressed as a double album. Too many tracks for a single LP. The inner groove distortion on the last couple songs of each side is disappointing.

Link to story about the infamous finger ad in Billboard: https://savingcountrymusic.com/25-years-ago-johnny-cash-flips-the-bird-at-nashville-establishment/

This album won the Grammy for Best Country Album. Because of the lack of from the Nashville music industry and country music radio stations, Rick Rubin took out an add in Billboard magazine following the Grammy Awards. It features the now famous photo of Johnny giving the finger, which was not famous at the time, along with the text "American Recordings and Johnny Cash would like to acknowledge the Nashville music establishment and country radio for your ." Appeared in Billboard issue March 14, 1998. Took me a decade to find a copy of the magazine which is now proudly framed on my wall. Probably my favorite music story.

So my question is, is this a counterfeit? Being an unofficial release and not permitted for sale on Discogs, I'd think it was. It sure looks legit. There are literally no indications that this is not a legit release except the matrix being 001-A | 001-B. Can anyone enlighten me? Then also how did it make its way onto the brick and mortar new release wall if it didn't come from a legit distributor? This is my first experience with this in 50 years of record collecting. Exasperating!

After the commercial and artistic success of the first volume of the “American Recordings” series, Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin decided to try and record a second chapter of their musical t venture.

For this sophomore instalment, Cash and Rubin decided to try something different and scrapped the more intimate and “solo” approach of the first “American Recording”, wrapping Cash’s voice and guitar with a whole, proper rock band.

Of course, not any band could be match for the legend that Cash was.

So, while in the first American Cash was basically the sole performer all across the album, now he had the stellar companionship of noneless than the core of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Petty himself.

Together, they blast through a selection of three excellent originals penned by Cash (“Country Boy”, “Mean Eyed Cat”, “Meet Me In Heaven”) and a wealth of covers from songwriters as disparate as Beck (“Rowboat”), Chris Cornell (“Rusty Cage”, where Cash deploys his wild baritone range to great effect, as he will do later on Petty’s own “Southern Accents”) or the Carter Family (“The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea”).

And while it’s true that this “whole band” approach might reduce the soulful impact of Cash’s only voice-and-guitar performance, the results are still stellar, at some points even suring the first volume.

You can tell Cash is really comfortable being part of a band, solemn as always in the most intimate and religious moments (as in “Spiritual” or in the title song) but also quite joyous as in “Sea Of Heartbreak” or “I’ve Been Everywhere”... and always making the songs become his own, something that would become a trademark of the American Recordings series.

All in all, an album that confirmed how Cash still had plenty of rounds in his belt, and he was willing to shoot them together with Rubin.

Sounds clean, dynamic, and deep. A quality release for this American icon.

Pressing is excellent. My copy didn't come with a voucher or B2B sticker.

Sounds good, flat vinyl, a lot of space between instrument, it Breathe, good loud bass also. Few tick between track but nothing major once que get through the songs.

Good pressing. FANTASTIC music, lthough it requires a specific mood, understanding its atmosphere.
THE ENTIRE AMERICAN series is great.