Johnny Cash - Complete Live at San Quentin
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Free Music Notes for Complete Live at San Quentin
Free Music Review: Incendiary live set by one of Country's best
Hit: 5 Stars
Cash perhaps never connected with an audience more fully than during this live performance within the walls of one of California's most notorious penitentiaries. From the moment he steps on stage he shows ill-regard for everyone but his performing troupe and his listening audience. Those recording and filming the show for TV, and their demands that he "you gotta do this song, you gotta do that song, y'know, you gotta stand like this or act like this... I just don't get it man. Y'know, I'm here... I'm here to do what you want me to, and what I want to do" are little more than grist with which he solidifies his bond with the inmates. His call for requests is met with a hailstorm of titles, most of which he works through both dutifully and joyfully. The response from the audience is as electric as the band's performances.The set list includes inspiring performances of many Cash chestnuts. The opening "Big River" (previously unissued on the original release) provides the authoritative musical stamp to back up the introductory salutation, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." The rhythmic backing of drummer W.S. Holland, bassist Marshall Grant and newly introduced guitarist Bob Wootton (replacing Luther Allison, who'd passed away the previous August) is a textbook of country trio playing. Other hits include "I Walk the Line," "Folsom Prison Blues," (in an especially spirited rendition) "Ring of Fire", "Daddy Sang Bass" (from the pen of troupe-member Carl Perkins), and the breakout from this LP (presented for the first time in its full, unbleeped glory), Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue."
But the hits only scratch the surface of this album's high points. The debut of Cash's "San Quentin" so pleased the audience that he gave in to their request to sing it again. Cash's troupe, including wife June Carter and her family, his backing trio, The Tennessee Three, along with the Statler Brothers and Carl Perkins sing the gospel "Peace in the Valley" and Cash's spiritual "He Turned the Water Into Wine" to a roomful of violent criminals being held at bay more by the music's power than by the machine-gun toting guards. Cash is spellbinding with his introductions, stories, asides and half-recorded conversations with the audience.
Even though the tracks are rearranged from the show's original running order, one can't help but feel how magnificent Cash's late 60s revue was as a stage act. The combination of the leader's storied past (and the gritty way with which he approached the circumstances of playing inside the walls of San Quentin), the Carter family's brilliant on-going legacy, and the combined talents of Cash's backing trio, the Statler Brothers and Carl Perkins is nearly too big for confinement, either in prison or on record. But given the expanded possibilities of CDs, including a generous nine bonus tracks, and the thoughtful liner-note remembrances of Cash himself, Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard (who'd seen Cash at San Quentin the late 50s), June Carter Cash, this reissue explodes with the vitality and sense of purpose with which the show was presented. It's about as close as you'll get to feeling it without spending some hard time on the inside.
Free Music Review: All you need is Cash...
Hit: 5 Stars
Johnny Cash is almost suprisingly categorized as "country" - maybe the term "country" meant something very different in the 1960s than it does today, but listening from the perspective of the 21st century, Johnny Cash's music sounds closer to folk or rockabilly than country. The backing music is typically very simple, the vocals pounding and ominous. The combined effect is mesmerizing and powerful, though the tools seem so simple and stark.I came to this CD not knowing much about Johnny Cash, except that my parents listened to him (which I guess should scare me) and the songs "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire", and "Daddy Sang Bass" were uninendelibly scraped on my conscious. With Cash's recent passing on, his music returned to me after years, so I found myself digging through the "country" section at CD stores. Cash's ouevre is very intriguing, especially his prison albums. This CD contains most of his best known songs performed in front of about 1000 high-security inmates at San Quentin prison. The energy is almost stifling, and Cash plays the crowd almost effortlessly and defiantly. In many cases he seems to be challenging the guards and the very walls of the prison itself. The song "San Quentin" was written from the perspective of an inmate, and is not very complimentary towards the institution. The audience inevitably responds with awe and constant yelling and hooting and demands that the song be repeated, which it is, with just about as much yelling and hooting as the first take. The defiance of Cash and the mood of the audience carry the almost unnerving tension of an impending prison riot. One wonders what the guards must have been thinking as the fever of the crowd grew.
