2xLP BLACK VINYL

Issued in commemoration of Cash's 70th birthday, this double album is a good survey of 1955-1993 career highlights. Is it a good place to start? That depends on what you have or don't have already, considering that so many greatest-hits compilations containing some or much of this material appeared prior to this, yet another repackage. All of his very biggest hits are here, and it leans very heavily on his first 15 years of recordings, with just eight of the 36 tracks postdating 1970 (and only one of them, his 1993 U2 collaboration "The Wanderer," postdating 1986). For that reason some may complain that it doesn't give some phases of his career proper weight, and certainly not evenly distributed weight. But let's be cold about this: Cash's best records were between 1955 and 1970, and focusing on his early work, as this compilation does, means higher overall quality. It's too bad nothing is included from his acclaimed, unadorned 1994 album, American Recordings, but otherwise this will serve as a quite satisfactory best-of for those who want both the familiar hits and a few good, not-so-overplayed ones, like his versions of "It Ain't Me Babe," "Jackson," and "If I Were a Carpenter."

A1    Johnny Cash–    Hey Porter
A2    Johnny Cash–    Cry, Cry, Cry
A3    Johnny Cash–    I Walk The Line
A4    Johnny Cash–    Get Rhythm
A5    Johnny Cash–    There You Go
A6    Johnny Cash–    Ballad Of A Teenage Queen
A7    Johnny Cash–    Big River
A8    Johnny Cash–    Guess Things Happen That Way
B1    Johnny Cash–    All Over Again
B2    Johnny Cash–    Don't Take Your Guns To Town
B3    Johnny Cash–    Five Feet High And Rising
B4    Johnny Cash–    The Rebel - Johnny Yuma
B5    Johnny Cash–    Tennessee Flat-Top Box
B6    Johnny Cash–    I Still Miss Someone
B7    Johnny Cash–    Ring Of Fire
C1    Johnny Cash–    The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
C2    Johnny Cash–    Orange Blossom Special
C3    Johnny Cash With June Carter Cash–    It Ain't Me, Babe
C4    Johnny Cash–    The One On The Right Is On The Left
C5    Johnny Cash With June Carter Cash–    Jackson
C6    Johnny Cash–    Folsom Prison Blues (Live)
D1    Johnny Cash–    Daddy Sang Bass
D2    Johnny Cash With Bob Dylan–    Girl From The North Country
D3    Johnny Cash–    A Boy Named Sue (Live)
D4    Johnny Cash With June Carter Cash–    If I Were A Carpenter
D5    Johnny Cash–    Sunday Morning Coming Down
D6    Johnny Cash–    Man In Black
D7    Johnny Cash–    One Piece At A Time