American IV: The Man Comes Around

A quality listen, just not my favorite style of music. Also they are mostly covers, where the original is just better. I mildly enjoyed most of it. 6/10

Really good covers of songs I don't much like in the first place = 2 stars. Bonus star for Hurt and Sam Hall, though.

Context. It's all about context. Give this album to a teenager and she'll think it's someone's granddad doing karaoke. Whereas 40something me, getting older, the album has more grounding, reflecting on a life of love, loss, regret and wisdom - albeit through the medium of selected cover songs. Hurt and Personal Jesus are the stand-out tracks for me. I appreciate the rest, but they aren't as powerful.

The oldest saddest bastardest music

Miehellä mustissa on hetkensä ja nää uran viimeiset levyt on kyllä yksi hieno sellainen hetki. Rick Rubinin siirtyminen tuottajaksi oli käsittääkseni aika iso juttu sillai että kukaan ei uskonut enää että JC vois olla kiinnostava. Mut sit ku kehään laitetaan ihminen joka on aikaisemmin tuottanut beastie boysia, slayeria ja rhcp:ta niin jotain tässä tapahtu, En oo suuri cover-levyjen diggari mutta onhan tää tylyydessään jotenkin hieno. Riisuttu. Ehkä tää on countryksi jotenkin vähemmän countrya niin tätä on helpompi diggailla. Ja sit samalla onhan tää jotenkin niin vitun väsynyt. En oikein osaa sanoo mitä tästä oon mieltä. Tavallaan rakastan tätä ja sit tavallaan tää on aivan paska. 3/5

Aluksi tästä pitää, mutta aika nopeasti alkaa vähän toistaa itseään. Ehkä jokin tässä Cashin äänessä kertoo siitä, että se tietää itse olevansa nero tekemässä Tärkeää Levyä ja tämä tunnelma tekee kaikesta vähän luotaantyöntävää. Levyn isoin hitti Hurt on oikeasti hyvä laulu (vaikka nykyään vähän meemettinen jo onkin), ja avausraidasta tykkäsin myös. 3/5.

Spartan in a deeply religious way, but not puritanical or ascetic. Just simply spiritual. When the arrangements can't pull the song through, Cash's gravity and grain does. When Cash can't pull the song through, the arrangements offer a hand. When neither pulls the song through, well, good thing they've chosen great songs.

I only knew of the Hurt cover before listening to this. That cover is fine. The other covers are just bad. Bridge Over Troubled Water is especially grating. His voice just took the soul out of the song. Personal Jesus was also pretty bad since I just got the Depeche Mode album with that song on it a few days ago. When Cash isn't doing modern covers / his own songs, it's great. 2.5/5

Hurt et personnal Jesus ça marche full, le reste est correct, je m'attendais à plus de diversité dans les arrangements et l'instrumentation. C'est dépouillé et minimaliste, ce qui est tout à fait louable, mais c'est un peu redondant... Si ce n'était pas mr.Cash avec tout son vécu et son charisme ce serait tu aussi intéressant?

Countryn är ju inte min grej va, och alla låtarna är ju covers, men jävlar i min lilla lådda vad han lägger känsla i dem

Classic Cash but with some odd songs for me.

Good deep voice as always. Interesting to hear the modern covers, but a bit weird like your grandad singing Radio 1 or 6 Music! Some work brilliantly (Man comes around, hung my head, hurt, Sam). Powerful, but not essential.

Respektvoll ob der Todesnähe entsteht etwas zutiefst menschliches, verfangendes. Musikalisch empfinde ich nicht jeden Song in seiner Interpretation gelungen. 2.9

Ihan komia soundi ukkelilla ja kivoja versiointeja.

Harvemmin oon diggaillu Cashista, tää kuitenkin toimi hyvin. Hauskoja covereita ja iltapäiväkävelyllä huomasin fiilistelevän tät kuunnellessa.

Will admit to some trepidation before listening to this. I do not like Johnny Cash's music. "Heresy", I hear you shout. But you know what, I just don't. His genre, his semi-spoken, semi-sung delivery. I don't like it. But I have to admit that "when the man comes around" is genuinely a work of exceptional greatness. Reznor himself has said that Cash now owns Hurt. And I kinda agree. Cash sounds broken in a way that Reznor wasn't, physically. The slightly off-key spoken monotone just works so well for this track. I mean, the Nine Inch Nails original is better produced, has more layers and nuance, but Cash's voice and delivery fits so well that you can overlook it. Unfortunately things go rapidly downhill. Bridge over troubled water does not fit. At all. The same can be said for everything up to Personal Jesus, which is an intriguing take on Depeche Mode. Sam Hall is actually quite a fun track, I'll give it that. Danny Boy is just hideous. It's the indulgence of someone who is way past his best, reminiscent of an elderly uncle who insists on singing at a funeral. It might be touching, it might mean a lot to the performer, but it is objectively awful. The same can be said for I'm so lonesome I could cry. Tear-stained letter thankfully picks up the pace, which is genuinely a relief. Finishing up the album is a surprisingly upbeat and swingy tale on We'll Meet Again - which is immeasurably better than Very Lynn's cloying version. After the initial hesitancy, an I glad I listened to it? Kind of. The highs are high. But the lows are really low. Would I listen to the full album again? No. I'd absolutely not. There is no way I would subject myself to Bridge or Danny again, except if maybe I was wallowing in a Hurt-amount of masochistic anguish. Would I listen to the best tracks from this? Absolutely yes.

Overall mood of the album is great, great songs for sure just not really my music type for everyday listening

-Bridge Over Troubled Water -I Hung My Head -Personal Jesus -In My Life -Desperado -Tear Stained Letter -We'll Meet Again

3,5

Containing both "Hurt" and "The Man Comes Around" this seems like a good end to Cash's career, he brings a lot of sadness and sincerity to these covers, but some still fall flat. 2 Great songs then the rest are okay but not too striking. 7/10

2002 год. Кэшу 70, он почти потерял зрение, сессии записи прерывались на госпитализации. Рик Рубин продюсировал так же, как и всегда — минимализм, голос, гитара. Получился последний альбом, который Кэш успел выпустить при жизни. Wikipedia Большинство треков — каверы, но это слово тут не работает. Когда 70-летний умирающий мужик поёт "Hurt" Nine Inch Nails — это уже не кавер, это что-то другое. Трент Резнор потом сказал, что песня после этого обрела совсем другое значение. Фиона Эппл, Ник Кейв, Дон Хенли заходят на отдельные треки, но альбом держится на одном — на голосе человека, которому больше нечего доказывать и некуда торопиться. Он умрёт через год.

Not a fan of country music, I appreciate the interpretation of well known song but I care about creation 2/5

Está bueno. Un blues chill. La mayoría no son obras de él, sino covers.

A good album but not really my cup of tea

Whiny, draggy, and sparse. Intentionally so, but bored me to tears. At least Johnny is decent at being emotionally evocative with his mournful sound. Just not my thing. He did at least do Big Iron, which is a bad cover, but a song I like.

This one is hard for me. On the one hand, the context of this album makes me appreciate just how hard it hits and sometimes that did win me over, especially near the end. On the other hand, I was struggling to enjoy this album. I just found it was mixed poorly, with Johnny's voice sounding to close. While some say this helps with the sombre tone of the album, I just found it takes away from the experience. Covers are fine but some of them didn't seem to fit. Moreover, the original songs were just confusing to me, especially the first song. Overall, I think this might be more a dig at Rick Ruben but I wouldn't want to listen to it again.

In this more or less country album Johnny Cash covers a lot of different well known songs. At its best his deeply weathered vocals feel like reading someone’s final handwritten letters by firelight: haunting, deeply human, and emotionally overwhelming. At its worst, it feels like a sorrowfully painted clown stumbling through tired cabaret routines while the audience waits in a mix of pity and discomfort for the curtain to finally fall.

medio embole che

This was fine

Me and my friend hated this. We liked Sam Hell tho. DAMN YOUR EYES

Hurt ist immer noch nen banger, der Rest ist eher solala, Johnny war schon mal energiegeladener und besser, die coversongs sind dann so bisschen mittelmäßig.

An album of ups (The Man Comes Around, Hurt) and downs (Like a Bridge over Troubled Waters, Danny Boy).

