Johnny Cash: The Essential Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash: The Essential Johnny Cash

2002

Legacy/Columbia

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: Disc 1: 1. Hey Porter  2. Cry! Cry! Cry!  3. I Walk the Line  4. Get Rhythm  5. There You Go  6. Ballad of a Teenage Queen  7. Big River  8. Guess Things Happen That Way  9. All Over Again  10. Don't Take Your Guns to Town  11. Five Feet High and Rising  12. The Rebel - Johnny Yuma  13. Tennessee Flat Top Box  14. I Still Miss Someone  15. Ring of Fire  16. The Ballad of Ira Hayes  17. Orange Blossom Special  18. Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)

Disc 2:  1.  It Ain't Me, Babe  2. The One on the Right Is on the Left  3. Jackson  4. Folsom Prison Blues (live version)  5. Daddy Sang Bass  6. Girl from the North Country  7. A Boy Named Sue  8. If I Were a Carpenter  9. Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down  10. Flesh and Blood  11. Man in Black  12. Ragged Old Flag  13. One Piece at a Time  14. Ghost Riders in the Sky  15. Song of the Patriot  16. Highwayman  17. The Night Hank Williams Came to Town  18. The Wanderer


If you look through almost anybody's music collection it's almost inevitable there's going to be a Johnny Cash Greatest Hits compilation in there somewhere... There's been roughly a million of them, from skimpy cheap-o's  to deluxe box sets, but out of all them I've heard this is one of the better ones...

A chronologically sequenced collection with a heavy emphasis on the mid 50's to early 70's...Which is exactly what you want from a Johnny Cash compilation...What's cool about this is that it has a couple of tracks that were guest spots on other artist's albums, such as...



His collabo with Bob Dylan on "Girl from the North Country"...



...and his guest vocal turn on U2's wonderfully apocalyptic "The Wanderer."

If your collection is lacking "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line,"  "Five Feet High and Rising," etc, then this really is essential. One legendary tune after another...Although a song or two from his acclaimed "American Recordings" series would have made this the perfect overview...



Really, this whole line of "Essential " collections that Legacy/Columbia puts out are always dead-on..



I mean, I'd argue that every Stabbing Westward album is essential, but this has songs from both the Spawn Soundtrack and the Escape From L.A. Soundtracks! DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?@?@?@?@?@?@ THE ESCAPE FROM L!A!!! SOUNDTRACK!!!##!$!$!#!#!%!%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Actually now that I think of it, I might have actually seen Stabbing Westward live once...Did they open for Megadeth or something in the early 90's? I swear I've seen them before...)



The Essential Incubus Soundtrack!!! TWO HOURS OF THE MOST VITAL AND IMPORTANT MUSIC EVER MADE KNOWN TO MANKIND!!!



The Essential Kenny G!! This one has the great song "Toodle Doo, Da Dooble Doo, Da Doodle Doo..." and "Dooble Dee Doodle Dee Da Doodle Oodle Dee." The very definition of "essential."

Alright, enough kidding around...Let's get back to Johnny Cash...

Wow, today's post has been an almost total loss..Anyway, the "Essential Johnny Cash" is the dopest thing ever...Let's check out "Flesh and Blood" by Johnny Cash...Enjoy...