Wanted Man [Mercury]

Performer: Johnny Cash
Artist: Hank Williams, Jr.; Roy Acuff; Rosanne Cash; Tom T. Hall; Carlene Carter; Jessi Colter; The Everly Brothers
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Johnny Cash (vocals), Anita Carter, Helen Carter (background vocals). Additional guest artists: June Carter Cash, Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris, Glen Campbell. Compilation producer: Kira Florita. Recorded between 1986 and 1991. Includes liner notes by Robert K. Oermann. Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Polygram Studios). Personnel: Johnny Cash (vocals, guitar). Liner Note Author: Robert K. Oermann. Photographer: Alan Messer. This German compilation is unusual among the dozens (if not hundreds) of Johnny Cash collections in that it includes tracks from the Man in Black's entire career. Selections from his '50s rockabilly Sun recordings, his live prison shows, the less well-received '70s recordings, and (at the end) his collaboration with U2 ("The Wanderer") are all featured, offering a more complete overview of his entire career. Unfortunately, given the nature of Cash's entire recorded history, some sections of the disc are stronger than others -- the brash and swaggering '50s recordings stand in sharp contrast to his less successful recordings from the '80s, and for every great song like "A Boy Named Sue" and "Girl From the North Country" (with Bob Dylan) there are a handful of tracks ("Hidden Shame," "It Ain't Me Babe") that are relatively tough to get through compared to the really strong stuff. While this makes for an accurate overview (minus his career-reviving American recordings from the '90s), it does tend to drag in places (especially near the end). Still, any Johnny Cash is good Johnny Cash, and there is a certain charm in his pill-addled mid-career recordings, even if they don't match up with his best songs. ~ Zac Johnson Wanted Man is an uneven, but useful, sampler of Johnny Cash's brief, scattershot time at Mercury Records. For every strong track like "Wanted Man" or "The Night Hank Williams Came to Town," the ten-song collection has unnecessary items like a remake of "Ballad of A Teenage Queen" (featuring Rosanne Cash and the Everly Brothers) and "Beans for Breakfast." It rescues some songs from obscurity -- after all, the Mercury years were Cash's most ignored period -- but it doesn't present enough evidence that it was unjustly overlooked. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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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