Good album of cover songs.

Never did I think a country singer would do a cover of Depeche Mode. It sucked.

i bet this sounds great if you're attuned to country music... i personally found this challenging to get through till the end. there were some things i liked: the story in "i hung my head", the weird droning in the outro of "bridge over troubled waters" (reminded me of exit to a film, i looked everywhere to see if it was just a niche instrument or sample but i couldn't find anything), the guitar in "personal jesus", and the music box chime in the outro of "in my life". this was definitely worlds better than the average country song. now for the negative. i'm not a fan of his cover of "we'll meet again"... his voice doesn't convey enough emotion for that kind of song. i enjoyed the heavy baritone vocals and all, i just don't find it very moving. granted, there are few male vocalists who convey emotion in a way that i can connect with. i suppose the album is objectively well-produced, but the point of art, in my opinion, is to evoke some kind of feeling. young thug evokes more feeling in me than this. talking about sad things in your music doesn't inherently make you deep, or maybe droning on and on about other people's problems just isn't my cup of tea.

What men will do instead of going into therapy: Johnny Cash version.

country benlik değil ya çok sevemedim. güzel de söylemiyo.

87-й студийный альбом. Ни слова больше.

Me duele un poco darle tan bajo porque me gusta mucho Hurt. Pero la mayoría de los temas de este álbum son un espanto. Y además ese fue el peor cover de los beatles de la historia (y mirá que tiene competencia). Se rescata levemente porque me gustó el último cover.

This is not the type of music I heard, I prefer other versions of this songs

L: 3 M: 6 F: 4 O: 4

This was an exploitative cash grab. Instead of talent it relies on the idea of a personality singing other genres stripped down to what he was capable of at the time.

A touching album towards the end of a legend's life. At face value, it's a somber collection of acoustic tracks, mostly covers, and there's not much here to come back to for me. I question this inclusion on this list, to be blunt, but I look forward to getting an album from a younger Johnny.

I like Johnny Cash but surely there’s an album of his originals that can be on this list.

noni noni

I didn't like it, it's not for me.

Not a fan of Johnny Cash, and having to listen to him kill some covers cause me more pain than hurt.

Interesting to hear a couple of songs that other artists have covered. Overall felt depressing 😭

Its an interesting reflection and made me more interested in his life. Its overall not bad just unfortunately not my thing. Best: Bridge over troubled waters Favorite: We'll meet again cover/Sam Hall Least/Worst: I'm so lonesome I could cry Other standouts: Desperado, Danny boy and tear stained letter. Replayability: 4/10 enjoyability: 10/10 The type of stuff they would play in Fallout

I dig Folsom Prison a lot but Cash is not my cup of tea.

Highlights: Hurt, Personal Jesus, In My Life Shit's extremely monotonous. I get that some people like this style, but found it extremely mid since it was mostly covers (felt low effort).

Erstmal: Mit der „America“-Serie hat JC sich eindeutig als Cover-Artist positioniert. Eine Art Anti-Dylan (der hat die Songs geschrieben, die von anderen besser performt wurden). Diese Covers sind deutlich besser als seine eigenen Songs. Sorry, steinigt mich. Instrumentierung Arrangement und Produktion sind hervorragend und passen hervorragend zu seiner Stimme. Ich mag ihn halt einfach nicht. Das liegt mehr an seinen „Fans“ (die zu 90% nicht wissen, dass ‚Hurt‘ ein NIN Song ist). Dieses ganze Cowboy-Hinterwäldlerding, und da kann er auch wirklich nichts dafür, weil er ja politisch wohl auch absolut stabil war. Ich würde trotzdem 10x lieber mit Arlo Guthrie-Fans oder Willie Nelson-Fans auf eine lange Autofahrt gehen. Wenn JC ein lokaler Cover-Live-Act wäre, oder in der Fußgängerzone spielt, ich wäre ein Fan. Sehe einfach die monumentale Bedeutung nicht. Noch schlimmer: American III ist das bessere Album, ich nehme an dass es mehr um „Hurt“ ging aber das Format heißt leider 1001 Albums und nicht „Singles“. Wirklich grauenerregend: Bridge over troubled water. Da funktioniert das Original ja schon nur gerade so. Hier bluten mir die Ohren. Ich hab auch nichts gegen Jaulemusik (Harris/Knopfler ist z.b gutes Gejaule) aber das ist der Moment, wo der Opa abgeholt werden sollte weil alle Zuhörer schon die Flucht ergriffen haben.

Johnny Cash returns with his brand new record 'songs you love, done worse'. This album includes classics such as 'in your life', 'bridge over still water' and 'personal Mohamed'. Buy it now... Or better don't!

Muy Yankee, no es lo mío, si sos un NPC te puede parecer brillante, si sos algo un poco más complejo te vas a aburrir. Igualmente no está mal.

All credit to the man and his legacy, but this album feels like diminishing returns for a Rick Rubin vanity project. Only 'Hurt' rises above gimmick status.

i really really tried to be open minded about this album, however. geriatric johnny cash cover album was a real struggle to get through. i also think the more i loved the original songs the more painful it was to listen to the covers - i cant think of any songs improved by his version. im gonna go listen to the eagles now

Love earlier Cash. This was painful. Would have been a 1 if not for the Hurt cover.

Cash always has a raw and warm sound. Not my favourite but some good stuff in here.

This does almost nothing for me. Sorry. 4/10

I've spent my whole life bugging up Johnny Cash and it's only now I realise I'm probably wrong. Credit where it's due: putting out an album, albeit one that's fine at best, when you're running on fumes is a hell of an achievement. But this feels like everything from the cutting room floor. Contrary to what I might have said 10 years ago, his cover of Hurt isn't better than NINs, and I'd happily say that about all of these covers.

🤔

Rant incoming. I joined this list hoping to be introduced to new music and broaden my horizons a bit. Unfortunately the list seems to have been compiled by an 80 year old gammon, so I'm forced to listen to old timey nonsense day in and day out. Johnny Cash is fine but he's just so boring. I stopped listening after 4-5 tracks. I wish I could get a daily album from the users list instead. At least there might be some interesting, up to date music on there. Unfortunately I'm only 100+ albums into this list, so I have 3 years to go.

Primera impresion, nostalgica de forma linda. Dios mio que sencillez, que melancolia, que convencionalmente bien hecho. Una lagrimita, letras duras. Awww el cover de the beatles u.u. Que buen solo el de sam hall! Likes: The man comes around - Hurt - Give my love to rose - I hung my head - Danny Boy

Never understood the love for the Hurt cover. The original works so well because of several things, not least of which is its placement in The Downward Spiral. It's part of a much larger piece and its power is magnified by all that has come before. Also, the alteration of 'crown of shit' to 'crown of thorns' has always bothered me. There's a strange tendency to lionize these 'profound statement' albums from artists late in their career. Leonard Cohen's 'You Want It Darker,' Dylan's 'Time Out Of Mind,' and of course 'American IV.' Give me their early, passionate, vibrant work any day over these tomes of boredom.

Made for old dudes going through a mid life crisis, not for me

it just droned on for me. I probably tuned a bit of it out 5/10

Nobody needed First Time I Saw Your Face, In My Life or Danny Boy. Too depressing and not sung well! We’ll Meet Again was kind of lovely.

A lot of covers weren't doing it for me. Everything sounds dour. 2.5

Møkk kjedelig!

Også hørt på flyet til Lakselv lol. Dette syntes jeg er sykt, sykt kjedelig og gubbete. Sliter med å konsentrere meg om å høre, føles ut som hele plata er i slomo.

Noen store låter her, men blir altså noe voldsomt mett på stemmen underveis. Tungt å fordøye.

About as stark a contrast to Bad Bunny as I can imagine. Throughout this listen I've been thinking, man life is short, this old guy is dying imminently. And as i reflected on how fleeting life is I realized life's too short to listen to this album. I'd rather be juking and jiving to the latin rhythms of Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin (and Lady Gaga).

not a fan of opening track, dont love the voice. i dont like his voice, sound feels boring

he didn't need to do covers

his voice soothes me

More a fan of Cash’s older stuff

I know this is considered one of a thousand and one albums to listen before you die BUT: seriously could it be anymore depressing.

