Average Rating: 
Rating:  - beyond words
Before listening to this album, I had been a "casual" Cash fan at best; I was acquainted only with the widely known and easily recognizable classics like "I Walk the Line" and "Folsom Prison Blues" and also with some of his American III covers. But one listen to "Hurt," and I was converted. I had always been a fan of Trent Reznor's original, but Cash's rendition gave new meaning, new depth, new vitality to the song--which all his covers on this album do, some even surpassing the orginals.Cash's illnesses have clearly taken a toll on his voice, as he himself has admitted. And yet, even though he sounds much older and his voice is shakier and a little raspier, the old strength is still there somehow--the power and conviction of The Man in Black still resonate. The songs here are full of character, full of passion, performed by a man who has "been there," who hasn't always had the easiest of times. The opening track, Cash's own "The Man Comes Around," is a stirring and chilling (in a good way) portrayal of the Apocalypse. And the image of "the whirlwind in the thorn tree" is simply perfect, so rich in meaning. I've only recently begun my journey into Cash's music, but I definitely must put this among his very best. "Hurt," "Hung My Head," and "In My Life" stand out (at least to me) among the covers. "In My Life" has a slower, darker, more melancholy feeling than The Beatles original; Cash adds a whole range of emotion and meaning that The Beatles didn't convey, and somehow Cash's seems more appropriate to the lyrics--in any event, I'll never hear the song the same way again. I've never heard Sting's "Hung My Head," but the song and its topic seem as though they were tailor-made for Cash. Had I not known it was a Sting cover, I'd have guessed it was one of Cash's own. And "Hurt"--absolutely amazing. Words really can't quite describe this song--the pain and regret that are there, the torment and bewilderment, the loss. Listening to this song, I'm convinced it is HIS, no matter who wrote it. But there's not a bad, or even remotely bad, track on this album. Each song is a gem, special in its own way, whether written by Cash or not. This is music as it should be--deep and personal and meaningful and emotional, not superficial like nearly all of today's rock and pop and much of modern country. It's the kind of music that you listen to and never forget. It has a beauty all its own. It touches you at the core of your being and changes you--in ways you can't quite put your finger on, can't quite describe. This is the kind of music Johnny Cash makes. And this is the kind of music that fills American IV.
Rating: - A transcendant piece...
This music stands with Astral Weeks, Sgt Pepper, and Blonde on Blonde, and Big Pink. It's stark, and overwhelming, and so beautiful... All of the songs you thought you knew you didn't. You haven't heard 'Bridge Over Trouble Waters.' Paul Simon couldn't have meant this much when he wrote it. Cash couldn't have understood 'Give My Love To Rose' when he wrote it. 'In My Life' was pretty sentiment, then. Here, it is a bedrock statement, a will, a legacy of dignity and love. Listen here to a Great American Hero, a hero like Whitman, or Ginsberg, or Hawthorne or Woody Guthrie. Listen here to the reason that John Ford made 'Fort Apache,' and Pynchon wrote
'Gravity's Rainbow,' and Nicholson became Jake in 'Chinatown.' People, this is the sound of a man dying, with the strength, grace and the dignity of an angel, or a cowboy. Thank Christ that you were alive to hear him.
Rating: - Beautiful
Johnny Cash returns with another beautiful, sparse, haunting album. As with everything since the terrific first "American Recordings" album, it's the small songs that are the most moving. While "Personal Jesus" may get the most name recognition on this album, it's Cash's renderings of "Danny Boy" (just Cash's voice and a church organ), "Desperado", and his duet with Nick Cave on Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" that really stand out.But most of all, there are the opening and closing tracks. The opening title song is based on the Book of Revelations and shows Cash's continuing strength in Gospel based songwriting. The closing track will be familiar to fans of "Dr. Strangelove" - "We'll meet again". The last thirty seconds are worthy of being played and sung along with at full volume.
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