It’s a Bleedin’ Board: The Man in Black is Back
Written by: Kevin Brennan
Welcome to “It’s a Bleedin’ Board,” a periodic review of great bootlegs from my eclectic archives.
Today we’re checking out an artist truly deserving of being called a legend, Johnny Cash. Hell, he was a legend after only about 10 years in the business, still a legend before Nashville shunned him in the 80s, a legend recreated in 1994 with the help of Rick Rubin, and finally a legend in death. That’s one legendary career.
This performance is from June 1994 at the annual Glastonbury Festival, a name familiar to all bootleg collectors since about a billion boots sprang from BBC broadcasts over the years straight from Worthy Farm.
Johnny’s career had just been revived thanks to the release of American Recordings, a collection of stark songs which featured Johnny and his acoustic guitar and a welcome dose of hands-off production by Def Jam founder Rick Rubin.
Never before had anyone just let Cash turn it loose with a guitar and that voice. It was a stroke of genius that brought him new found fame, fans and respect.
Now on to the show…
“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”
Kicking it off with the best outlaw song ever written, “Folsom Prison Blues,” Johnny brings it strong right away leaving no doubt that at 62 years old, he was still the baddest man in town.
“Get Rhythm,” a true rockabilly classic from 1956 follows and gives the band, which features the master of rockabilly shuffle, drummer W.S. Holland, guitarist supreme Bob Wootton, and Nashville fixture Dave Roe on bass, a chance to really lock in.
The hits keep comin’ with “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down,” the CMA Song of the Year in 1970 written by Kris Kristofferson. It sounds great here and still evokes the emerging sense of versatility that Johnny was searching for in 1970 and displaying at the Festival.
“Ring of Fire,” the song that would define Johnny’s love for June Carter, jumps up quickly and, despite the absence of the mariachi horns, reminds us how powerful a song can be in less than three minutes.
“Thank you. I love you people.”
Speaking of short songs, Cash brings out another one of his brief but poignant tales of love, “I Guess Things Happen That Way.” Ever the picture of conflicted emotion, this song says a lot in a little bit of time and keeps the easy confident feel of the older material flowing.
“I really looked forward to coming to Glastonbury. I never expected such a reception and I really appreciate it a lot.”
The crowd is thrilled to be in Johnny’s presence and grows more so as the show continues. If only the dork with the whistle would give it a rest once in awhile…
Next up is the portion of the show where Cash debuts four new songs for the audience. He sounds reinforced by the crowd but also tentative in bringing them forward. The American Recordings album represented a big change aimed at a new audience. Good or bad, this gig would go a long way in telling the story of the new Johnny Cash.
From the open of “Delia’s Gone,” and through “The Beast in Me,” "Let the Train Blow the Whistle,” and “Bird on a Wire,” his voice wavers a bit but he’s in control of the material and is well-received.
Hurdle cleared, it’s back to old business.
“Big River” comes barreling in followed by the arrival of June Carter - “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout…”and the great duet “Jackson.”
“Orange Blossom Special” and “A Boy Named Sue” close out the broadcast with authority and leave me wanting more and that’s the mark of a good show.
Considering that this comes from a radio broadcast laid to tape, the quality is very good. It does suffer from arbitrary edits but none of the content is cut aside from station IDs.
The broadcast runs 44 minutes without commercials.
Check out these cover versions of songs appearing on this bootleg:
Reverend Horton Heat - “Get Rhythm” from Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash 2002
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” from Love Their Country 2006
Social Distortion – “Ring of Fire” from Social Distortion 1990
Nick Lowe – “The Beast In Me’ from The Impossible Bird 1994
Leonard Cohen – “Bird On a Wire” from Songs From a Room 1989
Joshua James – “A Boy Named Sue” from Tanked Up and Derailed 1999
**Written by Shel Silverstein
For Johnny live on DVD from this era, consider the following.
CommentsRecord Store Day in Cleveland and beyond….
Written by: Matt Wardlaw
Getting stoked for Record Store Day? We're barely a month away from RSD09, and news continues to stream in regarding all sorts of exclusive releases that are planned for April 18th.
Make sure that you're following the official Twitter feed which recently had news regarding vinyl exclusives including a Beck/Sonic Youth split 7", and exclusive 7" releases from Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and our man Bruce Springsteen.
Esquire Magazine has a list of "75 albums that every guy should own."
What about the girls? Who cares about the girls! Just kidding, Mel - please don't hit me!
Among those 75 albums, it looks like our man Bruce nabbed a well-deserved spot with Darkness On The Edge of Town....just in case you don't own that one, for some strange reason.
Esquire also has your bitching about the list covered with an additional list of "Glaring Omissions" - 30 Records You Probably Want On This List.
What the hell? Bring me the head of the bastard that left The Joshua Tree off the main list. And Purple Rain. And Thriller. We really need to talk about this.
Backstreets has more info on the Bruce 7" (Thanks to Blogness for the tip!)
A new Springsteen seven-inch is being pressed for Record Store Day, featuring "What Love Can Do" as the A-side and "A Night With the Jersey Devil" as the B-side. It'll be available exclusively not from Wal-Mart, not from Amazon, but from indie stores.
So if you're here in Cleveland....where can you go to be a part of Record Store Day on April 18th?
C'mon, you know that Music Saves is at the top of the list, with additional retailers including Record Den in Mentor, Spin-More Records and Turnup Records in Kent, The Joy of Music on Lee Road, and Ultrasound in Willoughby. Find more participating stores in your neck of the woods using the store locator.
Here in Cleveland, we'll have team coverage for Record Store Day. "CB" aka the Cleveland Bachelor will be at his home away from home, Music Saves. I'll be making a midday visit to bring him food from Melt to tide him over during the long shift. Truthfully, Record Store Day falls on the normal day that CB visits Music Saves anyway...but you don't know that!
After I drop off the care package to CB, I'll head out to Mentor and lose myself in the stacks at Record Den for a minimum of 8 hours during my quest to become the first person to get thrown out of Record Den on Record Store Day. Use the PayPal button on the right hand side to donate to the "get Matt out of Jail" fund. All donations are appreciated.
Jose and Kelly will be working crowd control at Music Saves to help make sure that CB's rare appearance doesn't cause public pandemonium.
The above picture was taken during CB's appearance at Music Saves during last year's Record Store Day.
Brian from Broken Headphones already told me that he has the stores in Kent covered, where he will be live-blogging the event from both record stores simultaneously. Which sounds complicated.
The best part about it all, is that our good friend Burgo will be coming in from Australia to capture the entire day of Cleveland events on video.
Our comrade Mel will enjoy pre-game at an undisclosed bar where we will all wind up to celebrate a victoriously successful Record Store Day.
There are portions of the above Cleveland information that might be exaggerated just a tad. But all of the venues mentioned above are participating in Record Store Day.
No matter what zip code you're in, get out there and support your favorite local indie retailer....and buy me something while you're at it!
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