"
American Recordings", the 81st
album by the country singer
Johnny Cash, was released 21 years ago today (26
April 1994). It was the first album issued by American Recordings after its name change from
Def American. In
2003, the album was ranked number
364 on
Rolling Stone magazine's list of the
500 greatest albums of all time.
Cash was approached by producer
Rick Rubin and offered a contract with
Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and heavy metal than for country music. Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded the album in his living room, accompanied only by his guitar. For years Cash was often at odds with his producers after he had discovered with his first producer,
Sam Phillips, that his voice was better suited to a stripped-down musical style. Most famously he disagreed with
Jack Clement over his sound,
Clement having tried to give Cash's songs a "twangy" feel and to add strings and barbershop-quartet-style singers. His successful collaboration with Rick Rubin was in part due to Rubin seeking a minimalist sound for his songs.
The songs "
Tennessee Stud" and "
The Man Who Couldn't Cry" were recorded live at the
Viper Room, a
Sunset Strip,
Los Angeles nightclub owned at the time by
Johnny Depp. "
The Beast In Me" was written and originally recorded by Cash's former stepson-in-law
Nick Lowe.
The video for the first single, the traditional song "
Delia's Gone" (directed by
Anton Corbijn, featuring
Kate Moss), was put into rotation on
MTV, and even appeared on
Beavis and Butt-head, Beavis asking if Cash was
Captain Kangaroo. The album was hailed by critics and many declared it to be Cash's finest album since the late
1960s, while his versions of songs by more modern artists such as
Tom Waits and
Glenn Danzig (who penned a song called "
Thirteen" specifically for Cash, in just twenty minutes) helped to bring him a new audience. "American Recordings" received a
Grammy for
Best Contemporary Folk Album of the Year at the
1994 Grammy Awards. The album cover was photographed whilst Cash was visiting
Australia, at
Werribee near
Melbourne.
"Johnny Cash was in the unenviable position of being a living legend who was beloved by fans of classic country music without being able to interest anyone in his most recent work when he was signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings label in
1994. Rubin, best known for his work with edgy rockers and hip-hop acts, opted to produce Cash's first album for
American, and as he tried to brainstorm an approach that would introduce Cash to a new audience, he struck upon a brilliant idea -- doing nothing. For American Recordings, Rubin simply set up some recording equipment in Cash's
Tennessee cabin and recorded him singing a set of songs accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. The result is an album that captured the glorious details of Johnny Cash's voice and allowed him to demonstrate just how emotionally powerful an instrument he possessed. While Rubin clearly brought some material to Cash for these sessions -- it's hard to imagine he would have recorded tunes by Glenn Danzig or Tom Waits without a bit of prodding -- Cash manages to put his stamp on every tune on this set, and he also brought some excellent new songs to the table, including the
Vietnam veteran's memoir "
Drive On," the powerful testimony of faith "
Redemption," and a sly but moving recollection of his wild younger days, "Like a
Soldier." American Recordings became a critical sensation and a commercial success, though it was overrated in some quarters simply because it reminded audiences that one of
America's greatest musical talents was still capable of making compelling music, something he had never stopped doing even if no one bothered to listen. Still, American Recordings did something very important -- it gave Cash a chance to show how much he could do with a set of great songs and no creative interference, and it afforded him the respect he'd been denied for so long, and the result is a powerful and intimate album that brought the
Man in Black back to the spotlight, where he belonged."
(
Review by
Mark Deming, www.allmusic.com)
- published: 26 Apr 2015
- views: 25461