Track Listing
DISC 1:
1. Hey Porter
2. Cry, Cry, Cry
3. I Walk the Line
4. Get Rhythm
5. There You Go
6. Ballad of a Teenage Queen
7. Big River
8. Guess Things Happen That Way
9. All Over Again
10. Don't Take Your Guns to Town
11. Five Feet High and Rising
12. Rebel Johnny Yuma, The
13. Tennessee Flat Top Box
14. I Still Miss Someone
15. Ring of Fire
16. Ballad of Ira Hayes, The
17. Orange Blossom Special - (with Charlie McCoy/Boots Randolph/The Carter Family)
18. Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) - (with The Carter Family)
DISC 2:
1. It Ain't Me, Babe - (with June Carter Cash)
2. One on the Right Is on the Left, The
3. Jackson - (with June Carter Cash)
4. Folsom Prison Blues - (live)
5. Daddy Sang Bass
6. Girl From the North Country - (with Bob Dylan)
7. Boy Named Sue, A - (live)
8. If I Were a Carpenter - (with June Carter Cash)
9. Sunday Morning Coming Down
10. Flesh and Blood
11. Man in Black
12. Ragged Old Flag
13. One Piece at a Time
14. Riders in the Sky, (Ghost)
15. Song of the Patriot - (with Marty Robbins)
16. Highwayman - (with Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings/Kris Kristofferson)
17. Night Hank Williams Came to Town, The - (with Waylon Jennings)
18. Wanderer, The - (with U2)
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Bob Dylan, June Carter Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Marty Robbins, U2, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson | | Distributor: | Sony Music Distribution ( | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Mixed | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Marty Robbins, The Carter Family, June Carter Cash, U2.
Producers include: Sam Phillips, Jack Clement, Don Law, Frank Jones, Bob Johnston.
Compilation producers: Nick Shaffran, Nedra Olds-Neal.
Recorded between May 1955 and May 1993.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
In the past, if you wanted a Johnny Cash compilation, you were basically confined by licensing issues, as Cash's seminal Sun recordings weren't generally available in the same place as his more eclectic Columbia output. THE ESSENTIAL JOHNNY CASH solves that problem, tying together the various eras of Cash's career on a generous 35-track, two-disc set. Accordingly, this anthology is damn near definitive. From the raw, sparse rockabilly flavor of "Hey Porter" and "Get Rhythm" to the gospel roots of "Where You There (When They Crucified My Lord," the first disc moves neatly through Cash's early career.
Disc two documents Cash's expansion into ever more varied stylistic avenues. Countrified covers of Bob Dylan ("It Ain't Me Babe") and Tim Hardin ("If I Were a Carpenter") exemplify his fascination with folk-rock. The socially conscious "Man in Black" and the patriotic "Ragged Old Flag" perfectly display the ostensibly conflicting sides of this complex artist's sensibilities. Album-closer "The Wanderer" finds Cash collaborating with U2, filling his role as icon to a whole new generation of artists.
Editorial Reviews
4 out of 5 stars - ...The true blue American wrapped in Old Glory...
Down Beat (06/01/2002)
4.5 stars out of 5- ...It's the intro to pick up today if you don't have one, and further proof that he's a man for all situations - emotional, political and cultural...
Rolling Stone (02/28/2002)
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