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| LIFE UNHEARD 2013 |
But, when it's a collection like LIFE UNHEARD, that's not a bad thing.
A companion piece to the new LIFE UNSEEN: Johnny Cash - An Illustrated Biography, this 12-song CD includes two unreleased songs and six live performances among its audio booty. All of the previously available material is spread among the Legacy Recordings' Bootleg Series offerings.
As with any new compilation, it's only a duplicate if you've purchased the pieces before. Part of the overwhelming appeal of the LIFE UNHEARD collection is the history that's included.
The sound quality of the opening Big River is a little muddy, but it's Johnny Cash.
In Vietnam.
In 1969 at a club.
And, there's a June Carter Cash introduction to open the song.
I Walk The Line comes from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, while What Is Truth and the always uplifting Daddy Sang Bass - arguably the centerpieces of LIFE UNHEARD - were recorded at a 1970 White House performance for then President Richard Nixon.
What Is Truth speaks of the perpetual rift between the younger generation and the one before it, no matter which eras they come from.
"The old man turned off the radio
Said, 'Where did all of the old songs go?
Kids sure play funny music these days.
They play it in the strangest ways.'
Said, 'It looks to me like they've all gone wild.
It was peaceful back when I was a child.'
Well, man, could it be that the girls and boys
Are trying to be heard above your noise?
And the lonely voice of youth cries 'What is truth?'"
The other live cuts include Give My Love To Rose and (Ghost) Riders In The Sky.
The two newly released efforts are Ben Dewberry's Final Run about a fatal train crash and the happily upbeat Movin' Up.
Restless Kid, Life's Railway To Heaven, It Takes One To Know One and Truth round out the UNHEARD dozen.
No matter how much Cash you have, you need to bank this one too.
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