Unearthed

Product Information

It's true that there is no ground breaking version of a contemporary song, no fresh triumph like ''The Mercy Seat'' or ''Hurt''.

To celebrate the Man in Black’s enduring and influential legacy, American Recordings and UMe have reconfigured this monolithic collection for its first-ever vinyl release, spreading Unearthed’s 79 songs over nine high-quality 180-gram vinyl LPs while expanding the original box's distinctive packaging for the long-playing format. Flesh and Blood" is a newer version of the original that was written for I Walk the Line (Soundtrack). The first three discs feature outtakes and alternate versions of songs recorded for American Recordings, American II: Unchained, American III: Solitary Man and American IV: The Man Comes Around.

I don't know, maybe for lack of space, legal stuff (the duet with Joe Strummer on Marley's "Redemption Song" is out of this world), whatever, but even the weakest track is a good one; I like them a lot, all have that touch that only Cash is capable to imprint in them. The deluxe packaging includes a 104-page, cloth-bound book; never-before-seen photographs; and Cash's personal commentary on every song in the box. Man hört viele B-Seiten der "American Anthology", viele Goodies wie alternative Takes und Neuinterpretationen von Klassikern. Compiled by producer Rick Rubin, this collection contained mostly previously unreleased material recorded during the four albums (a fifth was released posthumously) that Cash had cut with Rubin for his American Recordings label. But even if I had also purchased My Mother's Hymn Book as a standalone, the three other CDs are more than worth the money.

Also, maybe the light scuff may have been occured in the transport, the disc can move in the sleeve since it's not enough tight. The fourth disc, My Mother's Hymn Book, features gospel songs Cash first learned from his mother as a child and was later reissued as a standalone album in 2004. Particularly on the first CD, starting with a powerful performance of ''Long Black Veil'' this feels like a one man journey through the history of American song. It's hard to think of a more appropriate and impressive send-off for this one-of-a-kind American original than the massive musical statement that is Unearthed.

Redemption Songs is largely acoustic, and features duets with Joe Strummer, Fiona Apple, Nick Cave and Glen Campbell. Unearthed was originally released as a CD box set by producer Rick Rubin’s American Recordings in November 2003, two months after the country superstar’s passing. Neither are the definitive statements that some of Cash's covers from this period are (his glorious takes on Nick Lowe and Danzig, to name just two), but they're still very much worth hearing. Unearthed is divided into five thematic sections (it was a five-CD set) with Who’s Gonna Cry focusing on acoustic solo recordings, Trouble In Mind slanted towards electric performances (this section features some guest performances from the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Carl Perkins) and Redemption Songs another acoustic collection, with duets with Joe Strummer, Fiona Apple, Nick Cave and Glen Campbell.