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BUY THE CD
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I've been a Johnny Cash fan since my parents played “I Walk the Line” on an old all-in-one Mercury stereo system. This is a heavy, heavy album. First of all, the title track, “The Man Comes Around,” sounds like classic Cash. It has received a lot of radio play on the local college folk show, which is where I first heard it. This track is clean and crisp with a certain “Ring of Fire” feel to it. Cash opens the song reciting a poetic verse, his voice old and scratchy. Then the album kicks in. Many of the songs are sad and depressed.
Cash has been sick for the past few years, and this recording often feels like he is coming to terms with his own mortality. Like many of his albums, this one is full of cover tunes. He does a very decent, true to himself, version of “Hurt,” by Nine Inch Nails. He also does Depeche Mode's “Personal Jesus,” which comes off as positive and preachy. Another cover to remember is his version of “Danny Boy,” just the man and a pipe organ. It's an eerie funeral piece that left me a bit choked up.
Also on this disc is a version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which he doesn't pull off too well, but I'll let it slide because of my own prejudice and dislike of that song. Overall, this is a hauntingly beautiful masterpiece by Mr. Cash.
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