Johnny Cash-Unchained (1996)

 

Artist: Johnny Cash

Title:  Unchained

Label: American Recordings

Format: CD

Cat #: 9 43097-2

Year of Release: 1996

Country and Year of Edition Issue:

Listed Condition:VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 5/18/21

Sell Price: $3.49

Discogs Last Sold: 4/25/21

Low: $2.00

Median: $3.73

Average: $3.96

High: $8.55

Current low price:$3.66

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 17

Have/Want: 753/130

Where Sold: Leland, NC

Time it took to sell: 8 years

Where and When Bought: Sounds NYC used promo $8.99

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

The second release in the American series overseen by Rick Rubin in the final decade of Cash's life.  These releases were uniformly strong although something like a rework of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" doesn't quite hold up the way Tom Petty's "Southern Accents" does.

One thing I found striking about this one was how familiar I was with this particular album, but how I couldn't quite date it in my mind the way I could the first one or the 4th one.  I was truly sold on the "back to basics" marketing aesthetic and certain cuts like the Petty duet "The Kneeling Drunkard" and "I've Been Everywhere" were favorites at the time.  I remember why now with a couple decades plus gone since my last listen.  It is a straight up, no frills Rock record.  The Rubin aesthetic was a reaction to the aural assault of 80's production imposed on the great songwriters from the first couple decades of rock and was an attempt to right those wrongs by keeping the baby and getting rid of the production bathwater of the major labels once and for all.

So many great, distinctive voices were taken for granted as eternal around the time of this release.  Now Cash, Petty and even Chris Cornell are long gone and nothing has really replaced them.  Some voices remain, and some rise up by default.  Cash got about 40 some odd years in to put his particular stamp on recorded medium and his time is long gone.  One thing remains clear with this release.  Everything dates to it's time and it's a very rare feat for a recording to be truly timeless.  The mind tends to strip away trappings of dated production upon recollection in most genres, but even a reductionist aesthetic is ultimately just that.  Is it any wonder that Dylan hates these records as much as he loves the Sun ones?  Imagine having some guru Svengali trying to lord over him late in life.

This was a healthier Lordship than Nashville had to offer at the time.