Track Listing

1. I Won't Back Down
2. Solitary Man
3. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)
4. One
5. Nobody
6. I See A Darkness
7. Mercy Seat
8. Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)
9. Field Of Diamonds
10. Before My Time
11. Country Trash
12. Mary Of The Wild Moor
13. I'm Leavin' Now
14. Wayfaring Stranger

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2748 in Music
• Released on: 2006-02-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
As the title suggests, this is the third of the albums that Cash has recorded since his career was resuscitated in 1993 by a fortuitous coming together with Def American founder Rick Rubin. Though Rubin was principally famous as a hip-hop producer, he brought out the best in Cash, having the sense to strip the recordings back to the bare minimum needed to support Cash's peerless voice. The first two records they made together, American Recordings and Unchained were two of the best albums of Cash's long and incalculably influential career, and Solitary Man is better than either. The album is about evenly split between Cash originals and covers of traditional songs that have influenced him, and newer material clearly written under his influence. His own songs embrace both the unabashed spiritualism of his under-regarded gospel recordings ("Field Of Diamonds", "Before My Time") and his eternal fascination with the rural America he was born into ("Country Trash"), and they are just great. The real gems, however, are the covers. Though Cash could now bring a baleful, Old Testament portent to "I Should Be So Lucky", his knelling baritone finds a hundred new shades of black in Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man", Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" and, most surprisingly but most effectively, U2's "One". --Andrew Mueller

Customer Reviews

Perhaps The Man In Black's finest hour
In 2000, Johnny Cash’s health had weakened considerably, but this release confirmed that his creative powers were still very much intact. ‘Solitary Man’ ranks among the finest moments in a recording career that lasted for over half a century.

‘Solitary Man’ begins on a defiant note with Tom Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’. Certainly the presence of Petty’s backing vocals and organ playing should be noted, but Cash gracefully appropriates the song, adding a measure of gravitas that was absent from the original. The track is given an impact and poignancy that help transcend the original’s pop leanings.

Cash’s ability to allow the listener to identify with a song was never greater than on this album, but some credit for that must go to Rick Rubin for his trademark under-production. Paring down the instrumentation and arrangements allows the listener to more easily identify with the sentiments being expressed by Cash’s words – whether they are his own or not. Never is this more obvious than on his remarkable re-casting of Nick Cave’s death row narrative ‘The Mercy Seat’. Cash replaces Cave’s hysterics with a more conversational delivery. The original frantic Bad Seeds instrumentation is reduced to a hovering organ and a swirling piano melody. Despite the comparatively minimalist approach, the result is no less powerful.

Elsewhere, the title track, a version of Neil Diamond’s 1966 hit, and the soulful cover of U2’s melancholy stadium-ballad ‘One’ offer further evidence that Cash has an uncanny talent for transforming the works of others. However, it is his interpretation of Bonny Prince Billy’s (Will Oldham) ‘I See A Darkness’ that stands out. If nothing else, the stark contrast between Cash’s gnarled voice and Oldham’s youthful tone is heartbreaking. When Cash quavers, “There’s a hope that somehow you can save me from this darkness”, all but the callous eyes will be welling up.

However, not all the covers on ‘Solitary Man’ are borrowed from recent and current artists. Cash’s versatility (in addition to his musical heritage) is once again highlighted, as he resurrects the self-mocking ‘Nobody’, a one-hundred-year-old vaudeville tune written by Egbert Williams. Cash also revisits the old treasures ‘That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)’ and ‘Mary Of The Wild Moor’, upon which Sheryl Crow contributes.

Cash’s own compositions are no less compelling that the cover versions however. Rather the show signs of weakness so late in his career (like so many of his contemporaries), Cash’s song writing is as sharp as ever. ‘Before My Time’ is a touching love song as well as a humbling consideration of his own place in history. Similarly tender is ‘Field Of Diamonds’. While it was originally recorded in 1986 with Waylon Jennings, this new version is enhanced by the backing duet of June Carter Cash and Sheryl Crow.

Cash’s version of the old spiritual ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ is perhaps the most poignant track on the CD. As Cash lists the family members with whom he will be reunited with in death you can’t help but think that this is a sublime closer to not only an album but to a career. Tragically, his career would only last three more years, but ‘Solitary Man’ is a wonderful reminder that whether the subject was love, God or murder, Cash was the finest storyteller of them all.

One of his finest
From start to finish, this album is fantastic and is a superb example of Cash's unique voice. This album has a distinctly more modern feel than his earlier work - 'Solitary Man' presents us with guitar ballards rather than the 'country + western' music which brought him worldwide fame. However, this album never loses sight of what Cash's music is about: perhaps most clearly shown in his version of Nick Cave's 'The Mercy Seat' - here, Cash's deep and frail voice complements a very lyrical song perfectly. One of the great things about this album is that, although the majority of songs on it are covers, Cash has arranged and performs them in a distinctly personal way and consequently the album has a refreshingly origional feel to it. If you liked 'The Man Comes Around', you'll love this album.

Cash full of emotion
The emotional power of Cash's voice and personality turn the sounds on this album into a tour de force of human strength.
Honestly one of the best albums I have heard for a long while.