Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Hey Porter
2. Cry Cry Cry
3. Folsom Prison Blues
4. Luther Played the Boogie
5. Get Rhythm
6. I Walk the Line
7. Home of the Blues
8. Give My Love to Rose
9. Rock Island Line
10. Doin' My Time
11. Big River
12. Ballad of a Teenage Queen
13. Guess Things Happen That Way
14. Ways of a Woman in Love
15. Thanks a Lot
16. Oh, What a Dream
17. What Do I Care
18. All over Again
19. I Still Miss Someone
20. I'd Just Be Fool Enough (To Fall)
21. Walking the Blues
22. Frankie's Man Johnny
23. Tennessee Flat Top Box
24. Sing It Pretty, Sue
25. Pickin' Time
26. Five Feet High and Rising
27. Old Account
28. Peace in the Valley
29. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

Disc 2:

1. Don't Take Your Guns to Town
2. Ballad of Boot Hill
3. Rebel - Johnny Yuma
4. Big Battle
5. When the Roses Bloom Again
6. Ballad of Ira Hayes
7. Legend of John Henry's Hammer
8. Dark as a Dungeon
9. Long Black Veil
10. I Got Stripes
11. 25 Minutes to Go
12. Wall
13. Busted
14. Bad News
15. Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog
16. Orange Blossom Special
17. Ring of Fire
18. Understand Your Man
19. Jackson
20. Blistered
21. See Ruby Fall
22. Cisco Clifton's Fillin' Station
23. Daddy Sang Bass

Disc 3:

1. Folsom Prison Blues [Live]
2. Cocaine Blues [Live]
3. San Quentin [#2][Live]
4. Boy Named Sue [Live]
5. Wanted Man
6. Singing in Vietnam Talking Blues
7. Man in Black
8. What Is Truth?
9. Flesh and Blood
10. Sunday Morning Coming Down
11. Oney
12. One Piece at a Time
13. Hit the Road and Go
14. Rockabilly Blues (Texas 1955)
15. I Will Rock and Roll With You
16. No Expectations
17. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky
18. Bull Rider
19. Highway Patrolman
20. After the Ball
21. Without Love
22. Last Time
23. I'm Gonna Sit on the Porch and Pick on My Old Guitar

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33494 in Music
• Released on: 1998-06-23
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com essential recording
The art of Johnny Cash is as traditional and innovative, as expansive, as the 20th century itself--so much so that The Man in Black now stands as an honest-to-God American icon, a living link to the Carter Family and the very origins of modern country music some 70 years ago. His own repertoire has touched upon just about every significant development in the field ever since, and this three-CD, 75-song box set gives an impressive overview of just about all of it: the rockabilly-boogie singles for Sun in the 1950s; his straight-country smashes from the '60s and '70s; the Americana sagas he recorded during the folk revival; the pro-Indian and antiwar protest songs; the legendary live prison sets; and so much more--all of it a compelling testament to the art of simple storytelling and to the expressive power of a unique human voice. While more is far better in this case, the single-CD Sun Years captures the best early Cash available. So while calling this The Essential Johnny Cash is certainly accurate, it's also a huge understatement. Call it, instead, an essential document of 20th-century America. --David Cantwell

Amazon.com
As country music progressed through numerous stages, Cash's music retained the blunt, pared-down chug first displayed on his 1950s Sun hits. His straightforward lyrics, aggressive strumming, and brooding baritone were backed by the rock-solid Tennessee Two: The simple twang of guitarist Luther Perkins and the foundation of bassist Marshall Grant would remain at the core until 1967. Columbia's comprehensive 3 CD set opens with 15 Sun classics including "Hey Porter" and "Folsom Prison Blues," and the middle disc is ripe with stark and vivid songs of rebels and outlaws, such as the ominous "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" and the riveting steel-driving suite "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer." Cash puts his personal stamp on a variety of songwriters, from Merle Travis and Harlan Howard to Dylan, Springsteen, and the Stones. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

A gigantic document of Cash's evolution in music
It's sad how many fans have been - and will be - cheated the glory of Johnny Cash, simply because they immediately think "country" and turn a deaf ear. This is not country music! If you're at all attracted to the songwriting prowess of (Cash disciples) like Dylan, Springsteen, Petty or Mellencamp, or the dark imagery of the Doors or the Stones, this you must check out. Cash's rhythms & styles may sound country, but his spirit is all Rock N' Roll.

