THE MAN:

-REVIEW: of Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around: Johnny Cash enriches the formula honed on his first three American Recordings with an instant classic. (Daniel Goslee, 01.15.03, Flak)

When Johnny Cash teamed up with famed rock/rap producer Rick Rubin on his first release for American Recordings, no one knew what to expect. After the first outing consisting only of Cash and his guitar, they experimented with a backup band. That was dropped for the third, which found the right production groove. Now the public can expect unconventional covers, reworkings of traditional songs and stripped-down originals delivered with the occasional help of celebrity collaborators. The trick for Cash and Rubin, then, is to proceed in the same style without it becoming played out.

Where earlier American sessions included memorable covers of Beck and Tom Petty, this album's standout cover is Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt." Cash's rendition is bare-bones; a barely audible guitar and piano back Cash as he nearly talks his way through Trent Reznor's words, and "Hurt" becomes an old man's deathbed speech on guilt. That is, until the track swells up into an epic declaration of regret.

This collection, however, does add a new element to the formula behind the American Recordings: the instant Johnny Cash classic. All the previous efforts included original material from Cash the songwriter, but nothing outstanding. With The Man Comes Around's title track, Cash adds another masterpiece to his catalog that can live beside such landmarks as "I Walk the Line" and "Folsum Prison Blues."

One of the most remarkable box sets to come out in recent years was Johnny Cash's three-cd Love God Murder, which made one realize that not only did he have enough material for a separate 16-song disc on each topic but that nearly every tune on each was a classic. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 20, 2003 9:41 AM