Johnny Cash
REVIEWS
- AMERICAN IV: THE MAN COMES AROUND
AMERICAN IV: THE MAN COMES AROUND, 2002
Overall Rating: 8.5
Best Songs: The Man Comes Around, Hurt
Worst Song: We’ll Meet Again
Written by Ruth McNerlan
'The Man Comes Around' is the 4th album in Johnny Cash's
'American' series with each album seeing him record a number of cover versions
mixed in with his own songs both old and new, and a number of traditional
standards. Throughout the album Cash performs a wide range of tracks from
artists as diverse as Nine Inch Nails, Simon and Garfunkel, Depeche
Mode, Sting and The Beatles. Treating each track with the utmost
respect, Cash injects his own uncompromising style making each one his own
and often resulting in many of them sounding as if they're his own original
compositions rather than cover versions.
The album opens with the title track 'The Man Comes Around', the only new
song on the album, and it is definitely one of the best songs Cash has ever
written. In the CD booklet he outlines how he spent 4 months writing it based
on the bible and particularly, the book of Revelations. The time spent on
the song really shows as it is absolutely magnificent. Singing of Armageddon,
angels and virgins, and with lyrics that came to him in a dream, Cash has
created an astounding track that sounds modern, yet has Cash's classic signature
style. 'Hurt' is a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song and the
lyrics and feel of the track suit Cash perfectly and are complimented by his
old and sometimes broken voice which sounds full of emotion and sincerity.
A great reworking of Cash's own song 'Give My Love To Rose' and a magnificent
version of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' with backing vocals from Fiona
Apple, all combine to give a great start to the album. When I first
heard 'I Hung My Head' I thought it was one of Johnny Cash's own songs. It
sounds like a classic country track with lyrics that tell the story of a man
who kills someone with his brother's rifle; so you can imagine my surprise
when I discovered that it had been written by Sting. I really
can't imagine Sting writing and performing a track like this, and it just
seems to have Johnny Cash written all over it. A clear highlight of this album
is a duet with Nick Cave on the Hank Williams
classic "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". Nick Cave sings harmony probably for
the first time ever, and it sounds absolutely beautiful, the two men's voices
sounding perfect together. Another track that gets a good reworking is Desperado,
a song I have never liked and that would make me change channels instantly
if it ever came on the radio or T.V. But this version, complete with backing
vocals from Don Henley really makes me change my opinion
of it. And the same can be said of a lot of the tracks on this album. Cash
adds a new dimension, making you listen and think about things in a different
way. His version of 'First Time Ever I saw Your Face' is utterly beautiful
and is sung with such incredible devotion that it almost makes me want to
cry. Cash includes several traditional songs on this album, the best of which
has to be Irish folk song, Danny boy, a song that practically every single
Irish person who has ever lived has recorded. It's not a song I particularly
like as it's usually sung in an easy listening twee sort of way, but Cash
injects it with a new leash of life, giving a strong vocal performance accompanied
by a pipe organ, and making it sound like a completely different song.
'The Man Comes Around' is a strong album covering many great tracks including
fantastic versions of The Beatles 'In My Life' and Depeche
Mode's 'Personal Jesus'. Unfortunately it sort of peters out at the
end with all the strongest tracks being at the beginning, and it tends to
go out with a bit of a whimper rather than a bang. But 'The Man Comes Around'
is still an amazingly accomplished album. Any 70 year old country singer who
can cover a Nine Inch Nails song and make it sound like his own is definitely
an amazing talent in my book. Listening to this album, Cash remains the country
music legend he has always been, but he also becomes something else, something
with a wider appeal, someone who can not only write good songs, but can take
other people's songs and turn them into something completely different and
give them a completely different meaning. And in this age where the entire
concept of the cover version has become diluted and almost always seen as
a bit of a cop-out on the part of the artist, this is somewhat of an achievement.
Mail your comments and reviews!