Back in the ’60s, it seemed like some artists got a kick out of
\nrecording albums in jails or prisons. B.B. King did it at Cook
\nCounty Jail, and Johnny Cash did it at both San Quentin and Folsom
\nPrison. Maybe it was because they were guaranteed a captive
\naudience. (No, no, scratch that…)<\/p>\n
Ahem. Cash’s 1968 release
\nJohnny Cash At Folsom Prison<\/i> dares to show a more human side
\nof both artist and prisoners. You can hear Cash speak almost
\nlovingly to people whose condition he could understand, having been
\nin a few tussles with the law in his day. As for the prisoners, the
\njoy in their cheers as the music plays is obvious. And if this
\nalbum didn’t feel so rushed, it would be damn near perfect.<\/p>\n
The notoriously dark side of Cash’s music is evident early on in
\nthis set, with songs like “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Still Miss
\nSomeone” and “The Long Black Veil” showcasing his talents well. Of
\ncourse, there
\nhas<\/i> to be levity somewhere in such a tense setting, and it
\ncomes as Cash starts laughing during “Dark As The Dungeon” – though
\nwe can’t really tell whether it was a member of the audience, a
\nband member or Cash himself who triggered the inside joke.<\/p>\n
If that moment started to break the ice, then Cash melted the
\nrest down with a flamethrower with songs like “25 Minutes To Go,”:
\na gallows pole song that gave Cash the chance to break loose with
\nhis emotions and musical style. If you needed any more moments of
\nlevity, they came in the form of two songs: “Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’
\nDog” and “Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart”. (And I always
\nthought the latter of those song titles was fake – yeesh.)<\/p>\n
Musically, Cash and his band hit the mark consistently on all
\nbut a few tracks. “Jackson” brings in Cash’s wife June, who just
\ndoesn’t sound like she’s comfortable on this track. If there was
\none track I would have left off, it would have been “The Legend Of
\nJohn Henry’s Hammer,” one of three tracks added on to the
\nremastered version of this album. Admittedly, I’ve never been a fan
\nof any of the versions of “John Henry” I’ve heard over the years,
\nbut this one just seems to wander aimlessly style-wise, and was
\nrightfully left off the original release.<\/p>\n
The one vibe I get from
\nJohnny Cash At Folsom Prison<\/i> is that he’s being rushed
\nthrough his set – and he probably was, as he’s heard asking at one
\npoint how much more time he has to perform. Had Cash been given the
\nluxury of time, the overall feel of this album (which isn’t bad to
\nbegin with) would have been that much better. But let’s face it:
\nthe only place Cash would get that kind of time is in a tradtional
\ntheatre setting – and then you’d have lost the sheer joy of the
\nprisoners getting a moment of sunlight in an otherwise dark time of
\ntheir lives.<\/p>\n
One other disappointment for me is that songs like “Ring Of
\nFire” and “I Walk The Line” are nowhere to be heard. Admittedly, I
\ndon’t know much about Cash’s career save for what I own and have
\nlistened to, so I’m willing to admit ignorance if the songs weren’t
\nwritten at the time this album was recorded. However, I’m inclined
\nto believe that they were written well before 1968, so my
\ndisappointment is justified.<\/p>\n
\nJohnny Cash At Folsom Prison<\/i> is still a very entertaining
\nalbum featuring Cash in a unique musical setting that is special to
\nhear, even over three decades after it was recorded. If you’re
\ninterested in learning more about Cash and his music, this is a
\nnice place to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5664],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36328","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-johnny-cash","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36328"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36328"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}