Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave
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CD Details
Artist: Johnny CashEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2010-02-23
Music Label: American Recordings/Lost Highway
Soundtracks:
- Ain't No Grave
- Redemption Day
- For The Good Times
- I Corinthians 15:55
- Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound
- Satisfied Mind
- I Don't Hurt Anymore
- Cool Water
- Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
- Aloha Oe
Music reviews of American VI: Ain't No Grave
Music Review: A Powerful Ending To A Great Life
Rating: 4 Stars
Johnny Cash has always been a staple in the history books of American music--or any music, for that matter.
That being said, I should mention that--in my opinion--Rick Rubin (the American Recordings series producer) can rarely, if ever, do wrong. So it stands to reason that one of history's most solid artists teaming up with one of history's most solid music producers will only ever turn out albums that are pure gold.
And gold is exactly what American VI: Ain't No Grave is.
I didn't become a fan of Cash until long after the American Recordings series was far underway. To be exact, back when I was in high school I saw the video for the song "Hurt" (from American IV: The Man Comes Around which was borrowed from Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor) on MTV. Obviously, I'd already heard of Johnny Cash but I'd never really given his music the time of day. But for some reason--and don't ask me why cause I was a clueless high school student--the song "Hurt" and it's accompanying music video really struck me.
Johnny Cash ran the gamut of the music business and all it had to offer. In the process he definitely had his struggles but the beautiful thing is that he ended up coming full circle in terms of realizing what was important, or, if you will, he got back to his roots with the American Recordings series.
As I said before, I came into the American Recordings series around the time of American IV: The Man Comes Around. As far as I'm concerned, that installment will always be the series' pinnacle. But as far as American VI: Ain't No Grave is concerned, I definitely don't feel like it disappoints. In fact, I feel like it holds it's own quite well. If I ever made an overarching claim about music in general, in terms of our enjoyment of it or lack thereof, it is always going to include our emotional connection to it on one way or another. And for me? I've emotionally connected to the American Recordings series from its inception all the way to this last installment.
It's appropriate that this album is the last in the series because if there's one theme that can be derived, it is that of death. With the previous installment in the series American V: A Hundred Highways as well as this current one, it is fairly obvious that Cash was personally dealing with the theme of death and knowing that (at that time) it was not that far off. I have to applaud Rick Rubin for his selection of this particular set of songs for this album versus the previous installment. It is almost as though throughout the entire American Recordings series we are following Cash on the last real journey of his life: that last stretch of road that ends where this life does. That is truly powerful. And this last installment in the series almost gives the statement, "I know my time has come and this is my goodbye to you. Thank you for all of the great times."
There is only one original Cash composition here, "I Corinthians 15:55". Again, the theme as it directly relates to this specific passage in scripture, is that of death. It is almost uncanny how, looking back, it seems like with this release as well as the last, Cash can tell what is looming on the horizon and is okay with it. And if I may be so bold, it almost seems as though he wants to make sure that we're okay with it too.
Very rarely will you find anything but simply Cash's voice and an accompanying guitar being the only instruments here. But for the message that I feel is being communicated, you really don't need much more. And as for the places where more is in fact added, it is just the right amount (see the piano on the Sheryl Crow-written "Redemtion Day" or the tone-setting foot stomps and chain jingles of the albums opener "Ain't No Grave"). Cash and Rubin have demonstrated time and time again throughout this series their collective ability to take well-known songs and give us as listeners a completely new, raw, and emotional look at them.
At first glance, the closing song to this album and series--the Queen Lili'uokalani-composed "Aloha Oe"--may cause a person to question the reason behind choosing it as such. It was Johnny's personal choice to do so and rightfully so, Rubin honored that choice. But looking at the album as a whole, or even the series a whole, and after having heard their version of it and how it fits into the progression of the album I can't seem to come up with a more appropriate way for Johnny Cash to say, "Goodbye friends, it's been a great ride."
It is no secret that all throughout Johnny Cash's life and especially in his last years, he was extremely spiritual and it shows through in songs like the aforementioned "I Corinthians 15:55". As I listen to this album and think back on the life and career of Johnny Cash I really can't think of a more appropriate way to close other than to keep with the theme of scripture and quote Job chapter one, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there..." Every person's life begins submerged in simplicity and when we die it can be argued that we're returning to that simplicity. Fortunately for us, this is when we got some of Johnny Cash's best music.
Description of American VI: Ain't No Grave
American VI: Ain't No Grave, is the sixth and final installment of Johnny Cash's critically-acclaimed American Recordings album series. As with the previous five albums in the American Recordings series, American VI was produced by Rick Rubin.American VI is deeply elegiac and spiritual, with each song its own piece of the puzzle of life's mysteries and challenges - the pursuit of salvation, the importance of friendships, the dream of peace, the power of faith, and the joys and adversities that entail simple survival. It is an achingly personal and intimate statement, as, from the end of the line, Johnny Cash looks back on a most extraordinary life.
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