Col. Hapablap Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 The album has been leaked on Oink, for those of you interested in hearing it early. I'll throw it up on Soulseek for those of you who dont have an Oink account. My soulseek username is WinsOBoogieN9. I will not have a chance to actually listen to the whole thing until tomorrow morning, but anybody else feel free to share your thoughts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 i heard If you could read my mind and Legend in my time yesterday... great stuff. cant wait to hear the rest! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HighFives Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 is it 90% covers? if so its not worth the time imo. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 the american stuff has been 90% covers... it actually is worth it johnny puts on a whole new persona.... if you're a long tiem you'll welcome the change, and if you're new, you'll think "woah, this guy's cool!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheMaker Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Johnny Cash is arguably the greatest interpreter of American music ever to have lived. I can't fathom why anybody would be uninterested in an album of covers when covers have been the man's bread and butter for years. I grabbed American V from Soulseek even before it made its way to Oink (SCOOP'd!), and I've been listening to it pretty heavily for the last week or two. It's much better than the last outing, and the tracklist is neither flashy nor star-studded. Everything is terrifically suited to Cash's sensibilities, though, maybe for the first time since American I. John owns Hank Williams's On the Evening Train now; it's his song, through and through. You can just hear the devastation in the man's voice, and I don't think it's possible for it to be about anybody other than June Carter anymore. Some of the tracks are rough enough to make me wonder if they should've been included at all (If You Could Read My Mind, Four Strong Winds), but Cash's voice is almost defiantly good on others. I Came to Believe, I'm Free From the Chain Gang Now, God's Gonna Cut You Down, Like the 309... nothing on American IV sounds anywhere near this robust. Covers album or no, the whole thing hangs together beautifully, and I think it's a wonderful "final" statement. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gamecocks Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 It's completely and utterly depressing and probably won't get many spins in my cd player. But it is powerful stuff to be sure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mjpuczko Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 i'm with gamecocks. it's damn good but almost too depressing for me to listen to. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 i'm with gamecocks. it's damn good but almost too depressing for me to listen to.Wow...too depressing?? Never thought I'd hear those words on a JT-related site Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gamecocks Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 (edited) When JT is an old man reeling from the loss of his lifelong true love... Then you might hear us say his stuff is "too depressing". That's where the distinction lies. I love "sad bastard" music... See my admiration for Ryan Adams. But sensory overload is always possible IMO. This new Johnny CD is beautiful, just so so so very sad... And it reminds me of my wonderful grandfather who is seeing he's love(my grandma) slip away to Alzheimers. She's not on this planet anymore(in mind). And without her, he is lost. Man I don't won't to get old!! It hits home to close for me. Gamecock Edited June 26, 2006 by Gamecocks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicburto Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 The album has been leaked on Oink, for those of you interested in hearing it early.I'll throw it up on Soulseek for those of you who dont have an Oink account. My soulseek username is WinsOBoogieN9.I will not have a chance to actually listen to the whole thing until tomorrow morning, but anybody else feel free to share your thoughts. if anyone cares to YSI, drop me a line - i might be able to help out any golden smogless persons... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh Rich Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 I really like it - sure it's dark and depressing, but considering his state of mind whilst making it, there should be no surprises. There's something incredibly moving about it, the way his voice sings those songs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ponch1028 Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 if anyone cares to YSI, drop me a line - i might be able to help out any golden smogless persons... I would be grateful if someone could post a YSI link. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh Rich Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 I would be grateful if someone could post a YSI link. No can do dude: http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?act...unce&f=24&id=12 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
j4lackey Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 The album has been leaked on Oink, for those of you interested in hearing it early.I'll throw it up on Soulseek for those of you who dont have an Oink account. My soulseek username is WinsOBoogieN9.I will not have a chance to actually listen to the whole thing until tomorrow morning, but anybody else feel free to share your thoughts.Geez, I just figured out the etymology of your user name! Good one! Thanks, coffee! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ponch1028 Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 No can do dude: http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?act...unce&f=24&id=12 Someone can alway PM me a link and not post it in the forum Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 When JT is an old man reeling from the loss of his lifelong true love... Then you might hear us say his stuff is "too depressing". That's where the distinction lies. I love "sad bastard" music... See my admiration for Ryan Adams. But sensory overload is always possible IMO. This new Johnny CD is beautiful, just so so so very sad... And it reminds me of my wonderful grandfather who is seeing he's love(my grandma) slip away to Alzheimers. She's not on this planet anymore(in mind). And without her, he is lost. Man I don't won't to get old!! It hits home to close for me.GamecockYep,I completely understand what you're saying...esp. about getting old.It seems like I see more of my friends at funerals now instead of shows. Scott Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brittboas Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 no oink access. An emails where to find to britt.boas@comcast.net would be appreciated! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
