1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #115. Johnny Cash - Live At Folsom Prison (1968)

Johnny Cash - Live At Folsom Prison (1968)

Label – Columbia
Producer – Bob Johnson
Art Direction – Jim Marshall
Nationality – USA
Running Time – 44:49

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)
1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Busted*
3. Dark As The Dungeon
4. I Still Miss Someone
5. Cocaine Blues
6. 25 Minutes To Go
7. Orange Blossom Special
8. The Long Black Veil
9. Send A Picture Of Mother
10. The Wall
11. Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog
12. Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
13. Joe Bean*
14. Jackson (with June Carter)
15. Give My Love To Rose (with June Carter)
16. I Got Stripes
17. The Legend Of John Henry's Hammer*
18. Green, Green Grass Of Home
19. Greystone Chapel

(* not part of original album, but part of the restored full concert CD)

I am not a Johnny Cash fan by any stretch of the imagination – but I knew full well before listening to this record that it is the stuff of legend. Cash performed two shows at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California on January 13, 1968, and it is then when he became the ‘man in black’. When the recording of that event “At Folsom Prison” was released in May of 1968, it became his defining moment. His choice of songs is inspired and he truly tailored the set to his audience. Tables full of murderers and thief’s all serving time in Folsom prison. Throughout the record Cash delivers sparse arrangements of haunting songs of crime, sadness and serving time in jail. With the song selections it’s easy to write off the entire thing as “gloomy” but with Johnny Cash’s vocals you believe the songs he’s singing and the record has an air of excitement to it as you feel that he relates to the prisoners as much as he is entertaining them. I listened to the expanded 1999 edition that added three bonus tracks to the original 16-track record. There is also a more complete 3 cd version release that came out in 2008 - containing both concerts uncut and remastered.
Despite very little initial investment by Columbia, the album was a huge hit in the United States, reaching number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. It received generally good reviews upon its release and has since been considered one of the greatest albums of all time. The single lifted from the record, a live version of "Folsom Prison Blues", suffered a setback when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968. Radio stations ceased playing the single due to the macabre line: "I shot a man in Reno/Just to watch him die". Columbia remixed the single with the line removed - despite protest from Cash and the single was edited and re-released. The new version became a success, hitting number one on the country charts and the top forty on the national charts. By August 1968, Folsom had shipped over 300,000 copies; two months later it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping over 500,000.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 88 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Also that year, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. Country Music Television named it the third greatest album in country music in 2006. Blender listed the album as the 63rd greatest American album of all time and as one of the "500 CDs You Must Own". In 2006, Time listed it among the 100 greatest albums of all time.
It is recommended.


You can purchase the CD here

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ON THIS DATE
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