Johnny Cash: Complete Sun Recordings 1955 - 1958 (Review)

Time Life is issuing a retrospective of Johnny Cash's recordings that he cut while on Sam Phillips' storied Sun Records label back when Elvis, Roy Orbison and J.C. himself were virtual nobodies to the mainstream listeners. On this 3-disc compilation you'll find classics like "Hey Porter," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Get Rhythm" "Luther Played the Boogie" (ooh wee!) and, of course, "I Walk the Line." The four on the floor format is the standard old school country style that hearkens back to when small town white boys -- influenced by their black blues contemporaries -- cut a swath through (then) popular idioms and got country widdit and makes this collection all that and a bowl of grits. Cash spoke the tongue of tough times -- living through loss and walking to the proverbial edge and living to talk about it in ways that few are brave enough to shimmy around -- which wasn't lost on Rick Rubin when he staged Cash's "comeback" with the recordings he produced with the aging rebel a few years ago on those Def American recordings -- even Bono & U2 managed to squeeze in a cut with him (which can be found at the end of their Zooropa LP). While the first disc is the best of the lot in my book -- that's word -- if you don't own any early Cash, and you know what's good for you, you'll scoop this joint up with a quickness. The Man in Black doesn't disappoint, son.

Johnny's new joint is gonna drop on November 8th -- get rhythm, yo...Laters...