The first disc is composed mostly of his Sun Studio rockabilly tunes, which is as close to actual Rock N' Roll as he stepped (he wrote "Get Rhythm" for Elvis, who never recorded it). The second disc draws its strength mostly on gospel and traditional country ballads; sad, somber, sober, and melancholy. It has an overall folk feel to it. The third disc is more eclectic and gives evidence towards Cash's experimental tendencies of the 70's; it really features a little bit of everything, including some choice cuts from his two "prison" live albums.

One VERY important element to consider is Cash's homestate of Arkansas. The people & places documented in his songs are really rooted in Midwestern folklore, not Southern culture (Cash is also the first artist to defiantly speak out about the plight of the American Indians). The influence of blues & folk music on Cash are much more evident than that of other artists who are considered "country". Cash's connection to Springsteen, Dylan and the Stones are all confirmed here with convincing covers of their songs. Believe me, this is essential work for some of you non-believers - because I hate country music, but I love the Man In Black.

Utterly Profound
I've known a few Johnny Cash songs throughout the years but I've not been familiar with his entire body of work. I found my way to this box set in a circuitous fashion: It started last year with a Junior Brown concert in West Sacramento. That was my first "country/western" music experience and it blew me away. From Junior I somehow took a step over to Hank Williams. At that point I developed a serious interest in this "type" of music. I've since discovered: Buck Owens, Ernest Tubbs, Roy Clark, Chet Atkins, Willie Nelson, and several others that have become immediate favorites. I figured I better pick up some Johnny Cash and learn about his body of work. I decided to go for this set.

Suffice it to say that I listened to this about an hour a day, as I only have one good hour in the evening to listen to music without interuption. It took me about four days to finish all three CD's. I listened to several songs twice to confirm my initial impression. My initial impression grew song by song into my ultimate impression.

Ultimate Impression: This is just simply superb music. I'm amazed at the extremely high quality of virtually every song. The songs have a similar authentic feel to them, but they are still quite diverse in sentiment and subject matter. This is emotionally rich music, epic in scope, non-religious but virtually evangelical in words of wisdom and experience. This is self-improvement music; you become a better person by absorbing the insights poignantly presented. Life-prisoners and Billy Grahams seem to fuse into one common human venture and manifest both their conflicting and common sentiments in an at-peace-with-one's-self musical odyssey. But don't let me imply that Cash's music takes itself seriously or that there is some preachy undertone. Instead, humor is found frequently either in traces or full dosages. The final feel is almost Buddhist: acceptance, of life and circumstance. That is, at least, my interpretation; yours indeed may be quite different.

This is perhaps the only box set I've ever purchased where I felt a little depressed by the end. It was like a nice vacation was ending. Sure, I can always listen to the CD's again, but that first go-through was really a transforming episode. Bear in mind, these views are coming from a guy who has never much appreciated country-type music. My proclivities have always been more toward hard rock. But I certainly have the good sense to recognize brilliance when I hear it. This set goes right up on the same sacred shelf as Abbey Road and Back in Black and Let It Bleed.

Great but flawed box set
In my view, a box set should be an overall look at an artist's career that encompasses the cream of their "hit" material plus the best album sides and a little bit of material that examines the breadth of their experimentalism. This box set has a lot of great songs, but that's more because Cash is a phenomenal artist than that this makes the best case for his work.

First off, this set is at least a disc short...period. Cash hit the Top 40 country charts 104 times between 1955-1988. This set wasn't released until 1992 so there's no reason they couldn't have included material from all the way across this span. We'll be charitable though...after all many of those are songs that might not be remembered by the Cash faithful...so we'll cut that number back to top 20 songs only. That leaves 49 Top 20 hits of which 21 are missing.

The most egregious omissions are the #1 "Highwayman" (with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings) and several hit duets with June Carter Cash ("It Ain't Me Babe","Long-legged Guitar Pickin' Man","If I Were a Carpenter") and Waylon Jennings (#2 1978 hit "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang"). Any song that hit the Top 10 is likely to be remembered by any big fan of an artist and should have made this box.

Outside of that, there are some artistic highpoints that probably should have made the set, too: his duet with George Jones on "I'll Say It's True" from the SILVER album, his historic duet with Mother Maybelle Carter on 1973's "Pick the Wildwood Flower", "Bury me Not on the Lone Prairie" from his Old West concept album, patriotic recitation "Ragged Old Flag", the eerie acappella "Another Man Done Gone" (with June from folk album BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS) and late period environmental anthem "Don't Go Near the Water" (from BOOM-CHICKABOOM).

BOTTOM LINE:
This is still a must buy for any Cash fan. But I'm hopeful that in the next decade, they'll update with a 5 CD set that adds in material from the Mercury and Def American years as well as more concept album material and the missing hits from this set. Until then, buy this and cherish what we DO have here.

4 1/2 stars