JOHNNY CASH - THE MERCURY ALBUMS

After almost thirty years Columbia/CBS decided that they were not going to renew Johnny Cash's contract. The decision angered many people including Dwight Yoakam who said at the time, "The man's been there thirty fucking years making them money."

Fortunately for him there was a label prepared to sign him and it was Steve Popovich that brought him to Mercury Records. "I really believe in you, " Popovich told Cash during a meeting at The House of Cash. "Our company believes in you. We feel, with the right record that we can help support what you're trying to do here and get some strong records, some hit records." Cash signed with the label in 1986.

Despite releasing strong albums which it has been reported sold little over 200,00 copies in total, it soon became clear that the label were more interested in pandering to the younger artists in their cowboy hats and boots who could be seen everyday on Country Music Television.

Cash commented at the time, "I would get excited about my recording projects but nobody would share that, and I kept hearing demographics until it was coming out of my ears." Major commercial success was around the corner though with the unlikely pairing of Cash and Rick Rubin. More of which another time.

Over the years Cash's Mercury Records output has been repackaged many times. As well as straight re-issues of the albums there have been countless compilations with titles including Johnny Cash & Friends, All American Country and Wanted Man.

Now, for the first time, all five original albums have been released in a box set, The Complete Mercury Albums 1986-1991, with additional unreleased material.

The first album in the set is Class of '55 which wasn't actually released on the Mercury Label. On its release in 1986 it was issued on Smash Records, a subsidiary of Mercury, hence it's inclusion here. Recorded before he signed with Mercury the album featured Cash along with old Sun stablemates Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison and was recorded at Sun Studio and American Sound. The album was produced by Chips Moman, who had worked with Cash on the first two Highwaymen albums and his final solo CBS release, Rainbow. Backing the four artists were members of Cash's and Jerry Lee Lewis' bands along with some of the finest Memphis session men. Opening with Birth Of Rock And Roll, performed and written by Carl Perkins the artists sing solo and collectively on a selection of old and new material. Cash sings lead vocals on two numbers, I Will Rock And Roll With You, a song he originally recorded for his Gone Girl album, and We Remember The King, a tribute to Elvis Presley. Other highlights include Sixteen Candles, Keep My Motor Running and Coming Home, the latter featuring a haunting vocal by Roy Orbison. The album ends with the nearly eight-minute homage to Memphis, John Fogerty's Big Train (From Memphis) on which the four artists are joined by an all-star cast including Jack Clement, John Fogerty, Dave Edmunds, Sam Phillips, Chips Moman, Rick Nelson and many more. Like many collaborations featuring major stars the results are often disappointing and although this album is patchy in places it is an enjoyable journey back to the past. 

Cash's first official Mercury release was Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town, released in 1987 and produced by Jack Clement. The album opens with The Big Light, composed by Elvis Costello it is a song that is performed well by Cash. Two Cash originals are included, The Ballad Of Barbara, recorded twice before by Cash in 1973 and 1977, and I'd Rather Have You. He turns to the Guy Clark songbook for Let Him Roll and the strangely titled Heavy Metal (Don't Mean Rock And Roll To Me) while Sixteen Tons was written and originally recorded by Merle Travis. Inspired by the western swing band that Cash had listened to on the radio in his younger days James Talley's W. Lee O'Daniel (And The Light Crust Doughboys) is given an excellent performance by Cash. Good friend and fellow Highwayman Waylon Jennings joins Cash for the excellent The Night Hank Williams Comes To Town, one of the albums standout tracks. Cash was pleased to be working with Clement again although not everybody was as impressed with the albums production. Band member Marty Stuart felt it was 'cluttered' and urged Cash to get back to basics, even offering to produce stripped down versions. Cash and Clement's friendship and working relationship went back to the 1950s and his time at Sun and his loyalty prevailed... Clement's production won. A strong debut release.

Water From The Wells Of Home is the third album in the set and is my least favourite of his Mercury releases. I don't mind duets and guest appearances but on it's release I found many of the songs just didn't work for me and time hasn't changed my opinion. That is not to say there are not good songs on the album. Featuring Rosanne Cash and The Everly Brothers, the opening track, Ballad Of A Teenage Queen, is one of the best performances. Other strong tracks are Where Did We Go Right with June Carter-Cash and The Carter Family, A Croft In Clachan (The Ballad Of Rob MacDunn), a duet with Glen Campbell and I did enjoy New Moon Over Jamaica with the additional vocals from Paul McCartney. However I can live without John Carter's vocals on Call Me The Breeze and the title track while the remaining tracks I rarely play. This CD does feature two bonus tracks, alternate mixes of Ballad Of A Teenage Queen and That Old Wheel.

