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.
In 1986, after almost 30 years on Columbia Records, Country music legend Johnny Cash released his first album on Mercury Records – Class Of ’55, in collaboration with fellow Sun Records alumni Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Seven years later, his last recording before signing with Rick Rubin’s American Recordings would be another collaboration, “The Wanderer”, with U2.
Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash is the sixteenth album in total by the singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in 1963. This album collects tracks from singles and an EP released between 1959 and 1963, Cash's first years on the Columbia label, and marked the first release of these tracks in LP format, with the exception of "I Still Miss Someone," which had previously appeared on the 1958 album The Fabulous Johnny Cash. "Ring of Fire", one of Cash's most famous tracks, made its first LP appearance here. Ring of Fire was the first #1 album when Billboard debuted their Country Album Chart on January 11, 1964. It was certified Gold on February 11, 1965, earning him his first Gold LP.
Limited eight CD 60th anniversary hardbound book collection from the Man In Black containing every classic album released by Sam Phillips' legendary Sun Records between 1957 and 1964. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the release of Johnny Cash's first LP in 1957, Sun Records and Charly Records are proud to present for the first time ever, all seven classic Sun albums in one deluxe collection. 83 songs as they appeared on the original LPs plus a bonus disc of alternate versions, rare recordings and outtakes, all newly remastered from the original Sun master tapes. Also included are every Johnny Cash seven-inch single A and B side originally released on Sun Records, including the hits: "I Walk The Line", "Cry! Cry! Cry!", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen", "Home Of The Blues", and many, many more. Deluxe 60-page hardback book reproduces original album artwork, liner notes and labels and includes rare photos and memorabilia from the Sun Records archives plus Johnny Cash career retrospective, in-depth album sleeve notes, rare recordings track-by-track, discography, Sam Phillips' recollections, and introduction by Sun Entertainment Corporation President John A. Singleton.
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.
Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone and spare percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn't sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll. He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world-weariness of country. Cash's career coincided with the birth of rock & roll, and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history – as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums – that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of country music's biggest stars of the '50s and '60s, scoring well over 100 hit singles…
American V: A Hundred Highways is the long-awaited album of Johnny Cash's final recordings, the basic tracks for which (i.e., Cash's vocals) were recorded in 2002-2003, with overdubs added by producer Rick Rubin after his death on September 12, 2003, at age 71…
One of Cash's earlier pseudo-concept albums, this doesn't exactly follow a specific theme like farming or hymns of the American land the whole way through. Rather, it's a collection of a dozen songs that generally are on the folkier and more Americana-centered side of Cash's repertoire, though of course such songs have always had a prominent place in his material.