The Odyssey doesn’t stop until I’ve
listened to every album in my collection, so despite a busy week I’m making
time for reviews. Always make time for music in your life, my friends.
Disc 687 is…. American III: Solitary Man
Artist: Johnny
Cash
Year of Release: 2000
What’s up with the Cover? Looks like Johnny
waiting to go on stage. I’ve had lots of occasions over the years to perform on
stage, or speak to a large group of people. There is an undeniable nervous energy
right before you go out. If you like public speaking (which I do) it can feel
very exhilarating, but it definitely has a solitary quality to it as well. All
of which makes this a perfect picture for an album called “Solitary Man.”
How I Came To Know It: Like a lot of people I
discovered these latter-career gems on American Recordings at “American IV: The Man Comes Around” when Cash did the now famous video for “Hurt.” “American
III: Solitary Man” was just me drilling through all the earlier volumes.
How It Stacks Up: I have one best of Johnny Cash album, plus five
studio albums, four of which are the American recordings offerings. While the
classic “San Quentin” is the easily best, “Solitary Man” is the best of
the American recordings works, putting it second best overall.
Rating: 3 stars but almost 4
Rick Rubin rejuvenated Cash’s career with these
sparsely produced and deeply emotional albums right at the end of his life.
They all have a lot of covers, which work or fail to varying degrees. I’m going
to try something new and review them in sections based on how well Johnny pulls
it off.
Category 1: You tell ‘em, Johnny ! You tell the
world!
At his best, when Cash does a cover song it is reborn;
a fresh classic that is own forever his as much as it belongs to the original
artist. “Solitary Man” has a couple of these gems, “One,” and “I See A Darkness.”
“One” is
the U2 classic, and as much as I love that version, I love Cash’s rendition
more. Stripped down to an anxious guitar strum and Cash’s deep, quavering
voice, the song’s theme of reaching out to one another through confusion and
doubt really comes through.
“I See A
Darkness” feels like a song written by Cash, and for Cash. It is the story
of one man’s darkness, and his willingness to tell others about it, but only in
the dead of night with one too many dead soldiers on the table, and an ashtray
of cigarette butts between you. It felt so much like a Johnny Cash song that
when I checked out the Bonnie Prince Billy original, I was shocked at its
up-tempo bounce. I am definitely going to get myself some Bonnie Prince Billy, but
while his original version is great it can’t match the dark truths that Johnny
sings into it.
I also love the way Rick Rubin puts emphasis in the
production on all the guitar’s root notes, creating a growing sense of dark
purpose on every chord change. This is true for both these songs, and many
others besides.
Category 2: Johnny gits ‘er done
Even if he doesn’t blow you away, Johnny usually
gits ‘er done, and while a lot of his other tracks aren’t the same level as the
two I’ve just noted, there is plenty of other good tracks on “Solitary Man.”
In fact the title track is the Neil Diamond classic,
and while the vocals on this one aren’t a masterpiece, paired with the thick
strumming and punctuated high notes on the guitar, this song really works. I
prefer the Chris Isaak cover of this song, but Johnny does it well.
Other beauties are the pastoral David Allan Coe
track “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field
of Stone)” and a strong version of Nick Cave’s homicidal “The Mercy Seat” (although I prefer the
Nick Cave original. Johnny just can’t match Nick’s maniacal combination of glee
and fury).
Category 3: Why, Johnnie? Why?
Every one of these American Recordings albums has a
song that Johnny should have just left alone, but somehow couldn’t. Johnny has
a great ear for a good song, and I think sometimes he hears one and just can’t
help himself, despite how poorly suited he is for it. Other records have a lot
more of these than “Solitary Man,” but the entry for this record would be Tom
Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.”
Despite some very cool guitar work and arrangements,
Johnny just sounds a little frail here, like an old guy who’s escaped the
retirement home and having been found by the orderlies, is refusing to go back.
I don’t love hearing him sing this song, but I still hope to be that same old
guy one day.
Category 4: Cash does Cash
There are three Cash originals on this album,
showing everyone that Cash still has the creative fire. I found “Country Trash” and “I’m Leaving Now” both a bit hokey, but the retrospective and relaxed
“Before My Time” is Cash at his best. His deep voice sounds his love across the
ages and reminded me of the Robert Browning poem “Love Among the Ruins.” If
you can remind me of that poem, you’re doing something right.
All in all, this is a strong effort and while it is
uneven overall, it is worth owning if only to hear him sing “One” and “I See A
Darkness” and revel in the magic that Rick Rubin invokes restoring Cash to his
former greatness.
Best tracks: One, I See A Darkness, Would You
Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone), Before My Time, Mary of the Wild Moor
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