American IV: The Man Comes Around

The 1st track is a 3/5, it's a biblical song about the 4 horse man.
The 2nd track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 3rd track is a 3/5, not a bad song, the pov finds a dying man who got out of prisoner, and won't be able to make it home and wants the pov to give all of his money to his wife (Rose) and his kid.
The 4th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 5th track is a 4/5, I liked it well enough to save it to my main playlist.
The 6th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 7th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 8th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 9th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 10th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 11th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 12th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 13th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
The 14th track is a 4/5, I changed my mind after finishing the song, I'm going to add it to my main playlist.
The 15th track is a 3/5, not a bad song, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
I would give this album a 3/5, it's a good album, and I ended up saving 2 songs to my main playlist.

If it wasn’t Johnny Cash y’all would think this was garbage

great to know that in his final years Johnny was listening to Reznor and Depeche mode

Nah Johnny this ain’t it

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of country music as a whole but I decided to take this one as it was and immerse as I would any other album. I gotta say, this is a really nice record. There's a mellow warmth to the way Johnny Cash covers certain songs and his writing ability on the three tracks he did write for the project are really solid. Knowing that this is the last work he ever released also gives the project this odd kind of emotional weight to it as well. A lively country record indeed. Not bad, Johnny Cash. Not bad.

This is going to be unpopular, but this album is not very good. It’s an insult to The Man in Black. He can’t sing anymore, he can barely hold a note and yet they wheel him out here (quite literally) to churn out some cover tunes about death and pain? It’s distasteful at best. To say the style is “stripped down” or “bare” is to miss the fact that he us giving us all the energy that his literally dying body could muster.
Young Johnny Cash would have hated this album

𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐𝘝 gives me the same feeling as Leonard Cohen’s 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘐𝘵 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳: an ageing artist singing with a voice that has lost some of its strength but gained something far more important in return. Every crack, breath, and moment of hesitation seems to carry decades of life with it.

That is what makes the album so powerful for me. Most of these songs were written by other people, yet Cash rarely sounds like he is simply covering them. He seems to absorb them completely. 𝗛𝘂𝗿𝘁 is the obvious example: in his hands, it becomes less a Nine Inch Nails song than a final reckoning with memory, regret, and mortality. The rest of the album repeatedly achieves something similar.

Cash sounds old here. There is no point pretending otherwise, and that is precisely why the record works. His weathered voice against those sparse arrangements gives me genuine goosebumps. When he sings about death, faith, loss, or looking back on a life, none of it feels abstract anymore.

𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐𝘝 is not great despite Cash’s age. It is great partly because of it. Few albums make the passage of time sound this human.

Today I'm grateful for this project putting me onto Johnny Cash. BOTW was rougher than the S&G version, but there was so much pain. In my life is one of my fave Beatles song, and again, his delivery is lovely.

Not bad, Personal Jesus and Hurt were the clear highlights in 50 mins of covers and some originals. I'll give it flowers, but probably won't listen again. 2.5/5 -> 3/5

American IV: The Man Comes Around was the final album released during Johnny Cash's lifetime, and it's nothing short of extraordinary.

This album is superb. It strikes the perfect balance between revisiting Johnny Cash's own songs, such as "The Man Comes Around" and "Give My Love to Rose", and reinterpreting songs by other artists in a way that makes them feel completely his own. Every cover is carefully chosen and delivered with incredible emotion. I also love the guest appearances, particularly from two of my favourite artists, Nick Cave and Fiona Apple, who add even more depth to an already remarkable album.

Johnny Cash has one of the most recognisable voices in music, and on this record it's at its most powerful. The arrangements are stripped back and intimate, allowing every word to land with real weight. His voice is weathered, fragile and deeply moving, giving the songs an honesty that very few singers could achieve.

Knowing how ill Cash was when these recordings were made, and that he was still grieving the loss of June Carter Cash, makes the album even more emotional. At times it's a difficult listen, not because the music isn't beautiful, but because every performance feels so personal. There's a sense of reflection, vulnerability and acceptance running through the entire record that makes it incredibly powerful.

This is more than just a collection of songs. It feels like a farewell from one of the greatest artists of all time, and it's hard to imagine a more fitting final statement.

Favourite tracks: "Hurt" is simply incredible. It's one of the greatest cover versions ever recorded, completely transforming the original into something uniquely Johnny Cash.