It's hard for me to compare this CD with the original record, having never heard it, but for those who have heard it, listening to this CD must be a completely different experience. A facsimilie of the original LP rear cover is included in the CD booklet. Only 10 songs are listed here, and the song order is dizzingly jumbled from the CD order. Many great songs were left off the original LP (including a GREAT version of "Ring of Fire" where the backing vocalists mime the trumpet line brilliantly).
One interesting moment of the concert is before the song "Wanted Man". Cash mentions Bob Dylan, and the crowd is absolutely silent. This seems strange since the year is 1969 and Dylan is still on top of his game (though he was then confusing his fans with albums like "Nashville Skyline" on which Cash sang a duet with Dylan).
For newcomers to Johnny Cash, this CD makes for an interesting introduction to his music. A greatest hits album has less of Cash's personality on it than one of his live albums. This particular CD bristles with Cash's personality and persona. It's hard not to get hooked after giving this one a few listens.
Free Music Review: Middle Instalment of a Brilliant Live Trilogy
Hit: 5 Stars
Johnny Cash's Prison Albums (Folsom & San Quentin) have long been the stuff of legend, but with the relatively recent release of Live At Madison Square Garden they form a remarkable trilogy: terrific live performances from '68,'69, and late '69, each with a different feel, and an evolution in each of the famous Johnny Cash-June Carter romance. At Folsom, they've yet to wed, at San Quentin, they have, and at Madison Square Garden, Cash proudly announces that June is home because she's pregnant with their son John Carter.
San Quentin stands as perhaps the best summation of these performances and this era, and what is all the more remarkable is how different it is from its Folsom Prison predecessor. There are but two songs overlapping the two ("Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Still Miss Someone") and the musical approach is significantly altered from the bare-bones, ragged-but-right stint at Folsom. For starters, the band is much larger, with Bob Wootton standing in at lead guitar for the tragically deceased Luther Perkins, in addition to the great rockabilly embellishments of Carl Perkins. The Statler Brothers join in on backing vocals, as do the Carter Sisters (providing an unbelievable trumpet imitation on "Ring of Fire"). This results in more fluid performances (no laughs in the middle of a line here), though the atmosphere is still about as volatile as Folsom Prison. This leads to some priceless between-song comedy ("If any of the guards are still speakin' to me..." and in response to the inmates jeering said guard, "Oh, you don't really mean that."), and with the dual performances of "San Quentin", the feeling that there could really be a riot.
Virtually everything there is to love about Cash can be found on this album. The songs display his reverence for contemporary songwriters (the Dylan-penned "Wanted Man" and John Sebastian's "Darlin' Companion"), his deeply authentic faith ("He Turned The Water Into Wine"), and his remarkable ability to sing for, rather than to, his audience (the aforementioned "San Quentin" and "Starkville City Jail"). More casual fans will be glad to see the presence of several Cash classics, including "Big River", "I Walk The Line", "Ring Of Fire", and the then-new "Daddy Sang Bass" and "A Boy Named Sue". For "Sue" fans, be sure to check out Live At Madison Square Garden for Cash doing a hilarious play on the bleeped/unbleeped versions of the song.
Johnny Cash At San Quentin has proved to be one of the most replayable discs in my collection. It's an essential purchase for the Cash fan and an ideal indoctrination for the Cash newcomer.
Free Music Review: An American classic
Hit: 5 Stars
Asking "Which Cash prison album is best: San Quentin or Folsom Prison?" is like saying "Which of your lungs is your favourite?". They're both essential to ANY music collection. (If pressed by a particularly menacing and armed inmate, I'd lean towards the more atmospheric FOLSOM.) Which one you like best will probably depend on whether you want a more comprehensive take on Cash's music (the love songs and gospel on this one) or one aimed square at his audience (the prison song laden "Folsom").
