Johnny Cash at San Quentin

Another great one. I prefer this over Folsom because it’s brighter. 3 5 stars in a row oh boy

"I'm here to do what you want me to and what I wanna do"

Dette oppsummerer godt utstrålingen til At San Quentin. Man hører sjeldent så entusiastiske publikum som på fengselsplatene til Johnny Cash, og han gir virkelig alt. Dessuten er han utrolig vittig og har publikumet helt på sitt lag, og publikum vet jo at han er på deres lag også.

Det er Johnny Cash sin peak som artist helt fram til American-skivene, men det er også et av tidenes konsertalbum. Jeg har hørt LEgacy-utgaven mange ganger og det er også opptredener av Carl Perkins, Statler Brothers og flere, og de er proffe og koser seg på scenen, men Johnny Cash utstråler en helt annen trygghet. Utvalget låter som er på originalalbumet, de 10 (hvor 2 av dem er "San Quentin) gir egentlig et ganske godt bilde av hvordan hele konserten var.

Det går frysninger nedover ryggen på meg når riffet på "Wanted Man" starter, og igjen på "San Quentin" 1 og 2. Å spille så langt mot broa på gitaren er jeg ganske sikker på at jeg startet med pga denne plata. Det låter så mektig. Og energien på "Wreck of the Old 97" og "Folsom Prison Blues". Uansett hvor glad jeg er i John Sebastian og Lovin' Spoonful så er og blir "Darlin' Companion" en Johnny og June-låt. Cash har hele karrieren hatt en evne til å ta låter og gjøre de helt sine egne, akkurat som Elvis, og det helt fram til American-platene.

Johnny Cash oppsummerte livsprosjektet sitt fint med låta "Man in Black":
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back
Up front there ought to be a man in black

Det står seg.

Johnny hebben we door deze lijst al eerder in een gevangenis horen spelen. Dat vraagt om een vergelijking.

De setting zorgt in beide gevallen voor een bijzondere sfeer. In dit geval wil je daar niet perse bij geweest zijn. Maar het werkt zelfs op een schijfje.

Bij het optreden in San Quentin zat meneer iets meer op zijn praatstoel. Niet erg op locatie zo te horen. Het publiek waardeert het duidelijk. Op het schijfje pakt het optreden daardoor net iets minder dan het optreden in Folsom.

De aanleiding voor Folsom bestond al. Voor San Quentin heeft Johnny snel een tekst op zijn standaard geluid uit zijn mouw geschut. Sterk natuurlijk, dat hij iets speciaals doet voor de plek waar hij optreedt. Toch ook een beetje lui. En dat blijkt ook als hij het nummer herhaalt. Niet aan het eind van de set om het nummer van de dag te benadrukken. Nee, echt direct achter elkaar.

Ach, het is het ergste niet. Maar als je het gaat vergelijken, scoort At Folsom daarmee wel net iets beter.

I thought this prison recording was fine, but not that memorable. His banter with the audience was pretty annoying/tone deaf, there were a lot of hecklers, and he played the same uninteresting San Quentin song twice (which I see why but doesn't make sense as an album experience). When he thanked the warden and the guards at the end I feel like he showed his hand - playing for publicity and notoriety rather than to actually connect with the audience. Some of the songs were good but overall found this performance to be uninspired and fake. 2.4/5 -> 2/5

I wanted to take the time to listen to these stories carefully, so I marked this "did not listen" last night and picked it back up again today.

And this is a great record. It's the emotional intensity of how much the inmates loved this concert, the sincerity and simplicity of the music itself, and how kind Johnny Cash sounds when addressing the audience. Absolutely marvelous.

5 stars

BEEP yeah!

The Concert at Filsom Prison was an extraordinary album. Cash was coming off a drug addiction and the first attempt at a prison recording came to nothing because Cash was too "tired and emotional" to go on.

The Folsom Concert had the atmosphere of one man at the end of his tether talking to an audience of men at the end of their tether. It was raw, it was emotional, it was intense.

The recording revived his career and was a huge success. It's become legendary in the years since.

This San Quentin album has the slight whiff of another trip to the well. It's all a bit showbiz: bringing on the guest stars; the engineered encore of "San Quentin"; bringing on a guard with a glass of water (a repeat of a Folsom Prison bit) so the audience can boo; the fact that it was being recorded for British television. It just seems a bit more commercial and contrived than Folsom.

