The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show

More Cash, well actually not an entire Cash album today, The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show is a compilation album featuring artists that appeared on Johnny Cash’s TV show. This is a double disc packsge, one disc is a DVD of selected appearances and the other is the audio and its interspersed with Johnny singing a few tracks.
There is enough on the disc to keep me more than entertained, from the none Cash selections we have Kris Krisstoferson, Glen Campbell performing Wichita Lineman, Neil Young performing The Needle and the Damage Done, Tammy Wynette perfroming Stand By Your Man aswell as James Taylor, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. The latter doing a low down dirty version of Blue suede Shoes.
The Disc also contains a rather splendid version of Ring Of Fire performed by Ray Charles, and many fine contributions by June Carter Cash, a voice no better exists I would say.
This all brings me round to Johnny Cash’s contributions, all the tracks are performed live and what we have is a rousing version of Boy Named Sue, a cover of Cash’s hero, Jimmi Rodgers featuring Louis Armstrong. Duets with June include their beautiful If You Were a Carpenter, which is a little muddled up on this recording.
The complete highlight though, and something in this version I had not heard before was Cash and Joni Mitchell duetting on The Girl of The North Country, a truly great and beautiful song made even better with the addition of Mitchell’s voice. A real highlight.
So it’s a compilation, but as strong a compilation as you will find, these are live versions, but controlled live versions and it’s a joy to hear them. The DVD features Neil Diamond singing Cracklin Rosie, I may have to watch that tonight. All in all, purely for Joni Mitchell, but also for Glen and June. 10 out of 10.



Girl of The North Country by Johnny Cash and Joni Mitchell

God Loves You

God is love, apparently. You always hear this, and people tell you. Well, I've never felt God's love. It certainly never promoted itself through the dirge like hymns we were forced to sing in school assembly (if they'd managed to lure The Staple Singers to a Shropshire school in the mid 80's this might have worked, or possibly a country gospel outfit in matching cowboy shirts). I noticed in the U.S. that lots of cars have little fish shaped 'Jesus' stickers on their boot. I'm not sure why it is fish shaped, possibly in tribute to the time he turned fillet-o-fish sandwiches into enough wine for a decent get-together. Possibly the closest I've ever had to a religious experience was a goal by Ray 'Romford Pele' Parlour against Valencia a few years ago. I think it's possible that God is over-rated, just as Romford Ray was under-rated.

Anyway, here's a biblical three to be going on with. If there's any love I hope you feel it.

'Jesus Was a Capricorn' by the cooler than cool Kris Kristofferson



The biblical sounding Nazareth were actually from Scotland, and took their name from a lyric from The Band song 'The Weight' ("pulled into Nazareth, was feling 'bout half past dead"). This clip is notable for the complete disinterest of the audience, as the band mime their fantastic version of Joni Mitchell's This Flight Tonight, along with the gravity defying topiary of lead singer Dan McCafferty's hair.

'This Flight Tonight' by Nazareth



Make sense of this if you will, particularly the spoken introducion by Son House, here doing the much covered (Blues Brothers, White Stripes) John the Revelator, which is my second posting of this song, as I just can't stay away from it.