Least favourite tracks: There aren't any. Every song is different, every performance is heartfelt, and every track earns its place.

Album artwork: A classic Johnny Cash album cover—simple, timeless and perfectly suited to the music inside.

En bra skiva, lite melankolisk. Lite för lång, kunde ha plockat bort några låtar och den hade fått högre betyg.

"Hurt" is an incredible song.
The rest is Johnny Cash butchering songs after songs. "In my Life" is the worst offender. He couldn't even make a good Marty Robbins song.

When I was young, Johnny Cash was just about the worst thing you could imagine in music. His music was the epitome of bland American country. Anyone who listened to Johnny Cash was seen as an anti-rocker with dubious taste. His strange album with Bob Dylan did nothing to improve his reputation either. For a boy from Europe, Johnny Cash was far too American. It wasn’t until towards the end of his career that his image changed, and I plucked up the courage to listen to one of his albums. "American IV: The Man Comes Around" is the last album he released during his lifetime. It consists almost entirely of cover versions. Cash was ill and frail at the time of recording. You can hear that in the intimate interpretations. The songs about pain and grief are particularly successful, thanks in part to the subtle arrangements: "Hurt", "I Hung My Head", “Personal Jesus” and “The Man Comes Around” are the highlights; objectively speaking, the duet with Don Henley, “Desperado”, is a complete failure – poorly sung (by both of them!) – but it is impossible to escape the aura of the dying Cash on this album.

Not my fave album in the American series but it's still pretty solid. He sounds so old and frail, kinda a bummer at times

Look, there’s some very good stuff here, but some of it veers a bit too close to Cash Karaoke for me. The version of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ an example. ‘Hurt’ is fantastic, as is ‘I Hung My Head’ and ‘Personal Jesus’. ‘Danny Boy’ and ‘In My Life’ can definitely pass. A great document but perhaps could have been better.

Quite possibly Cash’s best work just for the title track and “Hurt” alone. If it weren’t for the few originals it would likely be the greatest covers album ever. “Hurt” still gives me chills every time.

Quand on a passé une partie des années 90 enfermé dans le studio d'une radio libre, puis derrière le comptoir d'un disquaire indépendant à trier des imports de chez Touch and Go, Southern Records ou Mute, on développe une certaine exigence absolue en matière de tripes sur la table. Et sur ce point, l'année 2002 nous a offert la claque ultime, le truc que personne n'avait vu venir sous cette forme-là, une déflagration acoustique qui a renvoyé tous les petits corbeaux du rock gothique et les théoriciens du post-rock à leurs chères études. Je parle bien évidemment d'American IV: The Man Comes Around de Johnny Cash, un disque qui n'est pas seulement un chef-d'œuvre, mais un véritable monument funéraire érigé à la gloire de la musique populaire.

Ce quatrième volume de la série des American Recordings est le son d'un homme qui regarde la mort en face, avec pour seules armes sa guitare acoustique et une voix brisée qui fout littéralement les jetons. Le coup de génie de Rick Rubin, ce producteur barbu qui a pigé avant tout le monde que la lourdeur d'un morceau ne dépend pas de la puissance des amplificateurs mais de la charge émotionnelle qu'on y fout, a été de sortir Johnny Cash des griffes d'un Nashville industriel et clinquant qui l'avait abandonné comme un vieux chien pour le foutre à nu dans un studio de Los Angeles. Le résultat est d'une sécheresse biblique, un truc rêche et lourd. C'est l'antithèse absolue de la pop formatée qui commençait déjà à gangrener les ondes au début du millénaire, un témoignage brut d'un vieillard agonisant qui s'apprête à enterrer toute la scène rock mondiale avec une dignité royale et terrifiante.

Le cœur de ce disque, ce qui en fait un pilier indestructible de ma discothèque est cette capacité hallucinante qu'a Johnny Cash à s'approprier les morceaux des autres pour en faire ses propres psaumes, ses propres confessions nocturnes. Quand on a bouffé du rock indépendant et du post-punk toute sa jeunesse, on connaît la version originale de Hurt par Nine Inch Nails, ce morceau craché par Trent Reznor avec des larmes de métal et de l'héroïne plein les veines. Mais quand Cash s'en empare, la chanson change de dimension géologique, elle se vide de son apparat industriel pour ne laisser que la carcasse, la poussière et le regret absolu d'un homme au bout du rouleau. On entend chaque respiration difficile, chaque frottement de corde comme si le spectre de l'Homme en Noir était assis là, dans la pièce, à nous raconter sa déchéance physique et sa quête de rédemption.

