Customer Reviews

Great gift for Cash fans - By: Adrian Wilson, 05 Nov 2008
Brill gift for friends & family. Bought if for my old man last Xmas & he loved it...even caught him wathcing it again last week...10 months after I bought it. Great guest artists performing & Cash at his formidable best. A must buy for any Cash fans.

---

Outstanding entertainment. Cash at his very best. - By: Musicfan, 24 Aug 2008
The 2 DVDs feature the best of the Johnny Cash TV shows that were probably only seenin the USA between 1969-1971. Before my time! Johnny Cash looks at his fittest & most relaxed. He is clearly enjoying himself & his reading of Sunday Morning Coming Down is the best & most powerful I have ever heard. It is an eclectic list of guests including Glen Cambell, the Great Marty Robbins, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young, Ray Charles (wonderful on Ring of Fire) & many more who have probably never really been seen on DVD. Most are performing at their very best. Eric Clapton was clearlyin awe of his host & Carl Perkins. Some of the humour is corny but there is not too much of it. June Carter's performances are also thankfully limited (she could not singin my view)but the love between her & her husband is plain to see. This is almost a historical 'document'. There is some commentary which sets the scene nicely. The music on this collection has stood the test of time....it is still great now. Very entertaining. Outstanding & thoroughly recommended.

---

Outstanding quality pack from the outstanding man in black - By: Chris Wood, 08 Aug 2008
This is Johnny at his best with some of the biggest namesin music. It's fine stuff & includes some superb people at their very peak, not to mention Mr Cash himself on good form.

Considering what you get here, this is a must buy. I've watched it several times already & some songs way more than that. A great DVD.

---

Pure gold from music heroes at the peak of their form - By: Mof, 24 Oct 2007
This is a landmark release of 66 classic performances from Johnny Cash's 1969-71 network TV show which has, until now, been available only through grainy tapes from Ebay.
The guest list reads like a who's who of popular music: Bob Dylan, who wasin town recording Nashville Skyline, played on the debut show; Roy Orbison, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Creedence Clearwater & Jonie Mitchell all appear at the peak of their form and,as far as 1970's country music goes, it would easier to list who does not appear.
To anyone only familiar with Cash through the biopic "Walk the Line", this will be a revelation. Joaquin Phoenix's moody,obsessive loner is hard to reconcile with the grinning,gregarious, self-assured singer just a year down the line from his redemptive marriage to June Carter.
Cash is a great host.His duet with Louis Armstrong includes just the right note of respectful defererence & he welcomes a nervous Eric Clapton with the nice touch of listing all the members of Derek & the Dominoes. Clapton trading licks with Carl Perkins is one of the standout moments,as the (then) new kid on the block gets to play with one of his mentors.Another highlight is an outrageous performance from Jerry Lee Lewis who reminds us just how good Sun's last survivor was back then.
Of course, this is a 37 year-old network variety show so some of the banter is pretty cheesy & the comedy pretty toe-curling.
The commentary, which sets the scene for several performances, makes the valid point that the show played a groundbreaking role at the timein crossing the divide between conservative mainstream America & the counter culture of the youth movement.This was a time when US society was torn apart by Vietnam & the appearance of long-haired artists like James Taylor & Neil Young, together with black-listed Pete Seeger was a radical statement by the inclusive-thinking Cash.
The commentary is not always helpful though, especially when the contributions are cut into the music. Cash's powerful attack on the treacherous treatment of Native Americans, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", is ruined by being inter-spliced with talking heads; & although Kris Kristofferson & Hank William Jr make some perceptive contributions there is frankly too much from Johnny Cash's son who,being only a babein arms when the show aired,can scarcely bring much perspective to the cause. But we can thank the lady hair-stylist for a gem about Linda Ronstadt trying to appearin a mini skirt, minus knickers.There is a unexpected frisson to watching Ronstadt's performance after you've heard that!
Anyway- buy the double DVD. Watch it. Enjoy it. Celebrate the way popular music was,in one of its heydays, when performers plugged their guitars into amps,played live,were authentic & creative & different.And celebrate the hot-wired & happy genius that was Johnny Cash.