User:Cromag/Reviews

This page has been set up for several reasons. First, it is a satisfying way for me to express my opinion and music is, to me, an element of everyday life on which opinions should be brought to the light; or maybe that's just my way of rationalizing my urge to publicly commend or criticize specific albums by specific artists. Whatever the case, it is also, undoubtedly, a good way to practice and retain my English skills; even though I've had contact with the language all my life, nothing will change the fact that it is not, ultimately, my native language and, especially at a point in time where my contact with English is limited to Wikipedia and occasional chats with a handful of people, it is important to preserve what I assume I still have.

Prior to this, I had tried privately reviewing computer games for a time, saving the results of my work on my PC. When the time came for me to practically set games aside, I stopped, though I may write a few more someday, if I get into the mood. My few book reviews were rather unprofessional and I don't consider myself up to the task of writing those; there are simply people who can express their likes and dislikes about a particular book in coherent and highly readable sentences, while I am quite unable to do so. I thought briefly about reviewing a number of motion pictures, but once again, I finally felt that my knowledge in the field is not sufficient. And so, I'm turning to albums.

I highly doubt anyone in his right mind will actually read all this, but it's all practice for me. In any case, the forthcoming reviews will primarily encompass older releases, though several newer records will undoubtedly appear eventually. I'll start in an unorthodox fashion, though, with an album that few people recall, an album that is nevertheless important for several reasons.

Johnny Cash – The Mystery of Life (1991)

Johnny Cash's career had been in a noticeable, long-lasting and ever-worsening lull when The Mystery of Life was almost silently released in 1991. It was never more clear that the days of "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues" or "A Boy Named Sue" were gone with the wind. After a long and varied – with pioneering concept albums like Ride This Train (1960) or Bitter Tears (1964) standing alongside the monumentally successful live records At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin - career with Columbia, Cash had split ways with the latter after sales of releases like Rainbow (1986) or Heroes convinced the label that Cash was a has-been, a thing of the past (much like fellow artist Waylon Jennings was perceived at the time).

Almost immediately, however, he was added to the roster of musicians on another major label, Mercury, resulting in the mildly successful Johnny Cash is Coming to Town (1987), with its recordings of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons" and Elvis Costello's "The Big Light". Drenched in Jack Clement's decidedly non-minimalist production, the record was nevertheless a breath of fresh air for both Cash and his fans, though subsequent albums – including an almost universally-bashed release of re-recordings of older songs entitled Classic Cash (1987) – scored lower and lower on the charts until, finally, the world once again left Cash behind and moved on to newer, younger and, as was commonly held at the time, more exciting artists. Those that turned away from Cash received a sharp and decisive kick in the gut when the American series began to rebuild the singer's image in a dark and grave manner, as evidenced by 1994's acoustic American Recordings, with grim songs of murder ("Delia's Gone"), faith ("Redemption") and death ("Down There by the Train"). Faced with such strong future competition of the artist's own making, The Mystery of Life was destined to suffer the fate of immediately fading into obscurity. Nevertheless – or rather even more so – it is important to take a closer look at it as Cash's final collaboration with Cowboy Jack Clement and as a sampler of the former's career before Rick Rubin took him in a new and previously unexplored direction.

The album's front cover, with its rather bizarre color scheme and portraying a greyscale, grave-looking Cash among dozens of passers-by, foreshadows several of the more introspective songs on the record. Admittedly, neither the cover nor the tracks themselves rival American Recordings or its sequels in gloomy contemplation, but one can clearly pick out the elements which would later become vital to the success of the Cash's Rubin-produced 1990s work.

The reminiscing and the reflection, albeit ficitonalized, make their first appearance on the record's strangely lightweight title track, which manages to ponder existence while simultaneously retaining a loose storyline involving the musings of a truck driver, a favorite topic in country music. At the same time, however, Cash shows signs of a bitter and on-point sense of humor: "Now Georgia Bill Smith wore thick glasses and boots / He could see 'bout as far as he could walk / He came up too fast on that bridge overpass / Oh the preacher sure gave a fine talk". Yet it is the final few songs that both offer a somber take on life and drive home the notion – obscurely hinted at in various places – that the man behind the microphone is getting ready to hang the latter up. Tom T. Hall's "I'll Go Somewhere and Sing My Songs Again" was a well thought-out choice for a duet with the well-known songwriter and is probably the most blatant goodbye statement on the record, while John Prine's "The Hobo Song", despite its use of a multitude of background vocalists singing harmony, successfully conveys the message that there comes a time when a tired soul must one day make the difficult decision to give up roaming and settle down. Conversely, the latter recording alludes to nostalgia for the joyous days of yesteryear, a feeling which is most apparent in the chorus: "Please tell me where have all the hobos gone to / I see no fire burning down by the rusty railroad tracks / Could it be that time has gone and left them / tied up in life's eternal travelin' sack?".

