Music
Store

After reading these memoirs, you start to realize how much of an event this show must have been, not just to the inmates, but to Cash himself, who apparently is no stranger to Folsom Prison himself.

Johnny Cash is Badass, so if your thinking about picking up that new Creed CD, (not that you would be) DON'T! Pick this up instead.


Crucial record for every music fan   May 9, 2001
 214 out of 218 found this review helpful

The impact of Johnny Cash's proto bad-boy on country, blues, and rock is inestimable, which doesn't even speak to the fact that the man is a great entertainer. If you are a serious music fan, your musical education isn't complete without Live At Folsom Prison.

This isn't a singles record, this is an album; you put it on to hear the whole thing. The performance itself is tight and structured, just like the venue. The recording is especially atmospheric - the reverb bouncing off the concrete walls, the sounds of doors slamming in the background, and an interruption by a prison announcement. Cash and the band (which includes the brilliant Luther Perkins, and his brother Carl - think Blue Suede Shoes) seem unflappable and completely at ease, belying the actual tension of the gig.

This reissue restores the original recording to its raw, warts-and all-feel, in direct contrast to the sanitized version that I grew up with: four songs have been restored to the set due to increased available length, plus Cash's interaction with the audience and the profanity (tasteful by today's standards) has been re-introduced, revealing the incredibly gritty nature of this record. Plus, the packaging is incredible: the handwritten note from Cash, describing why he felt compelled to make this album, the liner notes, and an appreciation from Steve Earle round out the package to create not merely a reissue, but a full restoration.

If you are hungry for something more substantial than the latest Clapton disc or Zeppelin reissue, you won't regret a minute of this terrific album.


RIP Johnny, this is a classic   September 13, 2003
 31 out of 31 found this review helpful

When I heard Johnny Cash had passed away, I was saddened to know his booming baritone would be silent now. I turned on the radio, hoping to catch some fleeting moments of the Man in Black's life in song. Instead, each and every country station (with one or two exceptions) seemed to be going about "business as usual", with nothing besides a "RIP Johnny" message, no full-fledged celebrations of his music to be found.

So I went out and bought Folsom Prison, as I didn't have any Cash records in my collection. Let me just say: I wish I'd gotten this earlier, it's absolutely fantastic. Being in the South, I couldn't help but grow up with country music, but as I got older the modern stuff began to turn into Garth Brooks-like medeocrity dressed up in loud clothes, and I found more substance in the entire body of rock music (from the Sun Studio days to English punk rock). I never thought I'd like country music...until I realized that the older stuff, like Cash and Waylon and Willie, that was the good stuff. The rebels of country music weren't pre-packaged pretty boys who strutted around singing other people's words with the emotion of a too-good-for-my-pants primadonna. These were men who grew up during the Depression, who sang about the hard times, the heartbreak, the loss, the depravity of life.

So Johnny Cash and his peers keep me from hating country music entirely, and this (as well as the Oh Brother soundtrack) have found a welcome place in my record collection. RIP Johnny, you will be missed. I couldn't have picked a better record to get to honor your memory.


An Essential Album...   April 19, 2003
 22 out of 24 found this review helpful

The fact that a non-country fan can give this album an astounding five out of five speaks volumes about how great a performer Johnny Cash is. The fact that you can actually FEEL the atmosphere of the prison just by listening to this recording speaks even more highly of this wonderful album. So often live albums are nothing more than a shrink-wrapped greatest hits album performed in front of a crowd. This is not the case with Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison however. This is one of those rare albums you can listen to from beginning to end over and over again and still not tire of it. At Folsom Prison is a timeless masterpiece of Americana that we shall not forget.

Cash performs a few of his classic tunes; "Folsom Prison Blues", "I Still Miss Someone", "The Legend Of John Henry's Hammer", "Give My Love To Rose". Cash performs some comedy; "Dirty Old Egg-Suckin' Dog". Cash performs some deep, dark tunes; "Dark As A Dungeon", "The Long Black Veil". And most importantly - he does the songs about prison. "Busted", "25 Minutes To Go", "I Got Stripes", et al. With a such a varied setlist, it's no wonder why this album is so highly regarded. It seems as if Johnny Cash could take any song and mold it into his own badass style.

There is simply no excuse for not having this album in your collection. I am not a country music fan, but I am most certainly a Johnny Cash fan. Johnny Cash is more than country music, he is what music is all about. Spirit, emotion, and atmosphere. At Folsom Prison contains these qualities in abundance.


Fantastic Album, One Of The Best Live Recordings Ever!!!   April 8, 2006
 22 out of 22 found this review helpful

I am not at all a country music fan. I, like many others around my age (20) listen to alternative, rock, rap. Like many who saw the motion picture WALK THE LINE I grew interested in Johnny Cash's performance at Folsom Prison. I was familar with Johnny Cash before the film, members of my family had recordings of Johnny Cash which they played from time to time. I decided to buy AT FOLSOM PRISON, this is not at all a country album. This is a live performance that makes you feel like you are acutally in Folsom Prison when Johnny Cash was performing. Johnny Cash's interaction with the inmates is caught in this recording, as well as an annoucement calling a inmate and doors closing it has the real feel and puts you back in time as if your there.
This albums is one of the best live recordings ever because Johnny Cash's jokes and interactions with inmates and his envolving the audience is so evident that he and the inmates are having a great time. This is not country music, This is rock, some punk (from the lyrics). The beat has a steady slight rock to it. The duet with June Carter Cash in the song JACKSON is great, the slight flirting by Johnny Cash before the song and the small, warm, thankful crack by June shows the great protrayl of Reese Witherspoon and Joaqiun Phoenix in the film.
This is not a album where you listen to one particular track, everything flows great so you can't help but listen to the entire album everytime and the music (unlike some songs and albums today) never gets old.
I stongly recomend this albums for not just country music fans or Johnny Cash fans but fans of the movie WALK THE LINE and music fans in general, Johnny Cash will walk the line forever!!