Interesting but I wouldn’t have chosen it. I like some of Cash’s songs prior to listening to this but not a fan.

Voz y guitarra, ninguna de ellas demasiado impresionante. Tiene voz, sí, pero no canta, solo habla, o directamente canta mal, tampoco es que la música sea maravillosa. Simplemente agradable. Pero no me gusta demasiado la música country. 5/10.

Not my style. Cash has a great voice but the theme and vibe doesn't do it for me. Or at least I'd get more out of Nick Cave for the same feel with more substance

nahhh

Can see why this is on the list, but it doesn't do much for me. Apart from a couple of standouts (Hurt and Personal Jesus mainly), I don't find the covers very compelling, and the originals are just OK.

i didn't came around this album

Glad to have tried some Johnny Cash, but doesn’t hit hard for me.

More talking than singing. Great country music, bummer I hate country

я не можу змусити себе слухати кантрі💔 але пісня hurt доволі непогана

This is probably biased because I’m not a Johnny Cash fan in general, but not a great first album to be generated. Not one of these covers is better than the original version. Sorry, just not my preference.

I'll never be a fan of cover albums. Even the context of this album's creation did not change much of my opinion. The only highlights were the few original songs. Overall, this left me feeling very bored. Two stars. (Favorite track: The Man Comes Around.)

Grandes artistas não necessariamente fazem grandes álbuns

ehh i like johnny cash all of these songs are just a little simple for me

I’m not really a fan of country. Plus it’s an album of covers. Not a fan of Johnny Cash either and the songs here are boring and repetitive. Next!

Johnny Cash is cool, so you'd like to give a good review. However, many of these covers do not work. The best tracks are the unknown (to me) country songs.

Grandpa music. The lyrics seem to tell a great story tho.

☆☆ Just not really my thing.

Generational cover of hurt

Walks the line (pun intended) between fitting swansong for a legend and Elder abuse....almost.

Non amante del country, un po' ripetitivo

Initially, I was not fond of the idea of listening to Johnny Cash. After listening to Bridge Over Troubled Water my opinion started to change with the smoothness of his voice. Not something I'd usually listen to, but it was a warm sentiment while it lasted. I can feel the pain of his life in his voice as he sings with heart and soul. At the midpoint of the album, it takes a happier tone compared to the first 4 songs. When 'Danny Boy' comes around, you can feel the album coming to a close. This feels extremely melancholic, as it's the last of Johnny's published work while he was alive. I enjoyed my listening experience, especially with the ending of We'll Meet Again a perfect ending to Johnny's music career and life.

cant say that i liked any of these renditions more than the ogs

I find some of the songs very moving, but so many of them are also either uninteresting or feel like iterations on his older music that I much prefer. I am also not really interested in most of the covers

Found this disappointing. Some of the covers are a poor choice as don’t translate well to Cash’s voice and the choice of instrumentation to accompany it - ‘first time I ever saw your face’ in particular. Hurt is quite obviously the standout here, with Reznor saying that the song “doesn’t belong to me any more” but one great song does not a good album make.

ok

I have a lot of respect for Johnny Cash, but for him to cover The Beatles, Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel, etc., is a stretch.

Eher en Roadblock. Nid so spass gmacht zum lose

Justifiably an ex-1001 album. Tramp the dirt down. Maybe it would have been more essential if he did another grave NIN cover like Closer to go alongside Hurt instead of corny dross like Danny Boy and We’ll Meet Again.

Gostei dos duetos com a Fiona Apple e o Nick Cave. E também da música que dá título ao álbum; mas não do estilo, a espiritualidade parece-me também opaca. Pá, pode ser um tesouro nacional americano mas não me diz nada, menos ainda nuns estados desunidos da américa de 2025. 2,5/5

Oh Johnny. This is a bit painful. There are some covers I really rate because they provide something interesting and worthwhile (Hurt, Personal Jesus, maybe Streets of Laredo is alright too) but so much of this is unnecessary and a difficult listen.

Manages to start with some pretty gruff atmospheric leathery vocals which surprised me with a level of enjoyment.  There were even some Nick Cave style parts which took me back with reasonable enjoyment (I mean it literally sounded like him which I liked).  Then it either dive bombed or I got tired of the soft melodramatic ramblings. OK he can add his Gruffalo power and emotion to pretty much anything it seems but in the end the intensity and delivery killed it. I could have given this a 3 had it not been for some terrible songs amongst better and this style for the most part not resonating with me.  I kind of want to be a Cash convert but I am yet to find my calling.

No molesta, está bien, pero a mi esto no me va mucho.

I really didn’t enjoy it

Well well well. This may have been Johnny's last album, but he certainly lives on as my enemy. Compared to Leonard Cohen's last album, I feel nothing (except annoyance about 'Hurt', as detailed previously and probably a little bit forthcomingly). However, I never knew this was an album of mostly covers. That makes me feel a bit better. And 'The Man Comes Around' reminds me of GenKill, so that's alright. It's still hard for me to get through this version of 'Hurt', though. I gotta listen to the original a few times after this as a palate cleanser. If it weren't a cover, I'd think "sure, this is a good song". But I can't disentangle! It's too precious to me! (The only other time I felt such a deep sense of musical wrongness is Nas's 'I Can', also from 2002 (rough year), which samples Beethoven's Für Elise. Luckily that song is nowhere near as acclaimed). Apparently Trent Rezzie himself is a fan (now), but if everyone can death-of-the-author this song then I can death-of-the-author the author's take on this cover >:( After track 2 it's like the birds are singing sweetly in the trees, where the birds are Old Johnny Cash. The relief of not hearing 'Hurt' anymore is making all the songs better. Is this album good?? It's better than the live prison one. But I'm also annoyed about 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', although inherently less so because I like the song less. I like Fiona Apple but whatever they're doing here is not for me. Luckily I don't know the Sting song so I don't have any big feelings about that one. (Sting and Bono seem like a natural class to me. I also had to look up again that Sting=Police. It's so hard to internalize!!) I also didn't know 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', but I read with delight on Wiki that the writer "MacColl made no secret of the fact that he disliked all of the cover versions of the song"... until I saw MacColl died in 1989. Nevertheless I have faith he would be a fellow Cash-cover-hater. This version of the song is a real snoozer, anyway. All these songs are kinda the same vibe, which I guess is the point, and that's fine, but I actually hate it. OK, there's some variation: 'Personal Jesus' made me lol a little because it was done in such earnest, and it's not one of my favorite Depeche Modes (having already been somewhat ruined by Marilyn Manson), so I didn't mind the Cashification. And at least the keyboards added something. But I do really like the OG 'In My Life', so I hate this version!!!!! If this was just a personal project he did for himself, it's great, it's beautiful, but don't make me listen to it. 'Sam Hall' is new to me, basically a folk song, and fits a classic Cash ethos, so I'm fine with that one. Same for 'Danny Boy', which I do know, but as a sad classic, I'm fine with it being here. 'Desperado' is already a hated song, so that's a perfect choice to cover! JC should have done all Eagles songs; the only way is up. This cover is fine, possibly better than the original. Like 'Danny Boy', 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' fits very well. What is Nick Cave doing here!? Everyone's endorsing this album...! Fine song though, thanks Nick. 'Streets of Laredo' (alas, "going gay" not enough to win over this listener) is a good fit, although I'm starting to feel the length of the album. The back 4 are also fine, though uninteresting. Can't believe I made it 36 years never hearing 'Big Iron' and now I'm hearing it twice in one year. Still prefer the trail songs. This whole project is like one giant memory challenge, and I fear I'm failing. 'Tear Stained Letter' is fine, and it's not a cover! See what could have been!! I could make a 10-track version of this album that would be totally acceptable, actually. Here it is: /The Man Comes Around, Give My Love to Rose, Sam Hall, Danny Boy, Desperado, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Streets of Laredo, Wichita Lineman, Tear Stained Letter, We'll Meet Again/ Nice 'n tight, poignant, evocative, no covers that fill you with passionate rage... what could have been!!! Whew, I worked myself into quite a lather. Anyway, glad to have gotten this one over with. 'We'll Meet Again' is a nice finale. Sorry to the Cashheads; this is a 2 because I hate 'Hurt' more than any other song, but my 10-track cut would have been a respectable high 3. Highlights: 'The Man Comes Around', 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry', 'We'll Meet Again' (to the tune of 'Personal Jesus') My Own, Personal, Lowlight (of the entire 1001+ albums): 'Hurt'.