Classic Cash found Cash revisiting his past hits with twenty re-recordings of some of his greatest tracks. A strange decision but he certainly wasn't the only artist to re-record their hits. Neil Sedaka's Timeless album worked well, but although I like this album, it does suffer from over production and too many modern techniques. There was no way it was going to better the original recordings but it does include some good performances including Get Rhythm, Blue Train, The Ways Of A Woman In Love, I Got Stripes and Tennessee Flat Top Box. With his road band backing him on the album many of the songs are a reminder of what it was like to see Cash in concert at this stage of his career. An interesting release but although well performed by Cash none will ever replace or improve on the originals. 

Produced by Bob Moore, bass player from the famed Nashville 'A' Team, Boom Chicka Boom sees a return to the classic Cash sound and is my favourite of his Mercury albums. Opening with a Cash original, the lighthearted A Backstage Pass, which tells the story of being backstage at a Willie Nelson concert. It is very reminiscent of Cash's earlier comic recordings. Cash covers Harry Chapin's composition Cat's In The Cradle, sings about the dangers of pollution in Don't Go Near The Water, previously recorded for his 1974 Any Old Wind That Blows album, and turns to another Elvis Costello song Hidden Shame, which interestingly Costello didn't release himself until 2009. Family Bible features Cash's mother Carrie on its familiar tale of home. My two personal favourites are the romantic I Love You, Love You and the philosophical That's One You Owe Me which closes the original album. There are an additional seven tracks on this CD. Veteran's Day was the b-side of the The Mystery Of Life, I Shall Be Free featured as the b-side on Farmers Almanac while I Draw The Line is a previously unreleased Cash original. Also included are early versions of A Backstage Pass, Harley, That's One You Owe Me and Veteran's Day. All welcome additions to the set.

Cash's final Mercury album was Mystery Of Life which, once again, found Cash revisiting earlier material. This time he turns his attention to his first Sun release, Hey Porter, and the Bob Dylan/Johnny Cash composition Wanted Man, previously recorded by Cash on his San Quentin live prison album in 1969 and also during the legendary Cash/Dylan sessions which I wrote about in an earlier blog. A few of the tracks that make up the album date back to his first sessions for the label and at the time were deemed unsuitable for release on his debut album. The album doesn't suffer though as there are some very strong songs. Opening with the first of five original Cash compositions, The Greatest Cowboy Of Them All, sets the tone for the rest of the album. Highlights include John Prine's The Hobo Song, the title track written by Joe Nixon and three more Cash originals, I'm An Easy Rider, the humorous Beans For Breakfast and Angel And The Badman. Performed as a duet with the songs composer, Tom T. Hall, I'll Go Somewhere And Sing My Songs Again, is a personal favourite and would be prophetic considering what was around the corner. The album closes with a bonus track, the rare Faraway, So Close soundtrack version of The Wanderer. A great performance by Cash although I personally can't stand Bono or U2, fortunately the song is mainly Cash.

The Mystery Of Life didn't fair any better than than the previous releases neither did the singles which must have been a disappointment to Cash. Every one of his Mercury albums featured some strong performances and deserved to do much better on the charts. Unfortunately this signaled the end of his short career with Mercury Records. However, his career was set to reach new heights a few years later.

This leaves just one album on this new set to discuss, Classic Cash Early Mixes. These are certainly an improvement over the original release. The mixes are less cluttered and more basic. Out of the two I return to this album when wanting to play these tracks. The liner notes state that the Early Mixes set features two more songs, The Ways Of A Woman In Love and Home Of The Blues, which didn't make it to the original album. This is incorrect as both songs do appear on the original Classic Cash release. Not sure why they are presented in a different order to the original either, not that this detracts from the enjoyment. This album does not appear on the vinyl copy of the set as it was released separately for Record Store Day. 

Newly remastered from the original tapes by Kevin Reeves at UMG Studios in Nashville the sound is excellent on all the tracks. My only criticism about the set is the lack of unreleased material. Yes, we have a few unreleased alternate mixes, alternate versions and an unreleased track along with the early mixes of the Classic Cash album but there was room on each of the CDs to include a few extra unreleased songs. John L. Smith's excellent series of discographies lists several songs from this period that could have been included. OK, many may have been unsuitable for release but surely there is more than just the one unreleased track lying in the vault. I would love to hear Cash's studio recording of John Prine's Sam Stone, a song Cash performed live at Austin City. This was the ideal chance to make them available. An opportunity missed.

Packaging is important to me and this set doesn't disappoint. Each CD is presented in a reproduction sleeve, there is a 44-page booklet with comprehensive liner notes written by Scott Schinder, original album notes, track details, period photos and all housed in a sturdy box with a great image of Cash on the front.

Despite my reservations about some of the songs he recorded during this period The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 is a worthwhile release and it is good to have all the albums in one package.