Description
American III: Solitary Man is a studio album by the American singer and songwriter Johnny Cash, released on The American Recordings in 2000, manufactured by Universal Music Enterprises, a division of UMG Recordings, distributed by Universal Music Distribution. The album was produced by Rick Rubin.
Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash got together in 1993, with Rubin pleading to let him record Cash singing simple songs in his living room. The first fruits of this relationship – American Recordings (1994) and Unchained (1996) – both find Cash doing what Cash does best: Strumming acoustic guitar and (still) playing by his own rules. Among the most obvious signs of this are Cash’s interesting cover choices. American Recordings includes tunes by 1980s icon Nick Lowe («The Beast in Me»), heavy metal monster Glenn Danzig («Thirteen»), Leonard Cohen («Bird on a Wire»), Tom Waits («Down There by the Train»), and Loudon Wainwright III («The Man Who Couldn’t Cry»). It nabbed a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Unchained is not quite as fixated on younger bands and songwriters, yet was chosen for another Grammy, this time for Best Country Album.
Seven years since the first Cash-Rubin meeting, American III: Solitary Man finds the Man in Black sounding decidedly older and weaker – something not apparent on American Recordings or Unchained. This fact is manifested on the opening track, «I Won’t Back Down», another Petty cover. Known as an anthem of defiance, especially the way Petty and, more recently, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, have performed it, the war-cry tune as Cash does it has an eerie sense of resignation, his voice wavering like a man who’s prepared to die (albeit standing up). Another difference is that American III is far more stripped down. There are no drums or bass guitars or electrics – just acoustic instruments and the occasional keyboard flourish by Benmont Trench (one of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers).
The title track – one of Neil Diamond’s many hits – is a seemingly odd selection as it’s not terribly “alternative.” But remember that Diamond was a guest on Cash’s short-lived, wonderfully groundbreaking TV show in 1970, and the association and allegiance becomes clear. The lyrics no doubt reflect Cash’s unwavering commitment to individuality as well.
Cash returns U2’s “Zooropa favor” by covering a quick-tempoed version of the now classic track from Achtung Baby, «One». Here Cash – backed by acoustics, a sparse piano, and a dirge-like organ – makes this song sound like one of his originals, coloring it with a sense of love between two people who’ve shared their lives and are nearing the end of their days.
Other interesting covers are «Nobody», a tune written at the turn of the twentieth century, and perhaps the most stirring song on the album, «The Mercy Seat». Penned by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey, this gut-wrenching selection is composed from the perspective of a death-row inmate – who insists he’s innocent – yet who’s about sit in an electric chair: “Into the mercy seat I climb/ My head is shaved, my head is wired/ And like a moth that tries to enter the bright eye/ I go shufflin’ out of life/ Just to hide from death awhile/ And anyway, I never lied…” The real shocker comes when you listen to the original, unintelligible, gothic version – and you realize that Cash has done a far better job at interpreting this stirring anthem than Cave & Co.
Although Cash treads a little more lightly on American III, his advancing age forces him to provide each track with just that much more grace and believability. No problem here – Cash is truly the master at interpreting others’ songs, and here you have no reason to think he didn’t write them all – and only after experiencing every lyric. American III: Solitary Man, could be Cash’s last album – you just never know with him. [Dave Urbanski, Mars Hill Review, Issue 25]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/american-iii-solitary-man/1440821714)
CD tracklist:
01. I Won’t Back Down
02. Solitary Man
03. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)
04. One
05. Nobody
06. I See A Darkness
07. The Mercy Seat
08. Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)
09. Field Of Diamonds
10. Before My Time
11. Country Trash
12. Mary Of The Wild Moor
13. I’m Leavin’ Now
14. Wayfaring Stranger
Note: Released on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP.
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