One of the best covers of all the time, a coupla other good tracks and a lotta dull stuff.

I don't think this album should be on this list. I think his cover of 'Personal Jesus' especially shows that there's not really much left of whatever made him a well-regarded artist over there. Let him retire. The album itself is also just boring country, slow songs, and that tired voice.

Just an album of covers that don't sound better or even as good as the originals. Hurt isn't bad but had to skip through most of the rest

Like a nice lolo singing. Also nice Simon & Garfunkel cover.

4/10 This is the album of a man coming to terms with the end of his life. Largely, the songs relate somewhat to that context and, at its best, it’s a poignant and touching piece of work. Unfortunately, it isn’t actually at its best for all that long. When the frailty of his delivery works with the style of the songs, there are moments of magic, like Hurt, I Hung My Head and First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, but there are also times when it just doesn’t connect and the weakness in his voice becomes a weakness of the song as a whole, Bridge Over Troubled Water being a fine example. There are parts of that song that just soar with the correct vocal delivery, but here it just falls flat and sounds weak. And things aren’t helped by the production. In places, things sound super sharp and crisp, but there are places where Johnny’s vocal mic is way too hot and it throws distortion over the main focus of the track while the rest of the instruments are super clean, so it just sounds off. There are also a few areas where the mix of instruments feels a little jarring to my ear. I think one issue with this album is the length. If it had been kept to a tight 35 minutes, this would have probably worked far better. Cut out some of the lulls and I might have been more engaged in some of these tracks. But the truth is, the tracks on this album that I like are almost exclusively tracks that I would choose the original to listen to over Old Johnny Cash’s rendition. I appreciate what Johnny was going for with this, but, despite a few genuinely lovely moments, as a whole it was just a bit wide of the target. The Man Comes Around - This is ok. I quite like the transition from verse to chorus, but it’s a bit too repetitive for fairly big chunks. His voice has echoes of what it once was, but it’s faltering and doesn’t convey the power that would have benefitted this song. Hurt - This was a genius track selection, taking the song of a young man struggling with life and reframing it as the song of an old man coming to the end of his. The stripped back nature of the orchestration works so well. It’s a shame about the clipped vocal recording as it would sound better clean to my ears. The dynamic growth of the track is brilliant and the way it just rings out at the end is perfect. A brilliant performance of a brilliant song. Give My Love To Rose - This is nice enough, I suppose. It’s pretty simple, but it’s just not vastly interesting. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Oof. The weakness of his voice here really doesn’t work. The instrumentation is a bit odd too. I think there’s a couple of mellotron parts in there that don’t work well with the acoustic instruments in this mix. Fiona Apple’s vocal is just weird too. This is just bad. I Hung My Head - This is better. The frailty of his voice works better with the song and the way that the dynamic of the track changes with the instrumentation is nice. It’s not over-orchestrated like the previous song was either. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Again, stylistically this works. It’s sparse and poignant. The instrumentation is subtle and mainly takes up the lower register, with only the arpeggiated guitar offering some brightness. It clips the vocal again near the end, which is annoying, but this was a really decent track. Personal Jesus - This is a bit of a mixed bag. I actually quite like the arrangement and the track itself, but the slightly lazy drawl of the vocal just takes something away from it for me. I just don’t quite believe in the delivery. In My Life - This is such a pretty song and it is quite a poignant delivery in a way, but it’s also quite a weak delivery that takes something away from the purity of the melody to my ears. I do not like the glockenspiel at all. It’s just sounds rubbish. Sam Hall - This is just an old country song. It sounds like a thousand other country songs and there’s nothing there to elevate it above that. I don’t hate it, and I quite like the bouncy rhythm of it, but it’s just nothing special and lyrically it’s just boring. Danny Boy - Oh do fuck off. It’s an overplayed song, his timing is all over the shop, and it’s boring. Desperado - Another one where the instrumental is nice. Another one where his vocal doesn’t connect and it just gets worse when Don Henley comes in for some random lines and is recorded too hot. Big old bucket of meh. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry - At least this duet actually connects a little bit better than the two previous ones. There’s just so little pace to this that it feels like it’s almost at a standstill. Tear Stained Letter - I quite like this song actually. It’s got a bit of zip to it. The piano part gives it a bit of momentum and dynamism. He actually sounds a bit invigorated in his delivery of the vocal here too. It’s not the most exciting song in the world, but it’s decent enough. Streets Of Laredo - Well this song seems longer than three and a half minutes. It’s just the same four bars round and round again. I know it’s supposed to be about the story, but it’s just relentless. We’ll Meet Again - Calm down, Uncle Albert. This is just bad. His vocal is bad, the orchestration is uninspired and it’s just a terrible way for Johnny Cash to wave goodbye to the world. Oh, and the shit gang vocals have just come in. Shit Sandwich.

I love johnny, but this shit was depressing. I would've loved this about 10 years ago.

Some good covers, but the fact remains that I don't like Johnny Cash's music, or this style of country in general.

2.5 - Meh

me pegou num péssimo dia nunca gostei do cash, ainda não foi dessa vez

I'm going to take a stand and dislike this album even though it's one of the most beloved of all time. I do like the instrumentation and the lyrics. However Johnny Cash just can't hit the notes he's supposed to be singing. Maybe other people like that, but it makes it impossible for me to enjoy listening to him.

I like Johnny Cash but all songs on this album sound the same. Not an album I would sit done and listen from beginning to end.

Hurt är odödlig och albumets lore är väldigt fint, men det räcker tyvärr inte långt när resten är så trött. RIP <3

2.5 stars This was a downer. Nearly every song is about death, aging, pain, or sadness. Obviously these topics were on Johnny’s mind as he was nearing the end of his life and wasn’t well. But it was pretty tough to listen to such a sombre collection of songs, even though he does a very impressive job of making the songs his own. By the time we got to Danny Boy I couldn’t take the sad songs anymore. Highlights: -The Man Comes Around - this one is an original, I think. You could have told me this was an old classic and I would’ve believed it. -Hurt - iconic. -Personal Jesus - I love the Depeche Mode original and I enjoyed Johnny’s stripped down take.

Back to the land of people who talk as much as sing…This was a bit disappointing. ‘Personal Jesus’ is strong, but I’d feel better about liking it if it hadn’t been used as the soundtrack for a TV commercial for, I guess, Jesus? Some of the covers are a bit weak and bland, too slow and almost depressing. Songs about bashing folks heads in and then getting hanged because of it - no thank you. I’ll stick with his earlier work, thank you very much.

So Sad.

American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash: 5/10, The most American album you'll ever hear, to the point that admiration for his music is deeply embedded in modern American culture. I have no previous connection to Cash's music, or any disposition really. What caught me so off guard about this album, even from when I heard Johnny Cash's version of Hurt a while back, is that he just doesn't sound good as a singer. I know he had a rough life but this is entirely seperate from that, the state of his voice at the time of recording these songs was not good, and it doesn't make it feel raw in a good way. The delivery of his vocals also takes away from the flow of the lyrics in the original songs that he covers, it makes it feel like he wants to make it his own but doesn't know how to. Without spending all my time talking about why I dislike Johnny Cash's vocals, I don't really have much to say about this album because it overall felt quite unremarkable

Johnny Cash deserves his legend status, there were certainly some moments worth preserving, and I'm of course glad this album exists for posterity, but overall I really just don't understand the acclaim. The over-simplified version of Bridge over Troubled Water stood out as exemplifying the broader issues; it stripped a lot of what makes the original so compelling, and didn't offer anything particularly noteworthy in its place. I typically love and actively seek out inspired covers that expand upon and/or transform their respective originals, but for the most part that's just not what was recorded here. The whole album felt like being back in the audience at Brian Wilson's later concerts—could we maybe have just let this brilliant, talented man take a load off after so many years?

This just ain't for me

es war bisher das beste album, ich mag „the man comes around“, also das lies, ich hab es geliked. zudem erinnert mich das ganze album und der stil an meinen vater.

