Search - Johnny Cash :: Sings Hank Williams & Other Favorites

Fine re-working of post-Sun collection of Sun sides

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 07/23/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When Johnny Cash bolted from Sun into the welcoming arms of Columbia, he left a good helping of unreleased material in his former label's vault. Sun's owner savvily packaged this material across several singles and albums and placed it in the market to compete (often very successfully) with Cash's newer Columbia releases. The original issue of this 1960 album was just such a collection, combining a quartet of Hank Williams covers with a helping of Cash's original songs (picking up singles that were hits shortly after Cash left Sun, such as "Straight A's in Love," for example), and a cover of Leon Payne's "I Love You Because."Varese's first-ever CD reissue of this album takes several liberties, including, most substantially, using the undubbed masters in preference to the original chorus-dubbed tracks. One can argue as to whether Cash originally intended for the undubbed trio recordings to go out, but there's no arguing that removing the syrupy chorus (most likely charted by Jack Clement) only amplifies these tracks' true grit. Ironically, many of Williams' own recordings were similarly overdubbed after the singer's death, only to be re-released in original form in more recent times.Williams' songs fit Cash's tic-tac rhythms to a tee, with the pining "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" and mournful "(I Heart That) Lonesome Whistle Blow" matching Cash's emotional delivery particularly well. The latter, along with "Cold Cold Heart" appear here as bonus tracks, having inexplicably been left off the original album. Additional bonuses include alternate versions of Cash's "Come Stranger" and "Wide Open Road," as well as a chorus-backed take of "I Love You Because."Like many of the post-Sun assembly albums, this one isn't completely coherent, and duplicates key Cash tracks available in many places. But with a chance to hear the undubbed masters of the Williams' tracks, this provides compelling, new ground for domestic Cash collectors."

Great Material, Wasted Release

jbembe | Ann Arbor, MI United States | 07/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THis is a nice CD, but you should save your time and money by purchasing the Box Set Man In Black 1954-1958. With this box set, you will have every song here, and will be able to simply burn a CD exactly the same as this one if you would like to (which is what I did.) I have also generated several other Best of Sun years-type collections all from this one box set. These releases are only useful to give me new interesting ways to organize the music I already own."

I hate to give it only four starts, but..........

R. Bartlett | California USA | 12/22/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"why the non-Hank Williams songs. Johnny did more of Hank than what is on this disc. Johnny is fabulous. Few could match the wonderful combination of Cash and Williams, but where are the rest of them? Why the heck put these other songs on there when there are more Hank Williams? I don't "get it"!!"