Funny business. Usually, we are against this kind of tinkering with archives. It turned out that the rights holders of the late Johnny Cash dug up a small pile of demos that weren’t very cool at first glance. A new album. These are recordings that fell through the cracks between the end of the Columbia era and the rebirth under Rick Rubin’s brand, American Recordings. The accompaniment then, we are in 1993, borders on the ugly of ugly. What to do ? Dare to redo everything? Yes, heresy: we erase everything that is not Johnny and his guitar. Instead, we call on champions, credible ones, a Marty Stuart in particular. And it’s infinitely better to listen to, obviously. We are not too fond of the echo effect in Hello Out Therebut Spotlight has the right finger on it. The strings and organ ideally complement the recording. The synths of Drive On are less happy, let’s say. In the end, we still wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to keep Johnny Cash all alone with Johnny Cash.
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