Did not enjoy, very sad and slow. Voice kind of had no range.

I dont like it. not that bad tho

Good but not my thing. 2/5

Ehh it isn't for me. It feels like a 2.5.

It's interesting. A few songs I liked, but not something I see myself listening to that often. Enjoyed it anyways.

Pretty much what I expected. His voice is not amazing in this

look. this was just ur average cash album lmaooooooo. nothing special

it wasnt bad but it wasnt good either. to be honest, i cant remember half the songs i listened to because they were kinda mid. its so boring to me and it didnt have anything special or remarkable :| wouldnt hear it again.

Not my style

I can appreciate the importance of this album and Cash's influence on music, but I found this album tough to get through and overrated. My husband and I had an argument over which version of Hurt is better (Controversial - but I'll stick with NiN) Died of a broken heart :'( (and diabetes) I remember the day he died, my uni tutor made us listen to Cash's music loudly all day while he cried quietly in the corner.

Puur als album vind ik dit niet zo interessant. Paar leuke covers, paar wat minder. Paar originele nummers, die zijn dan wel weer sterk. Cash z'n stem kan ik wel lang van blijven genieten, maar is op dit album af en toe zo matig gemixt, dat het dan weer vervelend wordt. 15 nummers zijn dan ook weer net wat teveel om echt in een zitting aandachtig te luisteren, zeker het einde is wat minder spannend. Als je het puur als losse singles ziet, dan valt er wel wat uit te halen, als volledig album minder.

Een album met covers waar ik eigenlijk altijd liever het origineel luister. Maar het is iig coherent als album en hurt is top dus het kan niet een ster zijn iguess

Ik vond de uitgeklede covers niet heel spannend om naar te luisteren. Hurt was wel goed maar was er na 1x luisteren wel klaar mee.

Top stem en luistert vrij makkelijk weg. Kan niet zeggen dat ik het nog een 2e keer op zal zetten, omdat er op de cover van Hurt na, niet echt iets tussen zit wat me heel erg pakt. En ook van dat nummer luister ik liever het origineel.

Not running back to it, prefer the originals to his covers. I hung my head is so sad

Too slow and sad

As big a legend that Johnny Cash is, I really wasn’t that impressed with this album. A bunch of cover songs, and pretty much every track was dreadfully slow and crooning. Wish I enjoyed this more

I was never a fan of Johnny Cash and when I saw Walk the Line back 2005 or 6, it didn’t really change my mind. In fact, I may have walked away from it with a lesser opinion of him. Just as an example, read about the time he got wasted and accidentally burned down a California Condor sanctuary, killing nearly all of the birds at the sanctuary and what his response was. Remember dude…yOu HaVe tO sEpArAtE tHe ArT fRoM tHe ArTiSt. I mean, look, the music is fine. His catalog is awfully same-y to me, with a lot of oom-pah, bouncy country rhythms. The music by and large is not interesting to me. Lyrically, it doesn’t connect for me and I’m not sure I understand why it is he is held in such high regard in American culture. Sorry, it is what it is. American IV is the fourth installment of comeback records Cash recorded with Rick Rubin and you can tell by this point that the trick was wearing thin. Cash doesn’t seem interested on several of these tracks. Outside of Hurt, which lands, and Personal Jesus, most of the covers here feel unnecessary. In particular, the cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water felt a bit hammy and out of place. Im just saying that at this point in the American series, American IV seems like it was maybe more of a product to sell than something that Cash might have been actually passionate about.

I just don’t like it. There. I said it. Everyone raves about the genius of this and I honestly don’t see it. I mean I see why people would like it, it’s not my jam, but it’s not dogshit either. It’s just Johnny Cash mostly solo playing mostly cover songs. There are a few redeeming qualities but overall I’m just not impressed.

The man in black finds religion and loneliness near the end of the trail. This collection of covers is a mail it in moneymaker for Mr Cash. Song selection is well thought out, execution not as good. But respect for still trying at 71 years, poor health, and 67 albums deep. (1.7*s)

The first half of this album is much better, the songs work with his somber tone and you can hear the knowledge of impending death in his (very recognizable) voice. The second half is weak, the song selection is odd and it feels forced. I appreciate Johnny for his extremely long career and prison rants but this one doesn't really do much for me. I'm not a huge fan of him in general, though I do recognize his contributions and like a few hits. I give it a 1.55 because he's old and still doin it. This man loves singing about shooting someone.

i recognise he is big time but it is not for me :/

A solid 2.5. Will never listen again.

It's OK, a few really great songs but mostly just OK

Country / Folk American IV is the final album released in Johnny Cash’s lifetime, and the fourth in his critically acclaimed collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. By this point, Cash’s voice had grown frail but deeply expressive, and the album’s content—mostly covers—centers on themes of death, redemption, love, and finality. This help is raw and vulnerable. He has a really great smooth deep voice and the songwriting is very good. But personally i just didn’t enjoy the music that much it wasnt for me. Folsom blues was better. 3.0

I love how gritty the microphone gets in the climax of Hurt Johnny Cash is incredible at taking songs and making them his own. His covers always feel uniquely him, despite being covers.

Not my kind of music

Three or four decent songs, three or four terrible songs.

If this was “1001 Songs” this would’ve been great for hurt

the placement of hurt on this album is insane

C'est un peu comme un novelty item, comme mon disque de Chipmunks Punk ou bien des chats qui chantent des tounes de Noel, deux albums qui mériteraient plus leur place dans les 1001 disques à avoir entendu dans sa vie que cet album over-hyped à cause d'un cover passable d'une toune de NIN. Je trouve que sa voix, quoiqu'elle ait son charme, sonne le cul, elle distortionne sans arrêt à l'enregistrement, c'est vraiment désagréable. Il y a des moment, comme I hung my head, vieille balade country simpliste qui fait la job dans le genre et que je me suis surpris à ré-écouter 2 fois. Mais tsé, j'ai déjà eu ce disque, pis je l'ai donné à mon père, qui lui l'a trouvé bon. J'pensais que j'aimais ça mais ça m'a pris quelques mois pour comprendre que j'aimais pas ça. Il me semble que les autres albums de cette série sont meilleurs. 2 etoiles parce que c'est pas completement pourri.

Took a bunch of songs already made, and made them worse

An advert with the most insane vignette for America, I hate america

Only got through two songs

25% banger

Boring

I'm a bit confused by this, a lot of the songs are covers and not as good as the originals..?

Speak singing? Monotonous. I like the guitar though. Chilled out. Emotional lyrics.

Malo sam već zasićena njime u ovom projektu 🫠 ono, kužim da je kultni glazbenik i ima tu puno dobrih stvari, ali jbg, dosadna mi je glazba, pogotovo kad idem preslušavati cijeli album u komadu. Bit će 2/5, 4/10.

Znore, förvånar mig inte att han dog efter den här plattan så slö som den är

I'm just not a fan of Johnny Cash. I have know idea why he's so popular. At least this album was recorded in a prison.

Никогда не был поклонником Джонни Кэша именно из-за его манеры исполнения. Его песни — словно и не песни вовсе, а какой-то хриплый шёпот, звучащий издалека. Как будто кто-то пытается по телефону объяснить зачем он прожил свою жизнь, но связь постоянно обрывается и ты ничерта не понимаешь. Кэш на самом деле не поёт, а просто рассказывает истории — медленно, тяжело, будто бы каждый звук весит тонну. Если вы привыкли к тому, что музыка должна давать крылья и поднимать в небеса, то здесь она наоборот всеми силами тянет тебя к земле. Феномен Джонни Кэша для меня совершенно непонятен. Это феномен человека, который давно уже умер в себе, но продолжает говорить со слушателем, словно из другого измерения. Может быть для кото-то такой стиль близок. Но для меня — нет.

We all know Johnny's version of Hurt, and most agree that it's amazing. So why did I find the rest of the album a letdown compared to it? All the songs are in the same style with many having similar emotional tones. After listening through a couple of times I've come to this conclusion. Hurt is more dynamic. It builds, drops back down, then builds right up to the crescendo with a dramatic drop right at the end. It's a musical roller coaster ride. The other songs just seem flat and boring compared to that.

