Christmas with Johnny Cash [Sony]

by Johnny Cash

Overview

This 2012 reissue is a collection of 12 songs recorded between 1962 and 1980. Many of these songs will be familiar to the Cash faithful, since all but one song were previously released, but there are a few surprises. Cash's own "The Christmas Spirit," from an album of the same name recorded in 1962, is moving in that otherworldly way that only Cash could be. He spoke and sang as a man forgiven. Likewise, his "O Come All Ye Faithful" is a different reading of the song. Rather than just a work of power and majesty, one can hear in the grain of his voice not so much a rallying cry, but a gentle exhortation to open one's eyes and see. In "Silent Night," the earth whispers to a profound stillness. But the most moving track here is the final one, the unreleased "Christmas as I Knew It," from a rehearsal for The Johnny Cash Show. Cash intones a poem about his childhood, strumming a guitar with vibes quietly in the background before strings come up underneath, offering an opening into the gentle, stalwart dignity in Cash's delivery that every word is true. And it was true -- every word -- for 50 years in the music business; every word, whether lived or imagined, was all true. And in the spirit of Christmas, there is something to be grateful for: we at least had Johnny Cash in this old world. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	08/24/2004
Label:	Bmg / Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886976948320
Rank:	25113

Tracks

1. I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day
2. The Christmas Guest
3. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
4. The Gifts They Gave
5. Blue Christmas
6. Merry Christmas Mary
7. O Come All Ye Faithful
8. Away In a Manger
9. The Christmas Spirit
10. Joy To the World
11. Silent Night
12. Christmas As I Knew It

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Johnny Cash   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Bill Hayes   Composer
Bob Johnston   Producer
Frank Jones   Producer
Don Law   Producer
Darcy Proper   Mastering
Franz Gruber   Composer
Al Quaglieri   Compilation Producer
Bill Walker   Producer
Darren Salmieri   A&R
Larry Butler   Producer
Johnny Cash   Arranger,Composer
Howard Fritzson   Art Direction
Steve Berkowitz   A&R
Don Hunstein   Photography
Abe Velez   Package Manager
John Jackson   Project Director
Traditional   Composer
Bob Irwin   Producer