Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter [Original recording remastered]

Amazon.com
Back in their commercial heyday as a duet team, June Carter Cash always managed to bring out a lighter, more playful side of her often somber and serious husband, the famed "Man in Black." Among these 13 tracks (11 of them originally released on the 1967 album plus 2 bonus tracks) are familiar titles like the naughty, cat-scratch-fever hit "Jackson" and their soulfully twangy version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe." But Cash and Carter also breathe understated fire and shared sensuality into more unlikely material, like their loping, folky reading of Richard Fariña's "Pack Up Your Sorrows," a pair of Ray Charles R&B standards--"I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say"--and memorable original compositions like the class-conscious "Shantytown" and a nostalgic love lament called "Oh, What a Good Thing We Had." --Bob Allen

Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter,Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash,Johnny Cash,June Carter,Sony,Country,Country & Western,Country-Pop,Pop,Traditional Country

Average customer rating:

Save Your Money -- Not Their Best Work

Excellent collection

CAN'T STOP SMILING!

Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout

A rebuttal

Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter
Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash , Johnny Cash , and June Carter
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music
General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music
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At Folsom Prison

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Ring of Fire: The Best of June Carter Cash

16 Biggest Hits

ASIN: B0000636Y6
Release Date: 2002-03-19

Tracks:

Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man
Shantytown
It Ain't Me, Babe
Fast Boat To Sydney
Pack Up Your Sorrows
I Got A Woman
Jackson
Oh, What A Good Thing We Had
You'll Be All Right
No, No, No
What'd I Say
The Wind Changes
From Sea To Shining Sea

Amazon.com

Back in their commercial heyday as a duet team, June Carter Cash always managed to bring out a lighter, more playful side of her often somber and serious husband, the famed "Man in Black." Among these 13 tracks (11 of them originally released on the 1967 album plus 2 bonus tracks) are familiar titles like the naughty, cat-scratch-fever hit "Jackson" and their soulfully twangy version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe." But Cash and Carter also breathe understated fire and shared sensuality into more unlikely material, like their loping, folky reading of Richard Fariña's "Pack Up Your Sorrows," a pair of Ray Charles R&B standards--"I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say"--and memorable original compositions like the class-conscious "Shantytown" and a nostalgic love lament called "Oh, What a Good Thing We Had." --Bob Allen

Customer Reviews:

Save Your Money -- Not Their Best Work.......2007-02-27

This is a good period for both of them, and there are a few standout tracks (the hit "Jackson," "Long-legged Guitar Pickin' Man"), but the rest of this record is unfortunately filled with low-grade Johnny. You all have heard this type of stuff from him, so you probably know what I am talking about. "Beans for Breakfast," the MCA 80s period, that sort of thing.

Personally, I am no fan of their hit remake of "It Ain't Me Babe," but that's hardly the worst cover of the bunch. Johnny's tuneless vocal on "I Got a Woman," and their beatless cover of "What I'd Say" are strong contenders for that crown.

And let's just pretend these giants never recorded "Shantytown," a song so bad that, coupled with the novelty track "Fast Boat to Sydney," will make you yearn for any one of at least two dozen records by Cash that is a heck of lot better than this one.

I'd take a pass and keep poring through their catalog -- there's much better stuff out there.

Excellent collection.......2006-03-03

Great selection of songs, the whole CD is infectious, you can tell they're having a great time!

CAN'T STOP SMILING!.......2006-02-23

I especially love the arrangement of Bob Dylan's "It
Ain't Me Babe" and "I Got A Woman" their voices blend beautifully, just like their lives did for all of those years.

Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout.......2005-12-10

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash are largely responsible for starting off the country star duet cycle in the late 1960's and they won every duet award to be had but they only record three albums together despite decades of performing together. This first album is the best, recorded actually before they were married. These tracks are packed with the sexual sparks these two soul mates displayed on the stage. Cash certainly seems to be enjoying himself more in the duets than in any of his solo work, he's clearly having fun! And who wouldn't, June gives such a delicious comic sass to their toe-tapping numbers. Their legendary hit "Jackson" is here as well as their sassy smash "Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man". Just as good is their first duet hit, "It Ain't Me, Babe". The Carter Family adds their unmistakable harmony to "Shanytown" - with all these Johnny and June reissues on the market, there is a definate need for some of the 60's/70's Carter Family recordings to come out of the vaults. Johnny & June weren't as prolific as Porter & Dolly or Conway & Loretta or even George & Tammy but they certainly take a back seat to no one when it comes to producing great music together.

Be sure also to get the brand new 16 BIGGEST HITS collection by Johnny and June which has all of their popular duet hits in one package.

A rebuttal.......2005-05-23

I don't know if the disgruntled reviews I'm seeing here stem from the fact that Johnny and June are flying afield from country songwriters quite a bit here, but I can't say that I honestly believe the covers here are misbegotten or poorly performed. The pair are in the blush of new love here (it's still "hotter than a pepper sprout" to quote from the song "Jackson") and I hear that good-natured spark in "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" for instance. The out of genre tunes are given requisite country touches (the harmonica in "I've Got a Woman") to make them the duo's own. I never get the feeling it's a record label attempt to get them a "pop hit" but rather the pair's natural affection for the songs leading them to try and put their own stamp on them (and to prove that Ray Charles' love letters to country music could be a two-way street).

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Long Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" is a great start to the disc and one of the rare occasions where June steals the show. She turns in a sassy "ain't taking no s**t offa YOU" vocal that's thoroughly winning. The pair's take on Dylan's "It Ain't Me,Babe" utilizes a Western "campfire harmonica" and oddly enough the same mariachi trumpets they'd used on "Ring of Fire" 4 years earlier. Reading it in print makes it sound like a sloppy stylistic pastiche, but when you hear it, you realize that it works just fine. A spry "hillbillyized" version of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" is a keeper, too. "Jackson" was probably the "biggest" song here (They re-issued the album to be named after it since it went Top 5 country and won a Grammy to boot). While it's nice in the studio form, vocally it's a bit detached. I would call the roaring live rendition on "At Folsom Prison" definitive. The "high class girl slums with the poor boy" sentiment at the heart of "No,No,No" plays into the pair's own relationship (Carter from the gospel stalwart Carter Family, Cash with an acknowledged rebel image and coming off an addiction to pills) and is a natural fit for them. The banshee yell from Johnny on "What'd I Say" is all you need to hear to tell the couple is far from "phoning it in".

LOWS:
The bonus tracks ("The Wind Changes" and "From Sea to Shining Sea") are fairly mediocre..far from essential. Of the two, "The Wind Changes" is the better.

BOTTOM LINE:
While not a Cash essential, it's still very very good. I'd recommend it for fans of Americana music and people who have the "comeback quartet" of Johnny's albums for Def American and the prison records (San Quentin and Folsom) and who wonder what to get next.

Music Album:

Music Album