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List Price: $34.98 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 8001
Released: May 23, 2000 |
| Our Price: $17.97 |
| Used Price: $10.46 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Johnny Cash - Love, God, Murder Track Listing:
Disc 1:
1. I Walk the Line
2. Oh, What a Dream
3. All Over Again
4. Little at a Time
5. My Old Faded Rose
6. Happiness Is You
7. Flesh and Blood
8. I Tremble for You
9. I Feel Better All Over
10. 'Cause I Love You
11. Ballad of Barbara
12. Ring of Fire
13. My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You
14. While I've Got It on My Mind
15. I Still Miss Someone
16. One Rose (That's Left in My Heart)
Disc 2:
1. What on Earth Will You Do (For Heaven's Sake)
2. My God is Real
3. It Was Jesus
4. Why Me Lord?
5. Greatest Cowboy of Them All
6. Redemption
7. Great Speckled Bird
8. Old Account
9. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
10. When He Comes
11. Kneeling Drunkard's Plea
12. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?
13. Man in White
14. Belshazzar
15. Oh, Bury Me Not (Introduction: A Cowboy's Prayer)
16. Oh Come, Angel Band
Editorial Review:
More than a few novelists and literature professors have cited the troika of love, god, and death as the basic subjects of all literary works. It just so happens that most music is about the same stuff, and Johnny Cash's music is especially so. Except in Cash's music, you can tease from the general (peculiarly American?) idea of death the more dramatic, intentional, cruel strain of murder. The distinction is crucial for Cash--and this 48-track, three-CD collection--as the struggle presented throughout this set is to understand the subject of a person's will. The will to love, the will to believe, the will to murder: each involves surrender, and most of Cash's protagonists surrender (or are so vanquished that there's no discernible difference). Barrel chested in its breadth, Cash's voice is as ideal a delivery mechanism for metaphysics as it is for the police blotter, the confessional, and the altar. As for the music, Love, God, Murder goes all out to follow its thematic breakdown, avoiding chronological layout--except for Sun-era classics like "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line" to open Murder and Love, respectively. Murder's inclusion of "Orleans Parish Prison" and its B-side "Jacob Green," both recorded in 1972 at Stockholm, Sweden's Osteraker Prison, testify at once to the American roots and global relevance of Cash's vision. The contrasts between '90s material like Kris Kristofferson's "Why Me Lord" and Cash's own "Redemption" (both from American Recordings) with 1958's "It Was Jesus" and 1959's "Great Speckled Bird" (on God) is inspired, a great way to track the sometimes single-mindedness of Cash in his investigation of human behavior. Sure, the inclusion of short commentaries by Cash, U2's Bono (on God), June Carter Cash (on Love), and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino (on Murder) amounts to very little of substance, but it's always nice to read Johnny on Cash and especially June Carter Cash on Johnny. Fans might question another packaging of Cash hits, but the impeccable logic of the song choices and their thematic placement make this slim box an inarguably good thing for most with a passing interest in--or even a lasting obsession with--Cash. --Andrew Bartlett
Johnny Cash - Love, God, Murder Reviews:
God is Great, But the God disc not quite so much 
2009-11-05 - But it is a great collection, thoughtfully and attractively packaged. Murder stands out from the pack for me, while his God songs don't have quite the same quality in depth for me.
Love the Man in Black 
2008-02-24 - I don't understand why these three CDs didn't have the Life Cd included in the set. But I love all of Johnny's music. Haven't heard a bad one yet and I hav A LOT of Johnny, June, the Highwaymen and I'm currently building on my Rosanne collection. She's the one who inhereted "the gift".
Not your average compilation
2007-11-11 - I must disagree with the reviewer who asserts that the themed discs fail to cohere. I'm not sure if the reviewer is aware of this or not, but these discs weren't just slapped together by the record label - Cash hand-picked these himself. It's not a best-of collection in the strictest sense. It's Johnny Cash's personal favorites on three of the dominant themes of his oeuvre. In that sense, the song selection is extremely interesting. We may never know why every specific song was included here, but suffice it to say they each carry a special significance for Cash.
As for the recording quality, I found this collection to be quite acceptable. One reviewer complains that the tracks are mono records with little remastering. Remastering is most helpful when cleaning up old and damaged recordings. To create a stereo mix out of monaural source material is, to me at least, akin to the hideous colorization of black and white films. The recording sounds of the day are part of the music's charm.
My one criticism concerns the "essays" included. They consist of one liner note page each. They feel like an afterthought with nothing very substantial. I was hoping for some interesting commentary on Cash's work, but that was in short supply.
I have personally enjoyed this collection very much. All the more so because it is a collection that Cash wanted to represent himself. It may not flow as nicely as some of the other collections and there may not be exceedingly obvious connections between songs, but it has Cash's personal touch and in that respect, it's amongst my favorite Cash collections.
Highly recommended to those familiar and those new to the man in black.
Great themed release
2007-10-12 - Just like the title says. Themed discs , 1 for songs of love , 1 for songs of God , and 1 for songs of murder. Great to listen to individually , but for real fun I put the 3 discs on shuffle.....Makes for some interesting song to song sequences!
Want to know Cash? Buy this!
2007-08-10 - I am a long time fan of Mr. Cash and this covers a lot of ground. A great mix of songs from throughout his impressive history. He was a gifted, half crazy, great American artist and this shows it all. If you are new to Cash this is a great one to start with and it's also a great collection for long time fans like me.
