Yes, this is an album review but likely not one you were expecting here on Bloviating Zeppelin.

First, I preface my comments by saying that my musical tastes are nothing short of esoteric and ranging from King Crimson to Dean Martin, Gentle Giant, Rush, Three Man Army, Material, ELP, Rob Zombie, Weather Report, Frank Zappa, Tony Bennett, Tool, Modern Jazz Quartet, Wishbone Ash, Foghat, Yes, Cheap Trick, Disturbed, Black Sabbath, Roy Wood, Be Bop Deluxe, Therion, Frank Sinatra, Porcupine Tree, Vivaldi, Procol Harum, ELO, Beethoven, Captain Beyond, Fairport Convention, Bryan Beller, The Kinks, Primus, Neil Young, Warren Zevon and on and on. I enjoy most every musical venue save that of rap, which simply is an excuse for showcasing those persons with no musical talent whatsoever — and is insulting, racist and sexist to boot. Jazz and the blues? Count me in.

Then I made a mistake and saw the movie Walk The Line with Joaquin Phoenix. For whatever reason that movie resonated. And I ordered the CD: The Legend of Johnny Cash — I found I got swallowed up in the songs Walk The Line, Ring Of Fire and I’ve Been Everywhere — I loved its rhythm and the lyrics and his delivery.

He started to remind me of Sinatra, with his clear delineation and distinct interpretation of a song.

Then I ordered American III: Solitary Man. That led to American IV and then the most recent release (July 4) from the Rick Rubin sessions, American V.

I am not an inherent fan of both types: country and western. Until I hit Johnny Cash. And then everything seemed to change. And now I’ve been listening to much of Jessi Colter (Out of the Ashes), Highwaymen, The Outlaws and now Cash’s American V.

I’d never realized what a truly remarkable American icon Johnny Cash was . . .

I walked into, of all places, a Sam’s Club and purchased American V last week. I listened to it as I drove back home. And I have to be honest: it hit home with me in a way that Warren Zevon’s The Wind continues to drive an emotional stake into my heart any time it is played.

Warren Zevon was me and I was him. His intelligence, his sarcasm, his black wit, did the same thing: it resonated. I had attended over 10+ WZ concerts. I last saw him during his Learning To Flinch acoustic tour; he is my overall favorite musical artist. I cannot listen to The Wind without some tears welling. I cannot watch the VH1 DVD (Inside) Out without similar tears forming as I listen to WZ’s voice breaking as he attempts to hit notes for his final album. He died on September 7th of 2003, of mesothelioma, at age 56.

Well I went home with a waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know?
She was with the Russians too!
Hyah!

I listened to American V and found myself captivated from, essentially, the first notes.

This is clearly not the best singing you would ever hear from Johnny Cash; predominantly, in truth, the singing is very poor. Another Rick Rubin (and the final album for Johnny Cash) production, the album has no echo on his voice; it is what it is. Some songs contain the breaking of Cash’s voice. He hits the notes he can and misses some. He is weak. In one song you can clearly hear him make a huge intake of necessary air in order to continue singing the next line.

It makes the album all the more poignant and striking to me. This is his last hurrah and, it turns out, his recorded goodbye to not only his life but the love of his life, June Carter. His song selection makes this obvious.

It is also his final preparation for his crossing and making good his life with the Lord. That much is also obvious in his song selection — with also his song selection in American IV: The Man Comes Around. And in that case The Man was, of course, his God.

I am listening to American V as I write this.

The first cut, Help Me, is an immediate appeal to his Lord:

The second cut, God’s Gonna Cut You Down, caught me with its simple and overwhelming rhythmic stomp-and-clap track. It demands your attention and accentuates Cash’s voice, with some wonderful acoustic slide guitar. I initially found this the most compelling track on the entire album. It is simple and yet cascadingly effective.