The first two songs were great - the rest of it was kind of forgettable

Not for me. One for the fans perhaps? 2/5

I dislike the country genre in general and Johnny Cash is no exception. Although "Hurt" was poignant, Mr. Cash's vocals suffered. Rest of the album was quite horrible, IN PARTICULAR "In My Life," which sounds like it came out of a horror monologue. Some songs are better left untouched.

I never understood the hype of Johnny Cash. This album doesn’t change my opinion either. I don’t really need to hear his underwhelming versions of what are already underwhelming songs.

I just find 95% of all Johnny Cash songs to be incredibly boring. Not my taste

A true legend, but I feel like by the IV one I'm not sure what there was left to say. He sounded so frail relatively, but I guess the songs still have value. Late twos.

Artist: *releases an album, then dies* Robert Dimery: “This must be heard!” I like some of these songs. I just like the versions sung at a decent tempo by someone who doesn’t sound like a wheezing bullfrog. Being about to die doesn’t give you depth or introspection. It just means that you’re not very good at making music because you’re 70% dead. This album sucks and “Hurt” is just edgelord-bait.

50 minutes of boring country

I appreciate Johnny Cash in small doses, but I realize now I am not a fan. I did not really enjoy listening to this album.

Showcases Cash’s guitar mastery. Only missing his signature passion and lyrical playfulness.

Lots of classic songs here. His voice is unique. Just not my jam. I would not come back and say I needed to listen to this again. No songs stood out.

context: I dunno really who Johnny Cash is and I'm not American. definitely not my usual genre but it's pretty good so far at the first track. I was surprised to read Fiona Apple did backing vocals! neato I like the storytelling vibe. If this guy was still alive I'd sit by a campfire and listen to him sing. I really prefer the Trent Reznor version of Hurt. However this is still great and I could see myself preferring this version when I relate to the vibe more. I see why people like it SO much. Time moves really fucking slow when I listen to this guy. Am I trying to convince myself that I like it? I dunno loll we'll see 3 songs in and it feels like I've been here for an hour. Perhaps it's the genre aaaa i'm BORED!!!!!! maybe I could use that to my advantage though. Can I slow down time using Johnny Cash's studio album: American IV: The Man Comes Around? am I a mage? is he a mage? Bridge Over Troubled Water is really bleh to me. If he whipped this out at the campfire I'd either leave orrrr I'd stay around and try to get as much stuff done as possible because of the time slowing down thing. Fiona's vocals are pretty but I think she's incapable of sounding bad. wait that song was less than FOUR MINUTES? LMAO i'm gonna crawl up the walls. I take it back, I don't see why people like it. I will be fascinated to read the rym reviews after this. PLEASE DO SOMETHING INTERESTING WITH THE MUSIC MAN. PLEASE BRO do I just not understand the appeal? Maybe I needed to know the original songs before they were covered? I'm currently at song number 6, "First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" It just feels like cliches set to guitar strumming. It's kinda funny how torturous this album is becoming to me. I dunno there's nothing offensive. There's a little jazzy piano in Personal Jesus that could've been cool if it was leaned into. But it wasn't. God damn it 8 songs still left. I'm on In My Life. zzz I keep zoning out Maybe the appeal is parasociality? I grew up with a kid called Sam Hall and he was a cunt lol he bullied me for not shaving my legs slightly better song than the others previous? at least it was a tad interesting oh he's whipping out all the names of guys i wanna *** **** **, Danny Boy. Pretty boring song. The church organ sound is really nice. I just wish the album was more confident in what it was doing instrumentally. Song wasn't worth the slight ptsd trigger lol desperado oh boy more old man with guitar in my ear this album could've been an ep with hurt and a few others, it's way too fucking long. also just remembered it's a posthumous album. I feel weird about them just by principle. i still can't see the appeal i'm so lonesome etc: predictable full of cliches etc guitar sad old guy. you know the drill. omfg i'm so excited only 3 songs left. tear stained letter: you'll never guess the dominant emotion in this song cute piano bit stweets of lawedo: penultimate song yipeee yo gay cowboys? gay dying cowboys? fine song LAST SONG WOOOOOOOOO we'll meet again: sorry man I wouldn't mind if we didn't meet again after this album. cute song though. If this was an ep and much shorter, this could've made it to 3 stars, but it was wayy toooo long for the lack of interesting anything. Not 4 me at all. If I could do half stars I would do 1.5 but I will round it to 2.

I love the song selection but I’m not big on Cash’s delivery and even less in 2002. I think it’s a very well conceived album but I don’t think it will join the regular rotation

Here's the thing. This has a lot of lovely moments. His version of In My Life is very sweet. Hurt is excellent. His Bridge Over Troubled Water gains a nod from me for applying a different formula to one of the greatest songs ever written. But I don't really understand why this is here. It's a nice passion project or something for someone starting out to showcase their voice and/or playing. It's a nice thing to do live for unsuspecting punters. And sure, your fans might appreciate an album of your interpretations of covers. But why is it here, on this list? Can we not have a bit more coverage of artists who didn't make the cut at all, rather than this guy, once again, but singing other people's songs (and some of his) that we've already heard before?

Do you like country music? If you do then this album is for you.The songs aint bad. The lyrics are good, the beat is decent, album cover aint the best. But the album is decent I would recommend this album.

it's ok I kinda like it I rate like 10/10 um 2nd song um idk tho its so weird I just don't like it and this one I don't like it at all

I like Johnny Cash's voice a lot - it's warm as a wood burning stove in an Appalachian cabin. And this album has an impressively eclectic collection of songs on it. But, I can't say I haven't heard covers of these same songs by others that were much better. (Worst cover of Troubled Waters ever.) The one that stands out is Desperado - suits his voice very well. Still, some very good moments and some good guitar work - let's hear it for studio musicians. Mostly, feels like a sentimental album at the end of a career - not really great on its own.

His voice is very good, as always but it doesn't sound as cohesive album, just a bunch of covers thrown together.

As forgettable as I had forgotten

Fan of Johnny for sure but just couldn’t get into this album , got this mid trip in Miami so the mood wasn’t really appropriate but have it marked as a revisit when I’m back home probably in a dark room late at night

I fear that this is a sort of boring album of covers. But his voice sounds great and Hurt is S tier duh.

Just not my style in the slightest.

Artiste connu de nom uniquement. Musique minimaliste, guitare + voix + parfois piano ou synthé. La voix reste prépondérante, l'accompagnement est plutôt simple. Je trouve l'ensemble assez ennuyeux, pas très original. Cependant quelques morceaux m'ont interpelé : Hurt Personal Jesus C'est peu sur 18 plages ... =>2/5

first album i didn't finish cos idgaf. sorry grandpa

The first song was pretty. I wish the bridge over troubled water cover was just Fiona Apple and not Johnny cash with her in the background. The in my life cover would’ve been charming to me if someone’s old granddad or uncle sang it at a family gathering or something. I stopped listening after that song :/

This album is inextricably linked in my mind to spending weeks painting the walls and ceiling of the house (Resene sea fog, a versatile white with a hint of grey, best used with muted rather than bright colours) with Resene Alabaster trim (a near white with a light blackened edge) to cover up the original greeny brown shades of tahini and drab olive. Seriously, were the former owners colour blind? The interior looked so much brighter and fresher once we'd finished and would still look pretty contemporary today. The Johnny Cash album didn't make the task any more enjoyable, and yet we kept playing it. If it were just Personal Jesus and Hurt then this would be 5 stars, but some of those other covers are abysmal. So, 1 🖤 each for those two songs but nothing for the rest.

Some good; some meh. 2/5

First song was great. The rest were sleepers.

Bit too slow for my liking, a few songs not bad

Country, sad man!

Well, Johnny (Must Have Needed Some) Cash or why else would he do a double album of horrible covers of somebody else's songs. I love Johnny Cash. I hated this souless abomination of an album.

I want to hate this so much. It was a pain to listen to this for 52 minutes. This is just an ASMR artist talking over a guitar and the occasional piano. It's so annoying, yet it is, from a more objective standpoint, fine. I know nothing about Johnny Cash so here's the uneducated review you were looking for.

