Johnny Cash - Icon Series 2 (CD)

2014 Icon series 22 track compilation of Cash's 1987-1991 Mercury label years for the completest collector. Working with producer Cowboy Jack Clement Johnny re-recorded many of his earlier hits which appear here; for a Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit in 1987. After being dropped from Columbia cash struggled to find a new direction at Mercury. He recorded five albums for the label. Well documented in the Robert Hilburn biography; this was a tough period in his career before his later renaissance with the Rick Rubin American recordings.

Johnny Cash didn't have any hits while he was at Mercury, which is the era that's chronicled on Universal's double-disc set Icon. Between 1987 and 1991, he recorded five albums for the label, including a 1988 LP called Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series, which is the source for the classic Sun and Columbia hits here. These aren't the originals but they're not terrible, and the same can generally be said for these recordings. Often characterized as Cash being lost in the wilderness, they're his forgotten material -- it's the only phase of his career that has no advocates -- but this nicely chosen collection salvages the best from a bumpy time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Performer	Johnny Cash
Music genre	Country, Traditional Country
Music release type	Compilation
Media format	CD
Original release date	December 25, 2013
Edition	Icon Series 2
Language	English
Number of tracks	22
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	2
Series title	Icon Series
Track listing	I Walk the Line, The Night Hank Williams Came to Town, Sixteen Tons, Long Black Veil, Cry! Cry! Cry!, Guess Things Happen That Way, Get Rhythm, Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues, Hey Porter, Wanted Man, Tennessee Flat Top Box, Ballad of a Teenage Queen, Don't Go Near the Water, Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down, I'm an Easy Rider, I Still Miss Someone, The Greatest Cowboy of Them All, Water from the Wells of Home, Don't Take Your Guns to Town, Family Bible, Goin' by the Block
Record label	Mercury Nashville
Music producer	Cowboy Jack Clement
Number in series	2
Track name	I Walk the Line
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N