American IV: The Man Comes Around

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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:

American IV: The Man Comes Around

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  • Artist: Johnny Cash
  • Rating: StarStarStar
  • Release Date: November 05, 2002
  • Total Time: 51:56
  • Genre: Country

Review

Johnny Cash's fourth project with producer Rick Rubin continues on the same path as many of their previous releases: Cash's warm and rumbling baritone over minimal production and gentle duets with some surprising guests. One of the things that sets American IV: The Man Comes Around apart from the others is Cash's song selections. The success he experienced with his previous interpretations of contemporary songwriters (Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage," Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat") is applied to this album with varying degrees of success. His throaty reading of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" easily fits into his "Man in Black" persona, and the spiritual conviction underlying Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" is certainly powerful. Unfortunately, the inclusion of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (featuring a lost-sounding Fiona Apple) and a passionless snooze through the Beatles' "In My Life" should have been so much stronger (given the subject matter of both songs and Cash's prolific life story). One of the reasons his previous covers were so successful is that in the past he had chosen some pretty obscure songs (Bonnie Prince Billy's "I See a Darkness" and Beck's "Rowboat," to name a couple) and reinterpreted them with his unique perspective and unmistakable voice. However, there is really no need to hear his versions of the Irish standard "Danny Boy" or the clunky rendition of Sting's "I Hung My Head," since something about them just doesn't fit -- either Cash wasn't entirely comfortable with the song or the performance was never fully realized. Luckily, the new songs Cash wrote for the album are pretty strong, and his cover of the standard "We'll Meet Again" is among the best versions of the song ever recorded. It is a relief to hear that, although Cash's voice is clearly older and not the booming powerhouse it was in the earlier Sun and Columbia days, he's still got some punch left in him, and the wisdom he's gained in his later life seeps through between the grooves, revealing a man who has lived through it all and lived to tell the tale. ~ Zac Johnson, Rovi

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

American IV: The Man Comes Around

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American IV: The Man Comes Around
Studio album by Johnny Cash
Released November 5, 2002
Genre Country, Americana
Length 51:55
Label American Recordings / Universal
Producer Rick Rubin
John Carter Cash
Johnny Cash chronology
Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden
(2002)
American IV: The Man Comes Around
(2002)
Unearthed
(2003)
American series chronology
American III: Solitary Man
(2000)
American IV: The Man Comes Around
(2002)
Unearthed
(2003)

American IV: The Man Comes Around is the fourth album in the American series by Johnny Cash, (and his 87th overall) released in 2002. This is the last album released before his death in 2003. The majority of songs are covers which Cash performs in his own spare style, with help from producer Rick Rubin. For instance, for the song "Personal Jesus", Rubin asked ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante to re-work an acoustic version of Martin Gore's song, which featured a simple acoustic riff that stripped down the song to a blues style. He receives backing vocal assistance from various artists, including Fiona Apple, Nick Cave, and Don Henley. American IV was the final Cash album released during his lifetime; though the Unearthed Box Set was compiled prior to his death, it was not released until two months later. It was also his first non-compilation album to go gold (selling over 500,000 copies) in thirty years. Additionally, the album won "Album of the Year" award at the 2003 CMA Awards.It was certified Gold on 4/24/2003 and Platinum on 11/21/2003 by the R.I.A.A.

The video for "Hurt", a song written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails in 1994, was nominated in seven categories at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and won the award for Best Cinematography. In February 2003, mere days before his 71st birthday, Cash won another Grammy Award for Best Country Male Vocal Performance for "Give My Love To Rose," a song Cash had originally recorded in the late 1950s. The music video for "Hurt" also won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video at the 2004 Awards.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor admitted that he was initially "flattered" but worried that "the idea [of Cash covering "Hurt"] sounded a bit gimmicky," but when he heard the song and saw the video for the first time, Reznor said he was deeply moved and found Cash's cover beautiful and meaningful.[1]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2.5/5 stars link
Robert Christgau A− link
Los Angeles Times 3.5/4 stars link
Contents

Track listing

  1. "The Man Comes Around" (Cash) – 4:26
  2. "Hurt" (Reznor) – 3:38
    Originally recorded by Nine Inch Nails for The Downward Spiral (1994)
  3. "Give My Love to Rose" (Cash) – 3:28
    Originally recorded by Cash for Sun, appears on Sings Hank Williams (1960), also appears on At Folsom Prison (1968)
  4. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Simon) – 3:55
    Originally recorded by Simon and Garfunkel for Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)
  5. "I Hung My Head" (Sting) – 3:53
    Originally recorded by Sting for Mercury Falling (1996)
  6. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (MacColl) – 3:52
    Was a number one hit for Roberta Flack (1972)
  7. "Personal Jesus" (Gore) – 3:20
    Originally recorded by Depeche Mode for Violator (1990)
  8. "In My Life" (Lennon–McCartney) – 2:57
    Originally recorded by The Beatles for Rubber Soul (1965)
  9. "Sam Hall" (Ritter) – 2:40
    Originally recorded by Cash for Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965)
  10. "Danny Boy" (Weatherly) – 3:19
    First published in 1910, previously recorded by Cash for Orange Blossom Special (1965)
  11. "Desperado" (Frey/Henley) – 3:13
    Originally recorded by The Eagles for the album of the same name (1973)
  12. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Williams) – 3:03
    Originally recorded by Hank Williams; previously recorded by Cash for Now, There Was a Song! (1960)
  13. "Tear Stained Letter" (Cash) – 3:41
    Originally recorded by Cash for A Thing Called Love (1972)
  14. "Streets of Laredo" – 3:33 (Traditional)
    Previously recorded by Cash for Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965)
  15. "We'll Meet Again" (Charles/Parker) – 2:58
    Most famously a hit for Vera Lynn (1939)

LP bonus tracks

Various editions of the album were released. Some include an extra interview disc or a DVD of the video for "Hurt". The vinyl edition of the album featured a slightly different track list and two bonus tracks which were subsequently released, slightly modified (Wichita Lineman with an additional guitar sound layer), on the box set Unearthed:

Personnel

Additional personnel

  • Rick Rubin - producer
  • John Carter Cash - producer, engineer
  • Thom Russo, Andrew Scheps, Chuck Turner - engineers
  • Vladimir Meller - mastering
  • Christine Cano - art direction, design
  • Martyn Atkins - photography
  • Lindsay Chase - production coordination
  • Dwight Hume, Jimmy Tittle - production assistants

Chart performance

Chart (2002) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 2
U.S. Billboard 200 22

Use in television and film

References

  • ^ Alternative Press #194. September, 2004.

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