The impression of Rick Rubin producing Johnny Cash conjures images of any number of ways two people of such colossal impact could collide—or collude. Rubin has brought the likes of Slayer, The Beastie Boys and Danzig from the underground to mainstream spotlights. Cash is an original whose persona—as stoic, devoutly Christian and patriotic country story-telling singer who knows his own demons better than most—is even more firmly entrenched. What is the common ground shared between Cash and an impresario whose past affiliations nearly wholly conflict with the moral foundations of the country stylist?
It's those demons, for starters. In desert-dry soundscape, American Recordings' 13 songs confront the metaphysical/spiritual bugaboos Christians have an answer for yet the most honest of unbelievers still know to be troubling. It's how a Cash composition like "Redemption" can explicitly spell out the sacrifice on Calvary and naturally complement Kris Kristofferson's "Why Me Lord" and juxtapose Glenn Danzig's "Thirteen," coming off like a desperate acknowledgment of original sin. Numbers by Tom Waitts, Leonard Cohen and Nick Lowe (his "The Beast In Me" is especially haunting in its melancholy) likewise show a recognition of reconciliation of humanity's darker longings, recognized by writers who may or may not know the Reconciler.
And Rubin's penchant for unleashing the unexpected might have led to his recording Cash with just the man and his guitar. The effect relays the very facial expression conveyed through each note and syllable. The nearest he comes to laughing is a stifled giggle of redemptive joy in the spoken prologue to "Oh Bury Me Not"; his poker face is on deadpan cue for Loudon Wainwright III's surreal "The Man Who Couldn't Cry."
If the current positioning of Cash as a trailblazing hipster to the alternative/post-modern crowd can place such emotionally stable and deceptively thoughtful art before an audience whose inner turmoil is still unresolved, that's ministry on one strange level. No matter, American Recordings stands on its own merit.
4/5
Other coverage for this album
Salt #24Reviewed by GargantuanThat man in black (the real one) is back with 13 new songs and they're all acoustic, just him & his guitar. "Delia's Gone", "Let The Train Blow The Whistle", "The Beast In Me", "Drive On", "Why Me Lord", "Thirteen", (penned by Elvis's evil twin Glenn Danzig, ooooh scary) & "Oh, Bury Me Not" make up the first half of the record. "Bird On A Wire", "Tennessee Stud", "Down By The Train",…Similar sounding releases
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