Johnny Cash

Even if the best and most popular songs on this 1965 album are the ones most likely to show up on greatest-hits compilations ("The Long Black Veil, "Orange Blossom Special," "It Ain't Me Babe"), it certainly rates as one of Cash's finer non-greatest-hits releases. If nothing else, it would have historical importance for the inclusion of three Bob Dylan covers, at a time when Dylan was just starting to get heavily covered by pop musicians (and not often covered by country ones). "It Ain't Me Babe," with duet vocals by June Carter, was the most notable of them, although hearing it these days, some may be taken aback by the mariachi horns.

Over the course of five mesmerizing CDs, Unearthed shows us just how Johnny Cash's now-legendary handful of recordings for American Records came to be. Four discs feature previously unreleased tracks from the famed Rick Rubin-produced sessions. Through their inconsistencies and quirks (and, more often than not, brilliance), they shed light on how Cash's final records were shaped, edited, and produced. Here we get some creative pairings: Fiona Apple providing guest vocals on Cat Stevens' "Father & Son," and the late Joe Strummer duetting with Cash on Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."

As part of Columbia/Legacy's ongoing celebration of Johnny Cash's 80th birthday in 2012, the label assembled a series of compilations under the rubric "The Greatest." This 19-track collection covers ground so obvious that it's a wonder there hasn't been a similar compilation before: it showcases Cash's chart-toppers. Strictly speaking, some of these singles did not reach number one – 1958's "The Ways of a Woman in Love" and 1979's "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" peaked at two, while 1958's "What Do I Care" topped out at eight – and a good case could be made that "Get Rhythm," the charting flip of "I Walk the Line," should have been here, but that's ultimately nitpicking as this provides a single-disc overview of Cash's charting years unlike any other compilation on the market.

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. In the years that span those recordings, Johnny Cash released a total of six albums for Mercury Records. The highlights of that output are presented here, on the brand new compilation Easy Rider: The Best Of The Mercury Recordings. Now remastered for the very first time, using the original Mercury master tapes, the 24 tracks that make up the set feature Cash’s updated interpretations of classics songs “Get Rhythm” and “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, the rare B-side “Veteran’s Day”, Elvis Costello’s “The Big Light”, and his collaboration with U2, “The Wanderer”.