1. Johnny Cash American Hero

Is the long-awaited album of 's final recordings, the basic tracks for which (i.e., 's vocals) were recorded in 2002-2003, with overdubs added by producer after his death on September 12, 2003, at age 71. Between 1994 and 2002, and had succeeded in fashioning a third act for the veteran country singer's career, following his acclaimed 1950s work for Sun Records and his popular recordings for Columbia in the 1960s and '70s. In the '80s, 's star had faded, but reinvented him as a hip country-folk-rock elder at 62 with (1994), his first new studio album to reach the pop charts in 18 years. (1996) and (2000) continued the comeback, at least as far as the critics were concerned, though none of the albums was actually a big seller.

But (2002), propelled by 's cover of ' 'Hurt' and a powerful video, stayed in the pop charts longer than any album since 1969's. By 2002, however, was in failing health, homebound and in a wheelchair, and he suffered a personal blow when his wife, died on May 15, 2003. The American series, which posited as an aged sage and the repository for a bottomless American songbook, had already shown a predilection for gloom in the name of gravity; it's no surprise that the fifth and final volume would be even more concerned with, as three earlier compilations had put it,. The ailing septuagenarian certainly sounds like he's near the end of his life, but that said, he doesn't sound bad. Was never a great singer in a technical sense: he hadn't much range, his pitch often wobbled, and his lack of breath control sometimes found him grasping for sound at the end of lines.

But he was a great singer in the sense of projecting a persona through his voice; his emotional range, which went from a -like swagger to an almost embarrassingly intimate vulnerability, was as wide as the spread of notes he could hit confidently was narrow. Such a singer doesn't really lose that much with age; in fact, he gains even more interpretive depth. Listening to this album, one can't get around the knowledge that it is a posthumous collection made in 's last days, but even without that context, it would have much the same impact. The album begins with two religious songs, 's 'Help Me,' a plea to God, and the traditional 'God's Gonna Cut You Down,' which, in a sense, answers that plea. The finality of death thus established, launches into what is billed as the last song he ever wrote, 'Like the 309,' which is about a train taking his casket away. The same image is used later in the cover of ' 'On the Evening Train,' in which a man and his child put the coffin of a wife and mother on another train. Sings these songs in a restrained manner, and even has a sense of humor in 'Like the 309,' in which he complains about his asthma: 'It should be awhile/Before I see Doctor Death/So it would sure be nice/If I could get my breath.'

In between the two train songs come songs that may not have been about death when their authors wrote them, but sure sound like they are here. As written, 's 'If You Could Read My Mind' seems to concern a romantic breakup expressed in literary and cinematic terms, but in 's voice, lines like 'You know that ghost is me' and 'But stories always end' become inescapably elegiac. 's 'Further On (Up the Road)' is even easier to interpret as a call to the hereafter, with lines like 'Got on my dead man's suit and my smilin' skull ring/My lucky graveyard boots and song to sing.' These two songs make a pair with the album's two closing songs.

's 'Four Strong Winds' is, like the selection, a folk standard by a Canadian songwriter, also nominally about romantic dissolution, although here the singer who is 'bound for moving on' doesn't seem likely to come back. And the closing song, 'I'm Free from the Chain Gang Now,' may have lyrics implying that the unjustly imprisoned narrator has been set free, but in 's voice it sounds like he's been executed instead and is singing from beyond the grave. The four songs in between 'On the Evening Train' and 'Four Strong Winds,' dealing with faith and love (the former expressed in a previously recorded 1984 copyright, 'I Came to Believe'), are weaker than what surrounds them, but they serve to complete the picture. And it's worth noting that at death's door still outsings croaking on the songwriter's ever-cloying 'Love's Been Good to Me.'

May never have heard 's overdubs, but they are restrained and tasteful, never doing anything more than to support the singer and the song. If the entire series of American recordings makes for a fitting finale to a great career, is a more than respectable coda.

Contents.Background The majority of songs are which Cash performs in his own sparse style, with help from producer. For instance, for the song 'Personal Jesus', Rubin asked then- guitarist to re-work an acoustic version of 's song, which featured a simple acoustic riff that stripped down the song to a style. He receives backing vocal assistance from various artists, including, and.American IV was the final album Johnny Cash released during his lifetime; though the box set was compiled prior to his death, with Cash choosing the tracks and writing liner notes. American IV: The Man Comes Around was Cash's first non-compilation album to go gold in thirty years. Additionally, the album won 'Album of the Year' award at the 2003. It was certified gold on March 24, 2003 and platinum on November 21, 2003 by the.The video for ', a song written by of and originally released in 1994, was nominated in seven categories at the and won the award for Best Cinematography.

In, mere days before his 71st birthday, Cash won a for 'Give My Love To Rose', a song Cash had originally recorded in the late 1950s. Cash was also nominated that year for for his ' cover with. The music video for 'Hurt' also won the award for in.Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor admitted that he was initially 'flattered' but worried that 'the idea of Cash covering 'Hurt' sounded a bit gimmicky,' but when he heard the song and saw the video for the first time, Reznor said he was deeply moved and found Cash's cover beautiful and meaningful, going as far as to say 'that song isn't mine anymore.' Graeme Thomson, in The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings, has discussed concern about Cash's health during the recording. Cash was suffering from multiple health problems and had lost most of his vision, with recording sessions interrupted by hospital stays.

Thompson quotes singer: 'We should turn and switch off the tape when our listening energy would be better spent helping a living songwriter/performer.' Retrieved February 21, 2019. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Alternative Press. Retrieved 2016-06-21. Thomson, G.

The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings. Jawbone Press, p. Retrieved March 28, 2018. (in German). Retrieved March 29, 2018.

Johnny Cash American Hero

(PDF) (in Swedish). Retrieved March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2013. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Man comes around in the 'Search BPI Awards' field and then press Enter. Garrity, Brian (17 February 2007).

Retrieved 27 March 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. Retrieved 24 May 2018.