Johnny Cash, At San Quentin (1969)

Where bought? I've had this a really long time but its provenance escapes me. It was very cheap and in poor condition when I got it and the years have seen it suffer several moves. There's surface noise galore, scratches, and the grooves barely take the needle. But it is still going, and in some respects, perfect.

This record has soundtracked several things that I am sure Mr. Cash didn't hope for, such as getting stoned with friends or playing Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, and much of it is braintape including the between-song patter.

At San Quentin is an interesting piece of documentary recording: not least because the record presented to us is, like nearly all documentaries, manipulated into a certain order that gives us a certain impression of events as they transpired. 

I'm also inclined to believe that, even at 37, Mr. Cash was a legitimate star of such presence that he could rap with hardened cons, but there's definitely a lot of flattery in his act, a knowing that his star is wedded to the outlaw version of himself. He even introduces 'Peace in the Valley' with 'we get a lot of requests for this', which my critical ears hear as 'this is slow and religious so please shut up for a bit'.

Nonetheless it's a record whose audience reactions are as key to the myth as the music itself, particularly in the two versions of 'San Quentin' played back-to-back. The little barbs are met well in the first version but there's a sense that most of the jailhouse crowd are taking it in. Second time around, it feels like a near riot.

Generally I am positively inclined to this kind of stark, rhythmic, dry sounding country music. It's really hard to play so selflessly; I even saw a Johnny Cash tribute act doing parts of this and they overdid everything, possibly because modern acts have to battle house sound engineers and various amplifications, but it was a strong reminder that the effortlessness and subtly funky propulsion to 'A Boy Named Sue' comes from something authentic to the people making it.

A fun record but more interesting as a document of something that has disappeared. As I said in the intro, the record is scratched up and the sleeve battered, so keeping it is imperative.