Johnny Cash Johnny 99

Universal’s 2010 collection Icon rounds up recordings Johnny Cash made during his stint on Mercury in the ‘80s, which means that the versions of “I Walk the Line,” “Cry Cry Cry,” “Guess Things Happen That Way,” “Get Rhythm,” “Hey Porter,” “Wanted Man,” “Ring of Fire,” and “Folsom Prison Blues” included here are not the original hit versions. They’re perfectly fine remakes supported by such ‘80s vintage recordings as “The Night Hank Williams Came to Town” and a cover of Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” This will inevitably be a let-down for those looking for the originals, but they’re solid versions and this collection is enjoyable for what it is.

You've got to be a Johnny Cash fan to truly appreciate what's happening on the third volume in Legacy's Bootleg series Live Around the World. This double-disc collection contains 53 tracks culled from 23 years, 1956 to 1979. The heart of its performances are from the Newport Folk Festival in 1964; a show for the troops in Long Binh, Vietnam in 1969; for Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970, and at the Osteraker Prison in Sweden in 1972…

While Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, the 1968 album that made Cash a household word, spent only two weeks at No. 1, this 1969 follow-up topped the charts for 20 weeks. As with Folsom, the San Quentin LP had to be edited due to space limitations. Now, 31 years after the fact, the show can at last be heard in true perspective. All the original performances hold up, including the album's hit single: Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue," presented unbleeped for the first time. Equally impressive are the eight restored tracks and unexpurgated between-song patter. Cash's opening renditions of "Big River" and "I Still Miss Someone" are bracing. So are four closing songs teaming Cash with his complete performing troupe (the Carter Family, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers). Their gospel performances ("He Turned the Water into Wine," "The Old Account," and an early version of "Daddy Sang Bass") are electrifying, as is a concluding medley featuring everyone. Cash is presented here at his roaring, primal best.

Duets is an album by country music singer Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash, released in 2006. The album is made of duets by the singers mentioned before with songs that Cash had previously released. It is exactly the same as the '16 Biggest Hits' album by the same duo on Sony/BMG Legacy, only with a different cover.

This two-CD, 40-song set includes both sides of all 20 of the singles released by Johnny Cash on Sun through 1964. (Even though Cash left the label in 1958, Sun plundered its vaults for more Cash singles for about five years, with some of the 45s doing quite well on the country charts and denting the lower reaches of the pop ones.) This is really an excuse for a compilation that's more comprehensive than the usual greatest-hits set, but more affordable and digestible than the box sets of his Sun stuff. There's nothing wrong with that, either. It's well-packaged, the music is good to classic, and it's an excellent compromise for listeners who want a lot of Johnny Cash at Sun, but not everything.