Read the glowing praise from Merle Haggard (or Marty Stuart if you want someone of more recent vintage) and look at any critic's list of "Essential" country music and this will be on it. Look at the better pop critics' lists and even they will recognize this as the epochal moment in music that it is.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Choosing the best tunes here is hard, but I'll try. As on Folsom, Johnny performs an actual prisoner's song (T. Cuttie's "I Don't Know Where I'm Bound"). Cuttie's lyric is a classic tale about "rambling" and the search for identity. The reaction to the title song's line "San Quentin, may you rot and burn in He*l" is a "goosebump" moment for me. The audience loved it so much they demanded he sing it again...immediately. (Afterwards Cash remarks "I'm starting to like it myself" with a grin...) "Wanted Man" is surprisingly "commercial" for a collaboration with Bob Dylan. The "funny" songs on this one are also better than "Folsom": "Starkville City Jail" and alltime classic "Boy Named Sue" (which the liners note was being performed for the first time at this show..Cash actually had to read the lyrics off a sheet). "Daddy Sang Bass" is a great number,too...no doubt because the lyric (from Carl Perkins) reflected Cash's own upbringing. It's abetted by June Carter Cash, Perkins himself, and the Statler Brothers' harmony.
LOWS:
No clunkers at all this time. There's nothing here I'd remove...and that includes the bonus songs. This is as perfect as it gets on a song by song basis.
BOTTOM LINE:
I hope you're looking at this for 1 of 2 reasons:
1) You came here to vote on reviews
2) You're updating the copy you have to the newer remastered version.
If it's because you don't actually own this, click "Buy this" and hope that no one sees you do it. If someone does, lie and say you HAD a copy but it was stolen and you're replacing it.ESSENTIAL to every music collection.
Free Music Review: One of the seminal albums of all-time on CD...finally!
Hit: 5 Stars
Johnny Cash is unique as a performer in his abilities to touch so many people of all ages, backgrounds, and musical tastes. His music and personality resonates in yuppies, felons, and everyone in between in a way that very few performers have ever grasped - or hope to grasp. People were, and are, electrified by the "Man In Black", peak form or no. When he is in peak form, though, there were precious few who were better. Nowhere is this more evident than this landmark concert disc.This disc, like it's "sister" CD which preceded it ("At Folsom Prison"), has finally been remastered and released in unedited form. It was a long but ultimately satisfying wait. While "At Folsom Prison" is outstanding in its own right, there was just that something extra special with this "At San Quentin" concert that sets it apart as one of the best of all-time.
Here we finally get all of Johnny Cash's big hits, along with a few rarities, and some gorgeous gospel numbers. Perhaps the most notable thing about this disc is that it was the debut of "A Boy Named Sue", the Shel Silverstein-penned song that became a huge hit. In this unedited form, we finally get it unbleeped; this is welcome not for finally revealing the word that was sung beneath that bleep, but because the censor was such a distraction from the song's magic.
Perhaps what makes this performance so special also is that it caught Johnny Cash's regular touring show on tape, and they did not disappoint. Backing Johnny throughout are his famous "Tennesse Three" (Marshall Grant, Bob Wootten, and W.S. Hollins), as well as several musical legends: June Carter Cash (his wife) and two of her sisters, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers. They all combine to provide that extra bit of spark and electricity to the already outstanding concert. Nowhere is this more evident in the dramatic gospel set near the end of the show and the wonderful medley that closes the show and highlights their talents.
Make no mistake: not only is "At San Quentin" one of Johnny Cash's best albums, it stands as one of the best albums of all-time in my opinion. Fans of Johnny Cash will want this in their collection alongside "At Folsom Prison". For those semi-interested in or new to Johnny Cash, this should be one of your first purchases. You will not be disappointed.