The third cut, Like The 309, caught my attention with its reference to trains. But it goes farther than that, insofar as Johnny seems to acknowledge, for the first time in this collection, his mortality and possible imminent demise:

Johnny Cash advocates what I want for me when I die:

I’m into railroads and locomotives and my local historic lines; I’ve told my fiance that, when I die, I want to be cremated. And I told her: put my ashes in a coffee can, find an open boxcar, and send me on my way. Let me take a journey that may never end. It is, however, on this song that you can hear Johnny Cash take a hit of oxygen during the recording.

His next song is a cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind. The guitar and piano come in strong as does his voice — but on this cut his voice somehow comes in closer and manages a more personal tone than prior songs. His voice, being somehow closer to the mic, also breaks later on a number of lines. Rather than being re-recorded, Rick Rubin decides to leave them in. That, too, is telling.

Further On Up The Road summarizes Cash’s life; it could be a summary of my life or your life or someone’s life that extolled a vagabond’s ways. I found this song, with its sentence pauses, wonderful to parrot and sing though I didn’t know its words.

On The Evening Train is, in my estimation, an immediate tribute to his recently-passed wife, June Carter Cash. He misses her horribly and manages to express this on the cut.

The slow guitars and piano betray the song, and the lyrics reveal:

Johnny Cash becomes not only the father but the baby in this song, acknowledging his loss directly and vicariously on this song.

I Came To Believe is another tribute and an acknowledgement to his God:

The next song, Rod McKuen’s Love’s Been Good To Me, was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra, and his voice is strong here:

A Legend In My Time is a moderately slow guitar tune which extolls Cash’s propensity for broken hearts and love that is in vain and, in my opinion, the weakest cut on this album if for no other reason than its spoken verses. It is thankfully short.

The next, Rose Of My Heart, also includes his love for June Carter:

We’re the best partners this world’s ever seen
Together we’re close as can be
But sometimes it’s hard to find time in between
To tell you what you mean to me

He clearly sings this to the love of his life, June Carter Cash.

I cannot listen to this and but not cry.

Johnny Cash next covers Four Strong Winds, a song written by Ian Tyson and performed by Ian & Sylvia in 1963, and his voice sounds the strongest so far — despite the subject matter being predominantly winter — for good lyrical reason.

The final cut on the album is I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now, and decrees not only Cash’s freedom from this extant earth, but in simple guitar form:

Johnny Cash hits lows in his voice that had yet to reach on the album, making me wonder if this was in fact the first or the last cut he had recorded. What, in fact, was his final cut?

I suspect we shall never know.

This entire album was the most intimate look at an artist I can feature. I could only wish that Rick Rubin had somehow managed to record Warren Zevon’s final album. I believe it could only have been better than what existed.

But we shall never know.

We shall never know.

Their final albums: I now and always shall shed a tear when I listen.

BZ

Everyone within Israel is a Citizen Soldier. As Atlas Shrugs says: “Changing the world, one word at a time; Citizen Journalist, Citizen Soldier.”

We in the United States are slated soon to be our own Citizen Soldiers. And we’d best get used to the concept.

SUPPORT LIKE-MINDED NATIONS IN NEED:

AJacksonian has an excellent idea with regard to the support of Israel, Denmark and Poland. Visit this link and “do your bit” for God and Country.

BZ

The European Union shows, once again, its true colors — despite the London subway event and the bombings in Spain.

That color is yellow.

From Israel’s Ynetnews.com:

The European Union does not intend to place Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations for the time being, EU President Finland said on Tuesday.

You can read the rest of the article at your leisure; I’m simply going to take a few more seconds to make my post succinct and my take on that one sentence very clear:

The European Union displays, for all the world to see, what one gets (and what the United States can expect) when various countries import an unimpeded flow of Islamic immigrants, legal and/or illegal. These countries are now afraid of the ramifications and welfare of their own internal structures and governments should they take a clear and united stand against Islam via Islamists or Militant Islam or for Israel.

I repeat for the brain-addled amongst us: these countries would be horrified if a mere fraction of the continuing events befalling Israel would be visited within their borders. Nor am I convinced they would even know how to survive such an onslaught.

BZ