Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison

Rating:
Summary: Cash at Folom Prison: The stuff of legends...
Review: For anyone who is not familair with the 1968 recorded "live" album, it is recommended that you give a listen and experience the album first...Cash at Folsom Prison was perhaps the first recording made in quite a while combining a musical event with a genuine social statement. As a result, it seemed ominously fitting that this legendary Cash LP was made in the turbulent year of 1968, in a maximum security prison no less, only to become one of the years best selling albums. If any year could be perfectly represented by one piece of recorded music, it was 1968's JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON. The author explains exactly how Cash (who was denied the chance to record a live prison LP years earlier) and Columbia Records went about planning this album, how it was recorded by producer Bob Johnson, how it was carefully edited & released, and what the publics reaction was. Yet, page after page, Streissguth, brings the little known story of the recording and the history of the event together like a beautifully made documentary. Most of all this book strengthens the powerful message and experience of AT FOLSOM PRISON and gives the recording a new found dimension that enables it to still be considered one of greatest "live" album events in popular music history. RECOMMENDED!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic slice of Cash's life...
Review: I'm disappointed more often than not at the rock bios that flood the market when a performer dies. Not only are they inaccurate and full of rumor, but they often spend too much time dwelling on mundane childhood details ("...then, at age 6, he moved to grandma's house...").

This book rises to the occasion and gives us an in-depth look at the events leading up to and including the day that Johnny Cash took his band of musicians (including Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers) to Folsom Prison for a morning concert to be recorded for an LP. The author successfully traces the seeds of Cash's care for the prisoners, not sidestepping the obvious marketing advantages to his outlaw status.

At Folsom Prison is extremely well-researched and Streissguth obviously has a background in country music. For casual fans of the music of the 60's this is a great primer, but for those of us who've listened to the album again and again this is the definitive companion to the recordings. [Note: If there's anything disappointing about the book it's that there isn't more of it. Since it's heavy with admittedly amazing photographs from that day it's pretty short. You'll read it in one sitting.]

Rating:
Summary: A 'must' for Cash fans
Review: In 1969 Cash performed at Folsom Prison in California and produced a title album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison which as to make him a superstar in the country world. Michael Streissguth's Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison: The Making Of A Masterpiece is no ordinary biography of Cash, which has been done before: it's a survey of that performance, what led to it, and what came out of it, richly enhanced by the author's access to Folsom Prison and Columbia Record archives and illustrated with over 100 rare photos. A 'must' for Cash fans.


Rating:
Summary: Blow my blues away
Review: This is a good book about a great album. It gives a very detailed account of the events leading up to the recording of the album, the concert itself and the aftermath of the album's release. It also goes into details about Folsom Prison itself, which most Johnny Cash fans are probably not aware of. This is a very informative book that Johnny Cash's fans will probably enjoy.