I don't understand the hype for this album. The vast majority of these covers are worse than the original (including Hurt). Too much sing-talking, too many songs sounded too similar to one another. A few were decent, but l won't be listening to this again. 2/5

At first it is surprisingly kinda country, but I like it. I really like the music and the voice reminds me of melancholy, so I like it It does all sound very similar to each other, but it is nice to listen to. It is kinda if a grandpa was singing to his grandchildren and there is something pure about that. The voice is too mono tonic for my liking after some songs, and it turns out to be pretty boring after a few songs.

I don't really get a cover album. Some of them are really good - or even great - but is a cover album really something I need to listen to before I die? I'm unlikely to revisit this, except for occasionally Hurt.

Not a fan. Idk, strikes me as artificial at best, phony at worst. No where near Cash’s best.

'When the Man Comes around', 'Hurt', and 'Send my love to Rose' are all good but the 'I shot a man and now I'm singing a song about it' vibe soon gets boring and in the end I felt the album tended to cynical exploitation.

Want more than a cover album. Don't treat his work as an afterthought.

idk, i personally don’t like it. it seems like depressed country music, which is not what i’m in to. i feel like people who like this kind of music would really like this album, though, so bonus for that.

This was tough to get through for me. Album was really slow and I just wasn’t in the mood for it. Not for me.

Lots of cover songs. Nothing special and I don’t have a particular feeling for American country music

Don’t mind JC but I never got the hype for that Hurt cover. This album does nothing for me

Passed by me. Will I listen to again: 20%

Yaaawwwn, he has better music than this

Very strange album in my opinion. Mostly covers, which is a concept I am not a fan of at all on this list. I thought 'Hurt' was a Johnny Cash original, but turns out that is a cover as well. The first song is at least good, and there are some other ones like 'We'll meet again" and 'Personal Jesus' that work as well. My biggest gripe with this album is Johnny's singing. There are very few songs where I actually think it works out. Mostly he just speaks, rather than sing. And if we're lucky, it's going to be in tune. It isn't even the tempo or whatever that is the issue, it's the execution. It sounds half-assed and amateurish. I get that he was old when this was recorded, but come on. Feels a bit brutal but going to have to give this a strong 2. I recognize that this might be something other people enjoy, but not my cup of tea.

Ehh. He just talks. But I did like give my love to rose.

I’m not feeling this at all. Old Johnny seems to have taken some beautiful song that featured the whole gamut of human emotion from joy, sorrow, regret, hope, fear, love, sacrifice, remorse and euphoria and replaced them all with: Tired. Major sense of the emperor’s new clothes here.

Obviously I have heard a lot about Johnny Cash, but haven't listened to much previously. Overall enjoyed more than I thought I would, but most songs sounded the same. Ending his final album released during his life with "We'll Meet Again" hit hard.

"Hurt" and "Personal Jesus" the highlights here but outside of those it seems like Rubin was trying to squeeze anything he could of of Cash's last few days on this planet. It's still worthy of a listen when your in the right mood.

Just a man slowly singin with some simple acoustic guitar to set the rhythm. There's something endearing about the simplicity of Cash's music paired with his one of a kind voice. The charm does wear off on me after a few songs though and I grow bored of it.

I quite enjoyed his cover of Hurt but it is the spund of an old man at the end of his life, which I found quite depressing. The cover choices are interesting but not the Music however. I cannot relate to the lonesome cowboy thing st all.

Eh, I like the sound but don't really care for it. But overall it's a good experience

Weird

Thought I was going to like this, but really didn’t for some reason. Not sure there was a single cover here that even came close to the original. Maybe Hurt, but even then I much prefer the OG sad lad. I actually found Bridge over Troubled Water painful to listen to, he just took all the melody and harmony out of it. Simpsons: yes

Of all the albums I expected to be in this challenge, a Johnny Cash cover album wasn't one. It started out OK but it made me wonder if he knew this would be his last as the majority were very depressing. His voice, which can usually be quite emotive was surprisingly flat... I just found the whole thing quite mediocre. It would be a solid 2.5 out of three - I'm rounding down to 2 because a day later I can't remember much of it.

Hey, Americans, country music isn't anywhere near as important as you think it is.

Lots of good songs here. Unfortunately I can’t enjoy them with his pacing.

So bored...

Goede zanger, heldere en duidelijke stem. Het hele album gaat toch wel vervelen op een bepaald moment.

I have not heard of this album as I don’t enjoy country or Johnny Cash’s music. However, this album wasn’t that bad compared to the other one I listened to from this website (At San Quentin). I liked the song hurt. I recognized In my life and I think I have heard of Bridge over troubles water before. Other than those songs I wouldn’t listen to this album again.

Like the album, some of the songs are not for me though.

I thought this was going to bore me to death but wasn’t as bad as I thought. Still got bored about a third of the way in but there are some proper epic tunes on this.

Not my music

i usually enjoy johnny cash, but i unfortunately don’t like this album.

niks voor mij, IIIII HURT MYSELF…… today

For masse covers, like bedre da fengselsalbumet hans

Felt like one long song

Kind of blows.

Johnny Cash covers. Bot bad. Not good. Just covers

Wow...I respect all that he has done but to me, this album was difficult to listen to. Although I still love Danny Boy, Desperado, and many of the others on this album I think his voice is more applicable to some of his earlier work. I do think it is fate (or Cash looking down on us) that the album today was by Cash. 🐕‍🦺

I do like Johnny Cash, and I think "Hurt" is a wonderful song. Also i think I'd be better off if i never listened to this whole album. Kinda felt like i was listening to the same two songs for 50 minutes, with exception of few well known tunes. I'd rather consume my Johnny Cash in small doses.

Я не дослушал. Это до жути скучно. 2 звезды только за шикарный "Hurt".

Meh

Some artist should not do covers. Johnny Cash and is one of them. Not pleasant.

For masse covers, like bedre da fengselsalbumet hans

Some nice acoustic guitar playing. I just don't like Johnny Cash singing. Most liked track... Personal Jesus... if only someone else sang it... oh wait a minute, they did, it was Depeche Mode.

Any album containing Danny Boy has a ceiling of 2* which is a shame. But seriously, what a voice. It's a shame the track selection seemed to often detract from that, with many more misses (personal jesus, first time.., I'm so lonesome..) than hits (hurt). His frailty with age is exposed in a negative way in tracks like In My Life, whereas that same frailty is what makes tracks like hurt sound great. With the correct song selection this could have been 4* minimum

The Man Comes Around // Hurt //

Not my style, themed mostly around death and sadness. He has much better albums

I think it is its last studio album before his death a few months later, i never been a fan or even listen to Johnny Cash's music its mostly a cover album, but still is most known i think today. Hurt is the most famous, beautiful and sad. A cover of Nine inch nails, maybe a suicide note, clearly about depression adn heroin addiction it is truly a good song. Its very superior to the Nine inch nails version i think. In my life is a Beatles cover, on of John's most beautiful song and one of the best from Rubber Soul. In the context of his imminent death i think this song reach another level of truth and deepnest. I was a bit hesitant on the Personal jesus cover (depeche mode) its look nothing like the original, i'm not sure i like it. Is best original song is street of laredo Honnestly country i'm very far to liked country music, and Johnny Cash but i repsect his work and the context to it

Hurt is a classic. And even an old Johnny Cash can sing. But still, this is an elderly man singing songs with a ploinkie ploink guitar.

i can understand the appeal but a bit boring

That was disappointing. Johnny Cash, once upon a time, was an iconic figure in country music, with good reason. Folsom Prison blues, the Orange Blossom Special etc. etc. This however is just a sad colection of carefully chosen cover versions. One or another works reasonably well, others are unmitigatred disasters. I can hear why Hurt was so well received, but incongruity is not sufficient in and of itself, there has to be something more and there just isn't.

Cash is a legend, but his voice in this album isn't holding up imo

I understand why people feel the way they do, but him being older doesn’t really translate to more emotion for me. If you like Johnny Cash, these are songs that sound like Johnny Cash doing covers, it is what it is.

