 |
| |
|
| |
Album Review
by SashaS
14-4-2003
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Johnny Cash: 'American IV = quality! |
|
Johnny Cash: 'American IV: The Man Comes Around'
(American/Lost Highway )
Johnny Cash – glorious odes by country ‘God’
Reviewing albums can be difficult for variety of reasons – too awful, too bland – but very seldom the issues line up as the pace, mood, tonality and the song-subjects: a certain sound of finality prevails within Johnny Cash’s ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’… Not only due to this, a version of the six-months old album refreshed in the wake of his 11th Grammy win earlier this year, coming out so soon after the 71-year-old’s left hospital after three-weeks treatment of pneumonia…
It is the selection of tunes, delivery, atmosphere, manner of it… The original Man-in-Black’s singing is so deadpan it is cutting like searing grief: every syllable pronounced with wealth of been-done-set-up experience and yet he remains an observer, a storyteller. The way he handles Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nail’s ‘Hurt’ is not just a sound of but the pain is audible. Every note has a history, every phrase is loaded with emo-challenge, entirely charged, no half-measures, doubles!
Not wishing to dwell too much on the ‘End-of-the-world-news’ type of thing, it is all-evident with (sub)title/opening track of the album: its gravely delivery sets the tone for the whole journey that ends with a chilling version of ‘We’ll Meet Again’. Among a handful of originals, Cash offers versions of ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ (Roberta Flack), ‘Personal Jesus’ (Depeche Mode), ‘In My Life’ (The Beatles), ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ (Hank Williams) with Nick Cave guesting…
If there is any flaw in this song selection then it is the inclusion of ‘Desperado’ (for which he invited the original co-author, Don Henley, for vox duty) and mainly due to having attained an almost epical status as the ultimate cruising-song that also provided deadly comical moments in one episode of ‘Seinfeld’ series. Still, its sentiment is right on, its poignancy… The same ‘accusation’ could be laid at the door of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ but Cash knows how to turn it into something else, finds an unexplored dimension and enlarges its perspective by bringing in delicately voiced Fiona Apple.
Two additional goodies on this Euro-version of the album are ‘Big Iron’ (track) and ‘Hurt’ (video). Legends like ‘Sir’ Cash are rare nowadays and even more so by being able to absorb every conceivable genre and have lovers of every style of music dig his oeuvre. He might have started out as a C’n’W singer but he’s got as much in common with artists such as Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Springsteen, Tom Petty, Cave… It may be fading nature’s light in this autumnal garden but the force is still as strong as spring’s awakening.
All music lovers should get a copy of ‘The Man Comes Around’; it’s as near a masterpiece as a human can get.
9/10
SashaS
14-4-2003
Johnny Cash’s album ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’ is (re)released 14 April 2003 on American/Lost Highway/UMG
|
|
|
