The Definitive Collection

Performer: Johnny Cash
Artist: Kris Kristofferson; Waylon Jennings; Willie Nelson; Emmylou Harris; Rosanne Cash; The Everly Brothers; June Carter Cash; The Carter Family; Hank Williams, Jr.; U2
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitars). The mid 1980s to early '90s are often regarded by casual listeners as Johnny Cash's lost years, merely because he was under the commercial radar before Rick Rubin helped revive his career in the mid '90s. Nevertheless, the recordings Cash made during this period, as captured on THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, contain plenty of substantive work. Things lead off with "Highwayman," the theme song of Cash's Highwaymen country supergroup with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. Sharp new versions of Cash classics like "I Guess Things Happen That Way" find him breathing new life into the past. The hard-hitting country rock of "Goin' By the Book" and Cash's atmospheric U2 collaboration, "The Wanderer" (from their ZOOROPA album), show he hadn't lost the contemporary touch. Ultimately, though, the real testament to this phase of his career is the fact that there are still enough unrepresented tunes for a second volume. Someone please alert the Better Business Bureau: in a clear case of false advertising, Mercury Records is marketing a Johnny Cash CD called The Definitive Collection which is anything but definitive. In 1986, Cash found himself without a record label when Columbia Records decided not to pick up the option on his contract after close to 30 years. Within a year the Man in Black had a new deal with Mercury Records, but like many veteran country acts in the '80s, radio wasn't especially interested in him and Cash's recordings of the period are a frustrating mix of re-recordings of his old hits, and new material pockmarked by overly slick production and engineering that didn't flatter Cash's voice or musical approach. The spirit was still willing within Cash, but he wasn't getting much help, and this collection of material from his brief sojourn with Mercury is often dispiriting stuff. Six of the tunes here were drawn from 1987's Classic Cash, in which Johnny recut 20 of his best-known tunes in honor of his entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame; the new versions of numbers like "I Walk the Line," "Guess Things Happen That Way," "Ring of Fire," and "Cry Cry Cry" are approached in a lean, straightforward fashion, and while Cash handles them like a pro, he doesn't sound especially excited, and the new recordings don't hold a candle to the originals. (Cash also redid some older numbers on his other Mercury sessions, several of which are also included here.) Elsewhere, the selections from Cash's other Mercury albums -- Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town, Boom Chicka Boom, Water from the Wells of Home, and The Mystery of Life -- tend to reflect their flaws instead of their strengths, though there are a few bright moments, including the nostalgic but rollicking "The Night Hank Williams Came to Town" and the apocalyptic "Goin' by the Book." The fact that the disc is bookended by two songs that didn't even appear on Cash's Mercury recordings is telling -- the set leads off with "Highwayman," a single from his collaboration with Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson, and ends with U2's "The Wanderer," with Cash's guest lead vocal giving the song a gravity it sorely needs. As an overview of Cash's years with Mercury, this disc is serviceable but little more. The Definitive Collection? Not by a long shot. ~ Mark Deming

Johnny Cash was part rockabilly rebel, part campfire storyteller, part outlaw in black. Cash made country and rockabilly history on the Sun label in the 1950s. During the '60s, the ruggedly charismatic Cash rose to superstardom, ending the decade with both his marriage to June Carter and his own television show. In the '90s, Cash began his highly successful and acclaimed AMERICAN RECORDINGS series, reaching a new audience with an amazingly diverse set of songs, ranging from traditional tunes to alternative rock covers. With his lean, angular sound and hearty, passionate baritone, Cash forged one of the most unique styles in all of popular music, one that delved into gospel, folk, and rock, but also remained the essence of country music. Four months after his wife died, Johnny Cash passed away on September 12, 2003. And in 2005, the Oscar-nominated biopic WALK THE LINE brought Cash's music and legend to his largest audience yet.

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