Ne znam sve trake su mi iste.. Hurt i ona pesma "Give my love to Rose" su kul. Ona gde prica o ubistvu "Hung my head" je svakako interesantna. Vokali mi ne prijaju tolko previse su grubi i zvuci strumovanja gitare su previse ostri i iritantni

I really want to like Johnny Cash more than I do, but I just don't really groove 2.5

I think it's a shame that this has popped up before any other Johnny Cash albums (I assume he's made it elsewhere in this list) as I felt the whole album was a bit slow and meandering. It seemed like something which would hit a bit harder having more context around the guy. As it was I did not find it very engaging. I'll come back to it. It does have the fantastic cover of Hurt on though. Despite being a big NIN fan, I think this version is truly the natural manifestation of that song. Standout track: We'll Meet Again

Partly heard before Saved 3/15 Top track: Hurt

Johnny Cash aber teilweise lame

Slow cover album with some good ones in there but not my first choice for CASH.

A standout for 2-3 songs but quite average for the rest.

was alright unnecessary covers

Zo violently American het maakt het moeilijk om naar te luisteren. Hoewel de muziek goed is kan ik nergens aan relaten en voelt het een beetje oppervlakkig omdat hij in z’n muziek zo aan stereotype Amerikaanse cultuur lijkt te voldoen. Is dit echt hoe het is? Stereotypen zijn er niet voor niks natuurlijk

look, i gave this album an honest shot. i think really i just do not get the appeal of the "dying old man sings sad acoustic songs" album. the covers on this album are all steps down from other versions, whether original or other covers. they are mostly slow, quiet, boring. his voice is not great, but i gather that that is "the point". a lot of the covers, i actually wanted to laugh. some of these are absurd. danny boy? yeesh. for a guy who is so known for being cool, this album is the opposite. i honestly do not get why people love it so much. the entire time i listened to this album, i was just thinking, man, just go lie down or something. not for me. sorry!

Highlights: "Hurt" An album seemingly chosen for a famous single once again. What's weirder than a Cash album of mostly covers is that multiple covers here are rerecordings of covers he'd already done except with grander, more sombre arrangements. At least two of them feature in this list off the Folsom concerts. Like yeah dude, way to add reverb on the piano. Maybe another way of looking at it is this album has a lot of *contextual* meaning, this specific guy choosing to revisit this specific song at this specific point in the album, but that's a last resort of charitable interpretation. The sequencing is often strange, and some choices like "Personal Jesus" seem so against his themes that it must be something his publicist picked out. "Hurt" is the only choice that really sticks out as the kind of reflective intertext that would justify this album. It doesn't work.

An album of acoustic guitar and vocal renditions of songs. The originals were all better. The only reason anyone cares about this album is because Johnny Cash is a legendary musician. If any other asshole not named Johnny Cash did this album it would be slammed.

better than expected

Not for me

This is the second Johnny Cash album the generator has given me, and I can now say that I just don’t get the Johnny Cash thing. His voice is not for me. This album was compiled mostly of covers. I knew a number of these songs in their original form or via other covers, and for the most part I don’t think Johnny Cash brought anything new to them. I prefer the originals/other versions for Hurt, Personal Jesus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and First Time I Ever Saw Your Face. I thought the nicest covers on this album were In My Life and We’ll Meet Again. Overall meh

Ik vind veel van deze covers niet echt een meerwaarde dat ze door Cash gezongen zijn. Hurt is een prachtige versie, maar de rest vind ik toch een stuk minder

Ya I can see why this was his lesser known album

Wasn't really satisfied with it.

26.05.2023

Levyllä on luotettu siihen, että Cashin ääni ja aura nostavat musiikin korniuden yläpuolelle. Eivät nosta. The Man Comes Around on tosin neronleimaus.

I just don't get it. He sounds so grumpy, and the tunes lack subtelty

This is kind of a rough listen. It comes off as a dying man singing songs about dying. "Sam Hall", placed right in the middle of the record, comes in like the first breath of fresh air after being bedridden with the flu.

Todas las canciones me son practicamente iguales. Venía con bajas expectativas por un poco que había escuchado de Johnny Cash antes, y este disco es lo que esperaba. No le encuentro muchas cosas rescatables, no me banco como canta, ni la guitarra, y no lo entiendo. Give My Love To Rose fue de lo q mas me gustó. 3/10

Nope

Started well, with the first track I was thinking this is going to be a good album. Then it went downhill for me. 'Danny Boy' being a particular low point. There are better Cash albums out there, so don't judge him just on this one miss!

The record shows off what Johnny Cash has left and what he doesn’t. To me, a song that’s kind of monotonous and slow, like Hurt or Personal Jesus, just becomes painfully dull when it’s slowed down. What’s he supposed to do with it really—there’s no way to perform it with emotion. I really can’t stand the production on those experiments either. They’ve thrown all kinds of layers on them to make them sound ominous or dramatic, and it comes off as really phony. Bridge Over Troubled Waters is pretty egregious. The production is so bad that at points they forced him into William Shatner territory. This man with such a unique voice, that miraculously still worked was reduced to an awkward croak. The number of Johnny Cash recordings left to come out were clearly numbered, and they wasted a precious few on some nonsense. I’m not his biggest fan even but that seems just plain wrong. I will say he does a pretty good job with Desperado, but I just hate the fuckin Eagles, man. On the other end you have some of his own songs, or other country or traditional songs, and his interpretation really shines. He’s obviously mastered his craft over decades. His voice isn’t quite as strong anymore (but pretty good all things considered—especially on Streets of Laredo). For me, that shines a light on everything else he brings to the performance. 3 stars for an icon proving his status; minus 1 for some atrocious choices made by other people who thought they were clever.

Not my thing.

Even though Johnny Cash is a legend and rightfully so, this album didn’t captivate me unfortunately. It's all very one-note.

Sad, melancholic, religuos. Not mach movement in songs, it was hard to listen. None of the songs cach my attention. Not my genre of music.

I am not totally sure how I feel about this album. It's got pretty good highs, especially on the covers of "Hurt" and "Personal Jesus" and it has "The Man Comes Around", but other than that it just feels like generic sad cowboy. I debate between a 2 and a 3 since the best songs are really good, but as an album it doesn't really hold well. Highlights: 1, 2, and 7.

No me ha gustado, destaca la versión de In my Life de los Beatles

Well this is unfair because I reflexively hate covers albums - fine, record a cover song here or there but an entire album... it couldn't be less in my wheelhouse. I hear a cover and inevitably feel like it asks the listener to compare/contrast to the original. Which to me is already a stamp, a statement; a record in time of the original artists' vision. Of course I didn't know that not *all* the songs are covers. Which surprised me when I ... liked? the first song (an original). And the next few were...kind of good? But then OK I cannot abide by his take on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - it's lazy and completely misses the point of the original which should never ever be covered (even/especially by Paul Simon. It's an Art-vocal song and nobody else's and that's a hill i'll die on). Other big misses: "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "In My Life" - just do not work with this voice, yikes. "Desperado" sucked with the Eagles and sucks here.... Ehh... i think listing all the songs I don't like isn't serving me well. It's a majority. I enjoy the arrangements that stick to almost a traditional blues/country progression (e.g. "Tear Stained Letter" - an original!) I suppose the overall goal was achieved in that I'd never have given this a chance before this exercise (always keep an open mind!) and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. Still not a fan overall; a few songs were good but it's truly pick a few and move on. 4/10 2 stars.

pretty boring frankly. 2.

I love Johnny Cash, but this is not my favorite of his albums.

Love Johnny, love some of the covers, not an album for me though

Aunque mientras lo escucho pienso en que suena muy bien, que la emotividad es real, que me genera una gran empatía... Siento decir que me ha resultado un disco bastante aburrido. Pero creo que simplemente no es mi estilo.

Some covers of popular songs played mostly just on an acoustic guitar. I guess this would be interesting to people that are already fans of Jonny Cash, but for the rest of us, it's a pretty uneventful album.

"Hurt" is on here.

It's not terrible.

Similar to the past Johnny Cash albums...just ok but ultimately more underwhelming than not.

Mjaah, ihan miellyttävähän Cashin ääni on, mutta en tiiä kolahtiko oikeen mikään. Hurt oli ihan jees, Personal Jesus kohtalainen (varmaan johtuu siitä että se on niin kova biisi alunperin), mutta muuten aika tasasen tylsää.

Eka biisi oli odotuksia herättävä, mutta alkupuolen covereista en nauttinut ollenkaan. Niinpä kiinnostus lopahti ja loppulevy meni vähän sivukorvalla.