It's also not nearly as good. Folsom has the killer set list of:

-Folsom Prison Blues (I shot a man in Reno, he sings and the crowd goes wild
- Cocaine Blues, about a man who murders his girlfriend after taking cocaine
- 25 Minutes to go, about a man going to the gallows
- Long Black Veil, about a man who goes to the gallows to protect his lover's reputation
- Send a Picture of Mother (I mean, to prisoners in jail)
- Give my love to Rose - about a Manet out of prison who is killed before seeing his girlfriend
- Green Green Grass of Home, about a man returning home after getting out of prison
- Greystone Chapel, written by a prisoner sitting in the audience.

It's more a shared communion than a Concert.

San Quentin is entertainment. Even the song about Cash's arrest is presented as a comedy about picking flowers.

And then there's the pretty execrable Boy Named Sue. It hasn't aged well.

Folsom Prison literally changed lives - Not least amongst them Cash's own. San Quentin made a lot of money and landed Cash a network deal for his variety show.

It's all right, but it's not his best.

Music giving power to the 'have-nots'

There's probably an argument that if you've got the Folsom Prison live album on the list, you don't need this too. However, they're both fantastic – and if I have to give one the edge, it's San Quentin. (Cash is pretty funny here, but the real comedy genius might be the prisoner who shouts "get on with it!" during the intro to Walk the Line. Did he have somewhere better to be?)

The Good: Nothing
The Bad: My mood
The Ugly: Fucking look on my face as I realize I am getting screwed…

I have been looking at this journey the wrong way… this is not meant as a journey to appreciate music. No sir, it isn’t.
Instead, we are on this journey to see how long it takes before we start contemplating that maybe, just maybe, we have better things to do with our time than to sit around and let the likes of Mr Dimery fuck with us…

When I saw the album cover, my first thought was “but, I’ve already listened to this…” to find out that I was mistaken about the prison where it was recorded.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate that there are plenty of people who rank this album very high on the list of album one needs to listen to before one dies, and I will not sit here and pretend that it isn’t so…

Though technically this is not a greatest hits album, which would exclude it from the list, it gets pretty close to it… and still a monster album such as Saturday Night Fever is not on this list, because it is an amalgamation of several artist…

Out of spite I am giving this album a 1* and I really hope that tomorrow a smile is on my face as the next album is being presented, as I am finding the past 2 weeks to be the worse so far in this journey that is starting to turn into a fucking nightmare….

Playing the album Pulse, by Pink Floyd to get the bad taste out of my mouth…

Also, listened to the album and I can’t, in good conscious, raate this 1*
However, seeing as I still don’t understand why this album is on the list, I will bump it up…. the album should be at least 3*

A classic, easy 4 stars. I enjoyed the music as well as the banter throughout the album.

The man in black commanding the stage and the audience in a way few performers ever could. Both Cash and the band were a little out of tune and out of sync in places but the overall effect was a fun, rollicking good time for all of the murders and rapists in the audience. Great sense of being there with this album.

mais uma dele na prisão, hein. novamente, bela setlist, apenas criminalidades e a plateia enlouquecendo.

esse aqui parece bem mais divertido que o outro. o público e o próprio cash tão bem animados. mas ainda eh johnny cash.

Loved it. Even better than the other prison album. Personality for days and great performances of great songs. Love how rowdy the prisoners get. "Aww, you don't really mean that....."
Great Cover Art.

legendarno, jako dobro i zabavno. ježio sam se od nekih reakcija publike

Johnny Cash is the man. An interesting listen even though it's live. I'd rather listen to one of his studio works then this again, but I'm still giving it a floor.

-he’s a master of stage banter and knowing his audience
-wanted man rules
-the train sounds he makes on old 97
-his voice is so haggard. cough after every song.
-boy named sue is perfect. shel silverstein’s words, johnny’s delivery, and carl perkins’ lead guitar lines
-we’re lucky to have documents like this and folsom.
-4 because the one verse version of folsom blues at the end is bogus and always leaves me unfulfilled.

It was OK. Big respect to Johnny for doing what he did playing at so many prisons.

Some songs were pretty cool but I feel like there will be better JC albums down the line.

An electrifying performance full of grit, humor, and raw honesty. Cash is completely in his element here — charismatic, defiant, and unfiltered — with the prison crowd responding in kind. His gravelly voice, sharp wit, and songs like 𝘈 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘶𝘦 and 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘮 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 make this one of the most vivid and unforgettable live recordings in country and rock history. When the audience demands an encore of 𝘚𝘢𝘯 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯, Cash obliges with a rebellious grin — turning defiance into pure legend.

Johnny Cash was one of the most based musicians to ever live actually