Johnny Cash - The Best Of The Johnny Cash TV Show [2007]

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-11-05 rating:
Great gift for Cash fans
Brill gift for friends and family. Bought if for my old man last Xmas and he loved it...even caught him wathcing it again last week...10 months after I bought it. Great guest artists performing and Cash at his formidable best. A must buy for any Cash fans.

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review by: barwill1999 date: 2008-08-24 rating:
Outstanding entertainment. Cash at his very best.
The 2 DVDs feature the best of the Johnny Cash TV shows that were probably only seen in the USA between 1969-1971. Before my time! Johnny Cash looks at his fittest and most relaxed. He is clearly enjoying himself and his reading of Sunday Morning Coming Down is the best and most powerful I have ever heard. It is an eclectic list of guests including Glen Cambell, the Great Marty Robbins, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, Ray Charles (wonderful on Ring of Fire) and many more who have probably never really been seen on DVD. Most are performing at their very best. Eric Clapton was clearly in awe of his host and Carl Perkins. Some of the humour is corny but there is not too much of it. June Carter's performances are also thankfully limited (she could not sing in my view)but the love between her and her husband is plain to see. This is almost a historical 'document'. There is some commentary which sets the scene nicely. The music on this collection has stood the test of time....it is still great now. Very entertaining. Outstanding and thoroughly recommended.

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review by: date: 2008-08-08 rating:
Outstanding quality pack from the outstanding man in black
This is Johnny at his best with some of the biggest names in music. It's fine stuff and includes some superb people at their very peak, not to mention Mr Cash himself on good form.

Considering what you get here, this is a must buy. I've watched it several times already and some songs way more than that. A great DVD.


review by: date: 2007-10-24 rating:
Pure gold from music heroes at the peak of their form
This is a landmark release of 66 classic performances from Johnny Cash's 1969-71 network TV show which has, until now, been available only through grainy tapes from Ebay.
The guest list reads like a who's who of popular music: Bob Dylan, who was in town recording Nashville Skyline, played on the debut show; Roy Orbison, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Creedence Clearwater and Jonie Mitchell all appear at the peak of their form and,as far as 1970's country music goes, it would easier to list who does not appear.
To anyone only familiar with Cash through the biopic "Walk the Line", this will be a revelation. Joaquin Phoenix's moody,obsessive loner is hard to reconcile with the grinning,gregarious, self-assured singer just a year down the line from his redemptive marriage to June Carter.
Cash is a great host.His duet with Louis Armstrong includes just the right note of respectful defererence and he welcomes a nervous Eric Clapton with the nice touch of listing all the members of Derek and the Dominoes. Clapton trading licks with Carl Perkins is one of the standout moments,as the (then) new kid on the block gets to play with one of his mentors.Another highlight is an outrageous performance from Jerry Lee Lewis who reminds us just how good Sun's last survivor was back then.
Of course, this is a 37 year-old network variety show so some of the banter is pretty cheesy and the comedy pretty toe-curling.
The commentary, which sets the scene for several performances, makes the valid point that the show played a groundbreaking role at the time in crossing the divide between conservative mainstream America and the counter culture of the youth movement.This was a time when US society was torn apart by Vietnam and the appearance of long-haired artists like James Taylor and Neil Young, together with black-listed Pete Seeger was a radical statement by the inclusive-thinking Cash.
The commentary is not always helpful though, especially when the contributions are cut into the music. Cash's powerful attack on the treacherous treatment of Native Americans, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", is ruined by being inter-spliced with talking heads; and although Kris Kristofferson and Hank William Jr make some perceptive contributions there is frankly too much from Johnny Cash's son who,being only a babe in arms when the show aired,can scarcely bring much perspective to the cause. But we can thank the lady hair-stylist for a gem about Linda Ronstadt trying to appear in a mini skirt, minus knickers.There is a unexpected frisson to watching Ronstadt's performance after you've heard that!
Anyway- buy the double DVD. Watch it. Enjoy it. Celebrate the way popular music was, in one of its heydays, when performers plugged their guitars into amps,played live,were authentic and creative and different.And celebrate the hot-wired and happy genius that was Johnny Cash.

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Music . Styles . Pop . General AAS
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Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Music . Country
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Box Set
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 2000 and later
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