And yet, despite the sadness and vague philosophical statements scattered throughout, The Mystery of Life also touches on almost all the topics dear to Cash, topics he used to pen and/or perform the classics which became the highlights of his career. The album's first few tracks more than prove that the man's songwriting skills did not waver at points where his career was in a crisis. "The Greatest Cowboy of Them All", a less upbeat and rowdy version of which had been recorded previously in the late 1970s and released years later on God, seizes another commonly-used topic and puts a very distincitve, very Cash twist on it, telling the story of Jesus through a concept so often identified as Americana. Political statements and references – most likely to the Gulf War, which was raging full-force while Cash was recording the track in 1990 – abound on the apocalyptic "Goin' by the Book", whose title is yet another allusion to the Bible. But while that song is a prime example of Cash at his most serious, attempting to carry and deliver and important moral message, it is hardly a match for the demented and extremely bitter hilarity of "Beans for Breakfast", likely the best track on The Mystery of Life. The self-penned tale of a sarcastic, unlucky, "hungry, nasty, lonesome man" is difficult to listen to with a straight face, both due to the nonsense contained within the lyrics and Cash's faux-serious performance, complete with higher-pitch moments when the singer's voice is strangely reminiscent of the vocal talent of Waylon Jennings; all of this combines to form a forgotten classic whose humor rivals, I daresay, "A Boy Named Sue", and certainly outranks less successful efforts like "Chicken in Black", one of the few relatively well-known Cash singles to never be included on a full-length release.

Those intent on battling re-recordings of older songs will undoubtedly find a bone to pick with The Mystery of Life; Cash takes on two that he had made famous before. Bob Dylan's "Wanted Man", having first appeared in a take by Cash on the soundtrack to the obscure Little Fauss and Big Halsy, is given proper, dynamic treatment on the 1991 release, though it had been recorded five years earlier. The style in which the singer breaks into the performance with a determined air prevents the song from being perceived as filler. "Hey Porter" is similarly strong, if not more so, an example of Cash's ability to transform a song which had been written almost four decades earlier (and had also become his first single) and make it sound almost as fresh as it did with the Tennessee Two; Cash performs the track with an unexpected passion and vigor that matches Clement's frantic production.

And indeed, if there is anything that, in some listeners' opinion, mars the superior – especially compared to Cash's other releases of the highly unsuccessful late Columbia and entire Mercury period – quality of The Mystery of Life, it is Clement's flashy musical backgrounds to the songs. Admittedly, most of them outshine those of the artist's previous releases and the producer manages to mostly avoid a sonic invasion, as seen on "The Big Light", but he does slip sporadically. This is perhaps most apparent on "I'm an Easy Rider", which goes overboard at times with the use of reverb and begins – or rather, breaks out – just a bit too rapidly for Cash's voice to blend comfortably with the avalanche of percussion. Volume issues are also at large in the same song, which is otherwise as strong as any of the other selections.

The Mystery of Life didn't break any boundaries when it was released. It didn't contain the deeply reflective lyrics of the Rubin era albums, it used, as did numerous other albums released by the singer, Cowboy Jack Clement's oft-panned production techniques, it didn't introduce many new concepts into Cash's catalogue, it was a commercial failure (peaking at #70, with "Goin' by the Book" receiving little, if any, airplay) and it didn't bring Cash renewed recognition. But it is an honest and enjoyable record, crafted with dedication, skill and considerably strong song selection, as well as an album that highlights the music the artist released prior to signing with American Recordings, not to mention the fact that it is simply the best of Cash's Mercury albums, an excellent coda to an era of his career which, broadly, encompasses almost all of his recordings from 1954 to the early 1990s. Cash had lost his commercial appeal long before 1991; as it turned out, he had one more comeback in him, one which propel him a final time to international superstardom.

Upcoming reviews

Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings - Heroes
The Highwaymen - Highwayman
The Highwaymen - Highwayman 2
The Highwaymen - The Road Goes on Forever
Johnny Cash - American Recordings
Johnny Cash - Unchained
Johnny Cash - American III: Solitary Man
Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
Johnny Cash - With His Hot and Blue Guitar
Johnny Cash - Johnny 99
Waylon Jennings - The Eagle
Johnny Cash - Boom Chicka Boom
Johnny Cash - Water from the Wells of Home
Johnny Cash - Rockabilly Blues
Johnny Cash - Gone Girl
Yusuf Islam - An Other Cup
Jerry Lee Lewis - Last Man Standing
Donnie Darko - Soundtrack
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison / At San Quentin
Walk the Line - Soundtrack
Gabriel Knight - Soundtrack
The Bellamy Brothers - Sons of the Sun
Canibus - Rip the Jacker
Cat Stevens - New Masters
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Johnny Cash - Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian
Johnny Cash - Blood, Sweat and Tears
Johnny Cash - Unearthed
Johnny Cash - Everybody Loves a Nut
Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town
Eminem - Encore
Eminem - The Eminem Show
The Offspring - Americana
Peter Gabriel - Up
Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
Waylon Jennings, Steve Cash, John Dillon, Jessi Colter - White Mansions
Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonk Heroes
Waylon Jennings - The Ramblin' Man
Waylon Jennings - This Time
Waylon Jennings - Closing In on the Fire
Waylon Jennings - Waymore's Blues (Part II)
Various Artists - For a Few Guitars More
Yoriyos - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
CKY - Infiltrate-Destroy-Rebuild