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Johnny Cash: American IV - The Man Comes Around (180g) Vinyl 2LP. By Johnny Cash Jan 1, 2002. 4.0 out of 5 stars 1. Vinyl More Buying Choices $42.99 (3 used & new offers) The Essential Johnny Cash. By Johnny Cash Feb 12, 2002. 4.8 out of 5 stars 384.
's fourth project with producer continues on the same path as many of their previous releases: 's warm and rumbling baritone over minimal production and gentle duets with some surprising guests. One of the things that sets apart from the others is 's song selections. The success he experienced with his previous interpretations of contemporary songwriters ('s 'Rusty Cage,' 's 'The Mercy Seat') is applied to this album with varying degrees of success.
His throaty reading of ' 'Hurt' easily fits into his 'Man in Black' persona, and the spiritual conviction underlying 's 'Personal Jesus' is certainly powerful. Unfortunately, the inclusion of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' (featuring a lost-sounding ) and a passionless snooze through ' 'In My Life' should have been so much stronger (given the subject matter of both songs and 's prolific life story). One of the reasons his previous covers were so successful is that in the past he had chosen some pretty obscure songs ('s 'I See a Darkness' and 's 'Rowboat,' to name a couple) and reinterpreted them with his unique perspective and unmistakable voice. However, there is really no need to hear his versions of the Irish standard 'Danny Boy' or the clunky rendition of 's 'I Hung My Head,' since something about them just doesn't fit - either wasn't entirely comfortable with the song or the performance was never fully realized. Luckily, the new songs wrote for the album are pretty strong, and his cover of the standard 'We'll Meet Again' is among the best versions of the song ever recorded. It is a relief to hear that, although 's voice is clearly older and not the booming powerhouse it was in the earlier Sun and Columbia days, he's still got some punch left in him, and the wisdom he's gained in his later life seeps through between the grooves, revealing a man who has lived through it all and lived to tell the tale.
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