At Folsom Prison / At San Quentin (Remastered / Expanded) (2CD)

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Johnny Cash had been breaking new ground for a decade when At Folsom Prison suddenly made the world at large take notice. The interaction of a volatile prison population starved for entertainment and a desperately on-form Johnny Cash was electrifying: his somber machismo finally found a home. The songs, which included every prison song Cash knew ("I Got Stripes", "The Wall", "25 Minutes to Go", "Cocaine Blues", plus his own "Folsom Prison Blues"), were tailored to galvanise the crowd. This set is all about atmosphere. Live at the Grand Ole Opry this ain't. The current version has been coupled with its de facto sequel, recorded three years later at San Quentin and nearly Folsom's match. -- Colin Escott

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Product Description
Two-disc set features the complete recordings At San Quentin and At Folsom Prison. Johnny Cash had been breaking new ground for a decade when At Folsom Prison suddenly made the world at large take notice. The interaction of a volatile prison population starved for entertainment and a desperately on-form Johnny Cash was electrifying. His somber machismo finally found a home. The songs, which included every prison song Cash knew ("I Got Stripes", "The Wall", "25 Minutes to Go", "Cocaine Blues", plus his own "Folsom Prison Blues") were tailored to galvanize the crowd. As with Folsom, the San Quentin LP had to be edited due to space limitations. Now, 31 years after the fact, the show can at last be heard in true perspective. All the original performances hold up, including the album's hit single: Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue".

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Customer reviews

review by: wallen200 date: 2008-06-20 rating:
Cash at his best for not much cash
I ordered this set after seeing it advertised in an email from Amazon. I was not very familiar with Johnny Cash, with the exception of Boy named Sue and Ring of Fire. This double CD really has blown me away. Cash's voice is great but the entertainment comes as much from his banter with the prisoners as from the songs, many of which have jail themes. All in all a great showcase for a natural performer. The sound quality is also excellent demonstrating better stereo effects than many modern albums.

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review by: barwill1999 date: 2007-10-02 rating:
2 classic CDs better than the original releases!
I had both the Folsom Prison and the San Quentin live albums seperately and both were very good. I therefore hesitated about buying this package. However, I bought this and it is much better. Both CDs have been very well produced. The sound quality is excellent. The hugely irritating bleep on A Boy Named Sue has been removed. Both include never before released tracks and dialogue from Cash and a result the excitement and tension of both concerts can really be felt. The CDs almost make you feel that you are at both concerts. This is Cash at his peak. This package is superb, great value and very highly recommended.

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review by: date: 2007-09-26 rating:
Fantastic Package
For starters you get two albums for the price of one. And not only that, you get TWO HISTORICAL records.

Live at Folsom and Live at St Quentin are two live albums like nothing I've listened to before.

Musically, the albums do not have much to get excited about; guitar, bass and drums with very basic country style rythms underpinning Cash's voice.

Having said that, you don't buy this stuff for the music, you buy it for the stories, for each song is more than just a few lyrics thrown togethers, they are tales, morals and poems on their own right. "Cocaine Blues", "Starkville City Jail", "St Quentin", "A Boy Named Sue", there is enough material there to evolve each song into a different movie.

The rapport Cash builds with the prisiones is unmatched on any other live album, he doesn't preach, he doesn't pass judgement, he is simply telling stories which quite likely could be the stories of their lives.

At Folsom sounds more polished, Cash's voices brushes perfection and the album feels tighter than At St Quentin. However, At St Quentin has all the classics and maybe just for that has an edge over At Folsom, even though the execution of classics such as "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Still Miss Someone" sound better on the former.

Both records are a permanent fixture on my MP3 player.

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review by: date: 2006-12-29 rating:
Two absolutely classic live albums for the price of one
The recent film Walk The Line tells the story. After years of pill popping and declining sales, a newly clean Johnny Cash plans his comeback. Rather than making a new record with contemporary late 60s influences as his record company wish, Johnny resolutely decides to record a live album at the notorious Folsom Prison with his classic sound. As usual, the artist is right and, aided by Cash's deep resonance with the plight of the inmates, Folsom Prison is a massive, career reviving success. A few months later a second equally successful live album from San Quentin jail is recorded and released. This brilliant package collects together the full concerts of both performances and is enhanced further by extensive liner notes.

A major theme of the songs performed at both concerts is the plight of the blue-collar man who has fallen on to the wrong side of the law, sometimes but not always under circumstances beyond his control. Not surprisingly, the prison audience relate well to such sentiments yet it is Cash's between song banter and the sense that he has been there which strike the biggest artist-audience bond. Only Bruce Springsteen and Christy Moore come close in displaying such genuine empathy with the working man.

Despite the albums being recorded only months apart, there is virtually no track overlap and highlights a plenty. The Folsom Prison LP begins appropriately enough with Folsom Prison Blues with other highpoints including the intense 25 Minutes To Go, Orange Blossom Special and a duet of the brilliant Jackson with Cash's soon to be wife June Carter. There is also welcome humour with the daft Dirty Old Egg Suckin' Dog and increasingly ridiculous metaphors of Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart.

Humour is also very much present on the San Quentin LP which features Johnny's unveiling of A Boy Named Sue, a song which became one of his most famous recordings. Other highlights include the classics Ring Of Fire and I Walk The Line as well as Bob Dylan's Wanted Man and a nice spiritual departure with He Turned The Water Into Wine. The San Quentin set also features a new Cash-penned song about San Quentin prison which the audience like so much that they demand an immediate repeat performance. Being the full concert, the San Quentin LP of course includes both versions...

Given the lavish packaging they deserve, these two seminal LPs are among the very best live albums ever recorded. With classic but simple and disciplined songs and a special rapport with his audience, they show Johnny Cash at his peak, doing what he does best. A blue collar hero indeed.



review by: tiernon date: 2006-04-09 rating:
Cash well spent
Two defining moments in the career of Cash, and the development of music to the masses.
The production of these disks is excelent, the sleeve notes cover everything the casual listener could wish for and the music is great fun.
How Cash pulled off these performances has always invoked wonder. I could never understand how the authorities thought they could control the crowd, but Cash had them eating out the palm of his hands.
These disks are an essential addition to any music collection.

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