"Johnny Cash At San Quentin" by JOHNNY CASH – Featured Guests June Carter Cash, Carl Perkins, The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers (February 2007 Sony BMG Legacy 2CD+1DVD Reissue/Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Scarred Through And Through..."

Following on from the extraordinary and surprising success of "Johnny Cash At Fulsom Prison" (a deserved No. 13 placing on the US Rock LP charts in June 1968) - 1969 turned out to be an even more blistering chart year for the mighty man of Country.

It seemed everything Cash did or had done in the past, sold. Sun Records repacked his 50s material into five volumes, other labels like Harmony joined in, he did a religious LP on Columbia called "The Holy Land" in February and a seasonal outing not surprisingly called "The Christmas Spirit" in December resulting in an astonishing 9 LP chart entries in the Top 200 for that year. All of it course culminated in his biggest success of all - after its 4 June 1969 release on Columbia Records (USA) and CBS Records (UK) - "Johnny Cash At San Quentin" climbed the mountain to the coveted No. 1 slot on both the Country and Rock charts (an unprecedented achievement for a Country singer to hit the Pop top spot). And the prison LP duo of Fulsom and Quentin has remained beloved ever since - and too damn right. Cash had even quit Amphetamines, found God, persuaded the gorgeous and savvy June Carter to marry him (bolstered no doubt by him dropping the destructive first and embracing the nurturing second) and soon he would have his own prime-time TV show syndicated all over the world. All good for Mister Badass...

But which version of "At San Quentin" do you buy (and there are a few to consider)? There is the truly excellent 2005 'Legacy Deluxe Edition' 2CD reissue of with Vic Anesini remasters (always a sign of quality). Or if you wanted both the Prison LPs, you could opt for the doubled up 2CD budget-priced combo of Folsom and Quentin issued January 2006 that simply lumps the two Remastered CDs together (each with some bonus material) – two jewel cases in a card wrap (Barcode 828767665825).

But (and even despite the inexplicable change of artwork which I must say I find slightly disconcerting) - I'd argue that the extra bits here (unissued CD cuts and the 1969 Granada TV Special DVD) make this February 2007 Three-Disc baby the one to get. There's a lot to swallow so let's get behind those bars, flip the bird, pump the shotguns (in case anyone gets rowdy) and break this sucker down...

UK released 15 February 2007 - "At San Quentin 1969" by JOHNNY CASH on Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Columbia/Legacy 88697060932 (Barcode 886970609326) is an Expanded 2CD and 1DVD reissue featuring guests CARL PERKINS, JUNE CARTER CASH, THE CARTER FAMILY and THE STATLER BROTHERS and that plays out as follows:

CD1 (54:27 minutes):

1. Blue Suede Shoes - CARL PERKINS (Previously Unissued)

2. Flowers On The Wall - THE STATLER BROTHERS (Previously Unissued)

3. The Last Thing on My Mind - THE CARTER FAMILY (Previously Unissued)

4. June Carter Cash Talks To The Audience - JUNE CARTER CASH (Previously Unissued)

5. Wildwood Flower - THE CARTER FAMILY (Previously Unissued)

6. Big River - JOHNNY CASH

7. I Still Miss Someone - JOHNNY CASH

8. Wreck Of The Old 97 - JOHNNY CASH

9. I Walk The Line - JOHNNY CASH

10. Medley: The Long Black Veil/Give My Love To Rose - JOHNNY CASH (Previously Unissued)

11. Fulsom Prison Blues - JOHNNY CASH

12. Orange Blossom Special - JOHNNY CASH (Previously Unissued)

13. Jackson - JOHNNY CASH and JUNE CARTER CASH (Previously Unissued)

14. Darlin' Companion - JOHNNY CASH

15. Break My Mind - THE CARTER FAMILY (Previously Unissued)

16. I Don't Know Where I'm Bound - JOHNNY CASH

17. Starkville City Jail - JOHNNY CASH 

CD2 (45:29 minutes):

1. San Quentin (4:09 minutes) - JOHNNY CASH

2. San Quentin (3:13 minutes) - JOHNNY CASH

3. Wanted Man - JOHNNY CASH

4. Restless - CARL PERKINS (Previously Unissued)

5. A Boy Named Sue - JOHNNY CASH

6. Blistered - JOHNNY CASH (Previously Unissued)

7. (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley - JOHNNY CASH

8. The Outside Looking In - CARL PERKINS (Previously Unissued)

9. Less Of Me - THE STATLER BROTHERS (Previously Unissued)

10. Ring of Fire - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY

11. He Turned The Water Into Wine - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

12. Daddy Sang Bass - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

13. The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

14. Closing Medley: Fulsom Prison Blues/I Walk The Line/Ring of Fire/The Rebel-Johnny Yuma - JOHNNY CASH with THE CARTER FAMILY, STATLER BROS & CARL PERKINS

DVD "Johnny Cash At San Quentin", All Regions, 60 minutes, 1969 Documentary by Granada TV (UK)

Includes footage of the concert that became the LP, a full performance of "A Boy Named Sue" and one-on-one interviews with several prison guards and inmates talking about their experiences of jail. The music footage shown is:

This 3-Disc release goes to some pains to present the full concert as 'played' – a whopping 30-songs in chronological order including a spoken intro. But the original 10-song album of course had a different configuration and none of the guests. To sequence it, use the following tracks, [3/2] = Track 3 on Disc 2 etc

