For All Those Johnny Cash Lovers
 

There is going to be an album released from the 80s which has never seen the light of day! Out Among The Stars is the title and there are 12 tracks in total on it. It should be interesting to see if it can stand up to the work that was done with Rick Rubin. March 24 I think was the proposed release date.

Its in no way going to hold up to anything done with Rick Rubin.

Cash early albums from fifties/sixties are better than the Rubin ones, though

I will not even think about comparisons - the right way to look at this release is to understand the time when the sessions took place. I look forward to hearing this. Knowing what his music was like at that time, it might be a difficult ride to go through, but it was his final days with Columbia (The Baron was an album that only went to #201 in the Mainstream charts with the label possibly looking for an excuse to dump him) and it was a time when it was getting difficult for classic legendary Country artists to fit in with the Urban Cowboy times of the day, although I'm sure that there's still a bit of what makes his music unique in there.

There was a reason it never got released, and now someone is willing risk the mans good rep to make a few bucks. Sounds about right.

Still, looking forward to hearing it.

Happens to all the greats!

Does anyone else think we've hit a limit on Johnny Cash stuff? I like him, but the market saturation is just...painful.

It is just natural. He was one of the greatest, after all.

Johnny Cash is a great singer. He made some great songs. I want to give you credit. I hope you got collections of Cash's great music.

Is it only me, or does Johnny seem way more beloved now that he is gone compared to when he was here. I just seems that way more people are pouring over his work now compared to before. There may be a genuine examination of the man's entire career that did not seem to be going on while he was alive.

Meh, its been going on since he put out "Hurt"

He was always highly regarded, but it is true that the interest in his music has been stronger than ever thanks to the American series of albums. In my opinion, it was not just with "Hurt", but the modern respect for his music that would have seen this collection come out even without the worldwide hit cover of Nine Inch Nails was with his last albums that brought out the best in his music since The 60's/Early 70's. Really, you could say that one middle finger against the Hat Music of the day was what did it!

Although "Hurt" did return him to worldwide success, one might say that his appearance on U2's Zooropa on "The Wanderer" sparked the roots of the serious group of modern listeners that formed the most of his fans today. After American Recordings, he was already back to being highly regarded after a long time in the wilderness, but it is true that only recently that group of listeners is at it's strongest thanks to American 4's major breakthrough, but that's a bit of an over-statement considering the love of his music that has been around since he first released records back at Sun.


Back to the time discussed with this collection...

There was some strong music in Cash's troubled times - his early 80's era focused in this collection did include the well-regarded Johnny 99. Sadly, after his highly successful Folsom Prison/San Quentin era, Columbia just shoved him aside to the point where he was only seen by the small devoted following - one might say that his serious devotion to his music was not seen as highly marketable to the suits in a growing entertainment-driven business which saw Country go "Countrypolitan" and fitting with the Urban Cowboy/early Hat Music of the day which was at odds with Cash's serious style, but that's just my guess.

The big surprise that it was an album with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson in The Highwaymen that offered a strong comeback when his Columbia career was at an end in 1985! People were still taking notice, and although it was with being part of a team, it was a comeback that had the help of great friends that complimented Cash's serious style that was seen as a hard sell in The 80's.

Here's a series of songs that hint at what the new collection might sound like..and it may be a very good album! To some it may not be in the league of his classics, but considering the tough ride he had with Columbia at that time, it will be a very interesting listen that serious Cash fans will want to hear.

1980 saw the release of Rockabilly Blues with a very sad looking cover, but a sound that sees Cash still in tradition. Listenable, but slightly losing focus by this time.



1981 saw the release of The Baron, which was a very small Country hit. This was not highly reviewed, but it did have a promotional film for it's title track.



Following an appearance on the Dukes of Hazard TV Show Soundtrack tie in album, there was The Adventures of Johnny Cash, returning to more traditional sounds in the early MTV era in The States.



Then there was the acclaimed Johnny 99...



1985 saw the release of Rainbow, including a cover of CCR's Have You Ever Seen the Rain. Once again, it saw very few sales, and the sound was really over-slick trying for an 80's hit and at odds with Cash's very down to earth style.




And then there was The Highwaymen...




Now getting to a humorous finale to the story before he went onto Mercury in the Late 80's...

It was getting to a point where Cash recorded the infamous "Chicken in Black" in 1984. Some say that it was to anger Columbia, who actually released it as a single with a promo video. Spoofing "Man in Black" and his serious tale telling style, this was a mark of a very low time, although in my opinion it had a precursor dating back to the 1966 album Everybody Loves a Nut, a small success following a non-charting Sings the Ballads of the True West with at least a classic hit "The One on the Right Is On the Left" included. Sadly, this single was in a mist of a serious fall that had his last Top 200 Album appearance dating back to 1978's One Piece At a Time.



Still, I think that just a bold finger against the Country Music Establishment when he was successful with in The 90's using the great photo from his San Quentin show in 1969 was a better statement!

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/20...-cashs-finger/

http://www.uproxx.com/music/2013/02/...-to-the-world/

Thanks to a move to Mercury, and a cult hit with The Class of '55 recorded album with Roy Orbison, there was some interest in his music again, but even there he faced a lot of difficulty in getting his career back on track.

The Bear Family series of collections did very well to further the respect for his music in the Early 90's before American Recordings.