Johnny Cash - Complete Live at San Quentin
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Free Music Notes for Complete Live at San Quentin
Free Music Review: driving hate away
Hit: 5 Stars
I enjoy this performance by Mr. Johnny Cash at the maximum security prison, San Quentin. It is recorded well; the performances have a sense of urgency, and the notes give historical background of this moment. Mr Cash brings a strength of conviction in an honest performance. His determination to provide these inmates with a solid show is displayed as he continues even with a hoarse throat. He welcomes everyone, and alienates none. He does criticise the institution of San Quentin, but never the people of San Quentin, neither inmate nor guard, who both share the same place. Albeit, one for residence and the other for employment. Mr Cash introduces a new song, entitled "San Quentin". After he sings it once, the men give an ovation, and demand to hear it, again. He complies. I don't know how receptive these guards and inmates were to Mr Cash' religious songs, even so, they showed courtesy in rapt attention. Mr Merle Haggard, in the notes, explains that this performance gave to him a ray of hope, as an inmate. This hope he culled into a changed life. Mr Johnny Cash deserves credit for allowing himself to be a container of that hope for Mr Haggard. If you are interested in excellent live performances, Mr Johnny Cash, or in an honest expression of a person's spiritual beliefs, this CD will interest you.Free Music Review: Who's foolin' Who?
Hit: 5 Stars
While the anonymous reviewer "from the USA" clearly knows his Cash, I couldn't allow his casual dismissal of Elvis Presley as a "southern-black soul" pretender compared to Carl Perkins' real deal to go unchallenged. For the record, I am a fan of both performers, and both--as Delta natives--came by their influences honestly. Of the two, Presley was much more steeped in the blues and gospel of Southern blacks. I would only direct the critic to Peter Guralnick's exhaustive award winning double volume Elvis biography, which details Presley's devotion to the musical roots he clearly acknowledged. Beyond that, I have listened for hours to both Perkins and Presley, as well as the great southern soul singers--from Otis, Al Green and O.V. Wright to Percy Sledge, Sam Cooke (a native Memphian) and lesser knowns like Paul Kelly. Perkins and Presley, to these ears, drank from the same well. I can assure you, Eric Clapton--along with Lennon, McCartney, Tom Petty, and just about every other rocker to come down the pike in the last half-century--would beg to differ with this gentleman's off-handed dismissal of Presley. Of course, as the biggest star in the history of popular music who's public persona often left him an easy (if misunderstood) target, these kinds of cheap shots are all too common.Free Music Review: "Audience Participation" like you've never heard it before..
Hit: 5 Stars
What Peter Frampton did with with "Frampton Comes Alive", Johnny Cash accomplished a few years earlier with "Live At San Quentin". It takes place in a hell-hole prison, so to say you have an attentive audience is an understatement. Everytime John scratched, talked, sang or twanged a guitar, this audience went up in flames. This crowd is all but up on the stage during this recording and you can hear them loud and clear. The late 60's and early 70's was Johnnys period of total convidence. Not just with his music but with his political views. The "Man in Black" thing was getting explained in clear detail. Not a popular thing to do for what was then still considered "ol boy country". You listen to "Live" and you are certain a riot is damn near ready to break out. Its that vivid. Excellent job in the mastering and mixing on the re-issues. THe audience is right there with John and crew. Not just some background noise and clapping after a tune is finished. Johnny Cash was the toughest man in the game. All guts, no ego and pure talent. Compare it to the panty waist fluff and digital garbage that country music has mostly become in the 21st century you'll see what I mean. Sure some is OK, but how many [..] and tight jeans does it take to make a country tune today?? Cash didnt need it for HIS music.Free Music Review: One of the Best Recordings Ever. And I don't lie...!
Hit: 5 Stars
....I prefer this to his other prison recording "Live at Fulsom" mainly because of the great "A Boy Named Sue". Unbleeped in this release of "Live at San Quintin", it is more funny and more poignant than it was origially. Well, mebbe just a tad... Other observations: in SQ, you don't get the same kick when Johnny does the line "shot a guy in Reno, just to watch him die" in "Fulsom Prison Blues"; also it seems as if he's pitching his players throughout "I Walk the Line". But you know what? ... It is primo stuff from the Johnny Cash I'm most familiar with. Onery, weatherbeaten, but still daring and raring to kick some serious aspirations, if he's gotta. I think it was Voice critic Robert Christgau who said that there's just something about that Boom-chukka, Boom-chukka rhythm of this C&W style that is just right for the Cash rebel-in-black thing. I think Christgau's got something there--evidently what Cash was doing crossed so many barriers that it really! transcends category. The closest thing IS to call it C&W. But, mind you, it always has been more than country music. That's one of the reasons I have thoroughly enjoyed this Cash recording for years. You have seen many ... rave about a recording being "essential". If this doesn't qualify, I don't know what does qualify...Free Music Review: A Genuine Classic
Hit: 5 Stars
They don't make 'em like Johnny Cash anymore, and this CD shows exactly why he is and will always be unique. I challenge you to find a CD more filled with honesty, emotion, spirit and skill. First of all, the songs are brilliant. Deceptively simple tales of life and death, each song creates its own world, and the listener cannot help but be drawn in. By including so many songs about incarceration, justice and redemption, Cash builds a palpable rapport with the inmates at San Quentin. "Starkville City Jail," "Fulsome Prison Blues" and "Wanted Man" all look at the lives of the fugitive and the jailed with simple, searing language. The highlight of the CD, however, must be "San Quentin," which Cash wrote just days before this performance. Hearing him sing about the prison he's performing in, and hearing the inmates respond to each line, sends chills down my spine every time I listen.
Unlike most live albums, the stories Cash tells between songs never get old. You really get the chance to see his personality at work as he interacts with the inmates, makes fun of the guards and shares personal stories. Even for the non-country music fan (like me), this is a must-have CD.