God

Customer Reviews:

• Cash on wheels: I've got this album plugged into my CD on my motorcycle. Cruising with Cash and God rocks.
• Phenomenal: I am not a Christian, but I still count this CD as among the best that the Man in Black ever cut. The album resonates with emotion and John's voice truly is the telling sign of how personal these tunes were for him. Also, be sure to check out the other 3 albums in the "quadrilogy:" Murder, Love, and Life.
• The Man In Black Sings About The Man In White!: While some artists singing about God may make you raise your eyebrows in unbelief, Cash makes you raise your eyebrows in delight. With so many songs previously that dealt with spirituality, Johnny Cash goes back to his original roots with some old hymn songs and some songs that he wrote himself. Obviously, the overall theme is "God" and Cash sings with the emotion that we have all grown to love. Fans of Cash's earlier work should still love this because it's the same style, except what he is singing about has more substance.
• Cash spreads the good news: This disc collects together music handpicked by Johnny Cash to express the religious faith he grew up with that sustained him through a hard life as a cottonpicker in Arkansas, the death of his older brother at a young age in a sawmill accident, and by Cash's own account through a long battle with booze and pills. The God Cash sings about is not some casual acquaintance or marketing tool to capture a certain segment of his listening audience: it is Someone Cash knows and loves and he Wants you to love Him too. The songs here range from a 1957 track ("Belshazzar" cut while Johnny was still with Sun Records) through 1996 ("Kneeling Drunkard's Plea" on American Records).
  
  HIGHLIGHTS:
  "Redemption" is probably the single most powerful tune here: expressing the totality of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. "Man in White" is a clever retelling of Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus. ("I was blinded so that I might see...") "Belshazzar" was one of the few gospel tracks Sam Phillips allowed Johnny to cut while at Sun and it's a good one. The trademark "boom chicka boom" guitar underscores the tale of a king "Weighed in the balance and found wanting" by a disembodied hand.
  
  LOWS:
  "The Great Speckled Bird" is a country music/gospel standard but Johnny's version doesn't really sound heartfelt. Johnny himself in the liner notes says "At times, I'm a voice crying in the wilderness, but at times I'm right on the money and I know what I'm singing about." I'm guessing that was a "wilderness" moment.
  
  BOTTOM LINE:
  Fans of Cash who aren't opposed to genuine emotional Christian expression will find a lot to love here. Fans of Christian music who usually listen only to touchy-feely "I'm OK..you're OK" lyrics should get a load of "Redemption" for another take on what the gospel really means. Gospel means good news..and Cash loved to spread it via song. This anthology demonstrates that love. The best gospel song Cash ever did, though ("The Man Comes Around"), doesn't appear here because this compilation was assembled before its release. For that reason, after getting this one you'll need to get AMERICAN IV: THE MAN COMES AROUND as well for a spine-tingling account of the Apocalypse to come.
• I know that God in Heaven looked down: This is a collection of religious songs by Johnny Cash, personally selected by Cash himself. The earliest song is from 1957 (one of the few religious songs he was allowed to record for Sun Records) and the most recent song is from 1996 (his second American Recordings album). This is good music that should appeal to Johnny Cash's fans, especially his Christian fans. You can tell his religious convictions are heartfelt when you hear him sing these songs. Recommended to Johnny Cash fans.