La force de cet album réside également dans son morceau-titre, une composition originale de Cash qui ouvre le bal et qui pose les bases d'un folk apocalyptique d'une puissance biblique rare. Avec ses références directes au Livre de la Révélation, ses quatre chevaux de l'Apocalypse et son rythme de marche militaire, le morceau avance comme un rouleau compresseur. C'est du grand, du très grand Johnny Cash, le genre de titre qui vous donne l'impression que le ciel va s'effondrer sur votre tête à la fin de la chanson. Ma culture musicale, forgée dans les caves des musiques sombres, me pousse à chercher la tension dramatique partout, mais je dois bien avouer que rarement un morceau n'a atteint un tel niveau de ferveur et de noirceur sans jamais avoir besoin de hurler ou de monter le volume. Le silence entre les notes est parfois plus lourd à porter que la musique elle-même, et c'est là qu'on reconnaît le génie absolu de la production de Rubin, qui a su capter la vérité nue d'un artiste en train de s'éteindre.

Je souris encore en repensant à la manière dont il s'approprie le Personal Jesus de Depeche Mode, transformant un hymne de stade synth-pop en un blues de bayou poisseux et féroce, où la guitare acoustique claque comme un coup de fouet sur le dos d'un pécheur. Il y a une irrévérence totale et une liberté absolue dans ce disque qui me rappellent les grandes heures de la radio indépendante des années quatre-vingt-dix, cette époque où l'on pouvait passer un morceau de néofolk oppressant juste après un vieux blues crasseux sans que personne ne vienne y trouver à redire. Cash fait sauter toutes les barrières des genres musicaux avec la décontraction du vieux parrain qui n'a plus rien à prouver à personne, et certainement pas aux critiques de rock pédants de la presse spécialisée. Qu'il chante Sting, les Beatles ou des vieux standards de la country chrétienne des années cinquante, il unifie tout sous sa bannière de deuil et de ferveur.

Ce disque est un voyage sans retour, une expérience immersive et douloureuse dont on ne ressort jamais tout à fait indemne, surtout si l'on a passé sa vie à chercher la vérité cachée derrière les larsens et les mélodies dissonantes. On sent que le bonhomme est fatigué, que ses mains tremblent sur le manche de sa guitare, que sa voix vacille sur les notes les plus hautes, mais c'est cette fragilité qui est sa plus grande force. C'est le triomphe de l'humain sur la machine, de la sincérité absolue sur le marketing foireux de l'industrie du disque qui tentait déjà à l'époque de tout lisser, de tout corriger à grands coups d'Auto-Tune et de compressions numériques dégueulasses. Ici, rien n'est propre, rien n'est poli, les imperfections sont laissées de côté pour privilégier l'émotion brute, celle qui vous remue les tripes à deux heures du matin quand vous êtes seul face à vos démons dans le noir.

Je me refuse catégoriquement à dresser une liste clinique des réussites de cet album car ce monument ne se découpe pas en morceaux choisis, il se prend dans la gueule d'un seul bloc, de la première à la dernière seconde. C'est une œuvre testamentaire universelle qui transcende les époques et les goûts musicaux, un phare de noirceur lumineuse qui continuera d'éclairer les amateurs de musique authentique bien après que notre génération ait passé l'arme à gauche. Si vous n'avez pas ce disque chez vous, si vous n'avez jamais frissonné en entendant le final de Hurt ou la gravité de We'll Meet Again, vous passez à côté de l'essence même de ce qu'est le rock 'n' roll dans sa forme la plus pure et la plus noble. American IV est un chef-d'œuvre impérissable, et son statut de monument est désormais gravé dans le marbre de la liste des "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

Nice, chill, sad.

Despite being mostly covers, Johnny Cash owns most of these songs (ok well not Personal Jesus). A pretty great final album

"I don't like Country and Western"
"What about Johnny Cash"
"Obviously that doesn't include Johnny Cash"