ORIGINAL LP "Johnny Cash At San Quentin", TRACK LIST SEQUENCE

Side 1:

1. Wanted Man [3/2]

2. Wreck Of The Old 97 [8/1]

3. I Walk The Line 9/1]

4. Darlin' Companion [14/1]

5. Starkville City Jail [17/1]

Side 2:

1. San Quentin [1/2]

2. San Quentin [2/2]

3. A Boy Named Sue [5/2]

4. (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley [7/2]

5. Folsom Prison Blues [11/1]

LP originally released June 1969 on Columbia Records CS 9827 (USA) and August 1969 on CBS Records S 63629 (UK) - both in Stereo. All songs by Johnny Cash except "Wanted Man" (Bob Dylan cover), "Wreck Of The Old 97" (Traditional song arranged by Johnny Cash, Bob Johnson and Norman Blake), "Darlin' Companion" (John Sebastian song, Lovin' Spoonful cover), "A Boy Named Sue" (Shel Silverstein cover) and "(There'll Be) Peace In The Valley" (Reverend Thomas Dorsey cover). It peaked at No. 1 on the US Country and Rock charts and at No. 2 in the UK LP charts. 

As it is with all these issues that come without an outer slipcase, the four-way foldout card digipak is a bit of a clunky and easy to damage affair – so you need to be careful with it. The 2CDs and 1DVD take up three of the four flaps (period pictures beneath the see-through trays) with a photo on the first flap of the prison crowd waiting for the show to begin - a sound engineer untangling cables in front of an empty microphoned stage. The colour booklet is an impressive 32-page melting pop of what unfolded on 24 February 1969 at San Quentin Prison - June and Johnny being interviewed on Page 2 with Page 31 showing the whole band ensemble taking a bow to the rapturous audience. There are reminiscences and critiques from Sylvie Simmons, Marty Stuart's liner notes to the 4 July 2000 single reissue CD on Legacy, Marty interviewed Merle Haggard (who was at the show and has admitted to having been forever changed by it), afterthoughts by both Johnny and June and promoter Lou Robin from March 2000 and finally Bob Irwin's notes on this latest issue and its improvements and completeness.

But of course the big news is the Audio - Remastered by VIC ANESINI. His is a name associated with Elvis Presley, The Byrds, Carole King, Mott The Hoople, Santana, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, Nilsson, Spirit and so many more. The original live record famously bristled with life and danger and it does so even more now. Its like a beast unleashed. Fantastic and those unreleased tracks expand the listen so much...huge life around the sound. I also appreciate the Carter Family harmonies more now – giving an almost spiritual nature to the words and the feelings they elicited.

DVD: Some have expressed disappointment with the DVD and I can understand this. Its not been cleaned up for a start (scratchy and blotched), but I’d argue the content is so powerful you soon forget about that. It was a Granada TV show (UK), a documentary and NOT a film of the entire concert although 10 tunes are given sizeable chunks of footage in this order: Walk The Line, Folsom Prison Blues, Orange Blossom Special, Jackson (with June Carter Cash), Darlin’ Companion, Daddy Sings Bass (with Carl Perkins, The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers), San Quentin, Wanted Man, A Boy Named Sue (Long Version) and (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley. But for me the DVD offers a welcome sobering counterbalance to the slight bravura macho streak of the LP. 

As a stand alone, the record feels at times like a celebration – this DVD does not. If anything its a chilling reminder as shot after shot of the actual existence they lived is paraded in front of you – haunted faces behind scraped steel bars, lonely figures parading in the yard, the pump-action shotguns of the guards resting on railings, cold cups of coffee on the concrete with barbed wire overhead, pictures of kids and family on the walls they may never see again. But it’s the inmates and guard interviews that amaze and unsettle – one officer with a grizzled face straight out a thousand cop precinct movies describing his 23 years of seeing young lives wasted – his California Correctional Department badge immaculate on the sleeve of his shirt, black cap on his head with its gold badge shining. You can see he has a heart, but you can also literally taste the weariness emanating off of him – his voice almost slurring as he talks with barely contained sadness of how the inmates survive – interracial gangs – homosexuality – toilet tissue under their shirts to make their muscles seem bigger and avoid a beating. One inmate who avoided death literally as he was being brought down to the notorious leather straps of the SQ gas chamber (always used at 10 a.m. ever Friday morning) talks calmly about he strangled a woman and her 12 year old son after a drunken liaison but still doesn't know why - his gaze lost as he describes it. Its not very romantic or uplifting but it is stone cold brutal and sobering. As Cash sings how San Quentin "...left me scarred through and through..." and "...I walked out a wiser but weaker man..." - there is an eruption from the crowd – this is their guy and he knows their language.

This is the show where Cash couldn’t get to see his audience because there was too much equipment on stage and the Granada crew refused to budge themselves or any of it - so Cash gave his famous two-finger salute to the camera. It’s a shot that’s now on a thousand teeshirts – the man’s indomitable spirit. But re-listening and re-watching this amazing thing in 2019 – 50 years haven’t lessened its power, just perhaps brought the reality more into focus. "Johnny Cash At San Quentin" is a seriously powerful piece of work and this reissue has brought home ALL sides of it – complete and in yer face.

And as I think about those faces in the crowd, smiling, longing, lifted up, given new hope if only for an afternoon – then the cameras cutting coldly to those blank stares from behind prison bars afterwards – I hope some of them made it...