imsjry Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Just listened for the first time and right now this is album of the year material for me. A staggering listen! I'm still speechless. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Tatlock Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Heard some in the car on the radio at the weekend. Almost had to pull over. Seering! American V: A Hundred Highways, AMERICAN/LOST HIGHWAY Reviewed by Andy Gill Published: 30 June 2006 Rick Rubin elected to wait until the movie-related media hubbub had died down before releasing this final volume of Johnny Cash's work for his American Recordings label - a decision that allows the country legend's swansong to stand alone, a last testament to the unerring truth of his art. It is easily the best of the five American albums, and one of the most compelling releases of Cash's career, a work of moving simplicity and emotional directness that underlines how rare those qualities have become in our cynical times. The song selection is not as surprising as on previous American albums - there's no Nine Inch Nails or Depeche Mode material, or anything comparable - but Cash's choices here are more pertinent to his own situation. His gnarled, weatherbeaten voice cracks almost into tears on a version of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" imbued, perhaps, with memories of his late wife - a subject more directly confronted on Hank Williams's gloomy "On the Evening Train", where he comforts his children as "they're taking mama away from us on the evening train". The association of trains and death also figures strongly in "Like the 309", a languid country-blues slouch that was the last song Cash ever wrote. "Well I'm not the cryin' or the whinin' kind/ Till I hear the whistle of the 309", he claims, staring death in the face with courageous equanimity as he contemplates his own final journey "in my box on the 309".Such final reckonings loom large over A Hundred Highways - all of which, one presumes, lead to the same place. "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is a bleaker version of the same "Run On" spiritual plundered by Moby, here set to a clap-and-drumbeat pulse whose chain-gang rhythm signifies how manacled we are to our eventual judgement. It sets up the album's closing song, "I'm Free from the Chain Gang Now", in which a wrongly imprisoned convict finally gets his release, Cash's sombre croak leaving us in no doubt about the morbid nature of that delivery. Rubin's arrangements are sensitive and sympathetic, taking great care never to get in the way of that Mount Rushmore voice. Springsteen's "Further on (up the Road)" is taken at a gentle trot, but the most effective productions here are probably those of Larry Gatlin's gospel affirmation, "Help Me" ("...to walk another mile, just one more mile") and Cash's own "I Came to Believe", on both of which the guitar picking is strengthened by a bed of lowing cello, a suitably sombre support for Johnny's last walk. http://archive.viachicago.org/index.php?s=...ndpost&p=643547I am so relieved that Rick Rubin can continue to make gobs of money on even more outtakes from the tail end of Johnny Cash's life. I sure wouldn't want Rick to go to the poor house. Somehow all of this is a bit weird and maybe a bit macabre too. I am glad Cash got the benefit of the recognition that collaborating with Rick brought him at the end, but to say that he made his best records then is absurd. LouieB http://archive.viachicago.org/index.php?s=...ndpost&p=643610Let's face it, there seems little other reason to issue another American Records Cash CD (after UnEarthed and the other CDs) than to make more money off Johnny's reputation and badly damaged voice at the end of his life. What else of worth can be left? LouieBDo you like salt and pepper on your hat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Heard some in the car on the radio at the weekend. Almost had to pull over. Seering!Do you like salt and pepper on your hat Hell this was an argument from weeks ago..sure I will eat it. I am sure it is an interesting and affecting listen. Hearing someone on their last legs sing has to be a pretty emotional experience. Not quite in the same category, are Ralph Stanley's recent albums. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Smith Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Has there been any discussion of the Personal File CD? What I've digested so far is pretty darned good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Has there been any discussion of the Personal File CD? What I've digested so far is pretty darned good.This came up earlier....I heard a special on this recently, sounded pretty good. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Speaking of Sound Opinions (see the other thread), both Kot and DeRogotis made the same point I did earlier in this thread. There take is that this is an interesting but very painful CD to listen to, with a few high points and lots of rather bad songs and some very depressing vocals. In fact one of them likened listening to it to being a voyeur. They also recommended the Personal File CD instead. It is pretty sad all the way around that Rubin is punching this thing up with added studio musicians after the fact (Cash only sang, not even played guitar) and intends to release another CD. I am glad Johnny got a chance to keep recording up until his death; I am sure it was good for him personally, but it is very sad to have to hear it. Even the legacy of the other American Recordings are slightly tarnished by this. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spawn's dad Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 this is a great album. I think you're way off the mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 this is a great album. I think you're way off the mark.Okay.....you may be right. There certainly must be a market for people wanting to listen to dying musiicans. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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