This is an archive piece written and posted on LiveJournal in 2006, albeit slightly edited and re-published in 2013:
How high's the water mama?
I watched the Johnny Cash biopic last night entitled "Walk The Line" and that song didn't even make an appearance: "Five Feet High and Rising".
I didn't know that June Carter was such a tough nut to crack - she didn't want to have a bar of poor old Johnny for ages! I have to applaud him for his tenacity. I would have given up ages ago if it was me, no matter how great the girl was.
The thing that struck me though was, and like the Ray Charles biopic I saw last week, is how clueless record company execs can be. Columbia Records didn't see any merit in Johnny recording a live album at a prison. The "Live at Folsom Prison LP" turned out to be his biggest selling record ever, closely followed by its sequel "Johnny Cash at San Quentin". These are the same people who didn't see any faith in releasing Dave Brubeck's landmark 1959 LP "Time Out" because it wasn't "commercial" enough. Those bean-counters were eating their words when that album became the first ever jazz LP to chart in Billboard top 40 LPs and the first jazz album to spawn a hit single ("Take Five"). Go figure.
History is littered with stories like these. Around the same time as Johnny was arguing with Columbia's record execs, they passed on signing Frank Zappa and the Mothers.
We all know the story of the Beatles being snubbed by Decca in London in 1962. They were so annoyed with their decision they signed the Rolling Stones immediately after hearing their demo.
Ray Charles had the same problem. Atlantic didn't want to release "What'd I Say" as a single because it was over 6 minutes long. When they did, it was a massive hit - the biggest in the company's history.
Same deal with James Brown and his landmark album "Live at the Apollo" - the record company vetoed the idea. James funded the recording himself and it was the biggest selling LP record of his career (and it still is).
I wonder if these experiences have hardened the record company people now so that they don't take any risks on new talent or new ideas. Maybe that's why a lot of modern music on the radio sucks and all the good stuff is on the internet or on indie labels that get no media coverage.
Or maybe i'm a curmudgeon. I dunno. Meh. Bah humbug. Turn the record over...
Showing posts with label Johnny Cash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johnny Cash. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Johnny Cash's birthday
This is an archive piece written and posted on LiveJournal in 2006, albeit slightly edited and re-published in 2013:
In honour of Johnny Cash's 80th birthday, I present part of my review of the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line" from 2006.
image source: www.johnnycash.com
...I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the ties that bind
Because you're mine..."
Back again on the subject of the Johnny Cash documentary "Walk The Line" that I recently viewed, I thought that Reese Witherspoon was a fairly convincing June Carter but Joaquin Phoenix's performance left a lot to be desired. Take into account I had just watched "Ray" recently and Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles was so realistic he deserved that Oscar he won. I can't really say the same for poor ol' Joaquin. After listening to "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" yesterday it became apparent to me just how far off the mark Joaquin really was:- Sorry mate.
I think it's so cool that Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two arrived at their unique sound because they were playing at the limit of their abilities. In short, they couldn't play any better. And while Johnny was once a labelmate of Elvis Presley, Johnny's legacy is way more vital that Elvis's ever was. At least Johnny wrote his own songs...
Johnny's legacy is unfortunately hampered by the fact that he will forever be tied to the genre of Country music. That is a great shame as his music really was genreless - it was a seamless mix of Gospel, Folk, Blues, Rockabilly AND Country. He crossed genres so seamlessly he created his own sound, and style. He became idiosyncratic, and the words he sang were, in most cases, real. They felt lived in, and he believed in what he sang about and made that known. No wonder his fans are as diverse as Nick Cave and James Hetfield from Metallica.
Johnny was associated with a movement in music called the "Outlaw" movement. Although in the eyes of most people that title stuck because he sang songs about spending time in jail and various social injustices, oh and killing people too. But that is not in itself correct, although it probably helped. The title was applied to people like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and others because what they did was "outside" the accepted conventions of country music, whose aristocracy is based around the all powerful Nashville music scene and "The Grand Ole Opry". Jim Reeves, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette were/are "Nashville-approved", Johnny Cash, strictly speaking, was not. He, like the others I've mentioned, chose to do things their way and flipped the bird at Nashville. Thus the title "outlaw".
image source: mirandoenlared.blogspot.com
And I think popular music on the whole is all the better for it.
In honour of Johnny Cash's 80th birthday, I present part of my review of the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line" from 2006.
image source: www.johnnycash.com
"I keep a close watch on this heart of mine...
...I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the ties that bind
Because you're mine..."
Back again on the subject of the Johnny Cash documentary "Walk The Line" that I recently viewed, I thought that Reese Witherspoon was a fairly convincing June Carter but Joaquin Phoenix's performance left a lot to be desired. Take into account I had just watched "Ray" recently and Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles was so realistic he deserved that Oscar he won. I can't really say the same for poor ol' Joaquin. After listening to "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" yesterday it became apparent to me just how far off the mark Joaquin really was:- Sorry mate.
I think it's so cool that Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two arrived at their unique sound because they were playing at the limit of their abilities. In short, they couldn't play any better. And while Johnny was once a labelmate of Elvis Presley, Johnny's legacy is way more vital that Elvis's ever was. At least Johnny wrote his own songs...
Johnny's legacy is unfortunately hampered by the fact that he will forever be tied to the genre of Country music. That is a great shame as his music really was genreless - it was a seamless mix of Gospel, Folk, Blues, Rockabilly AND Country. He crossed genres so seamlessly he created his own sound, and style. He became idiosyncratic, and the words he sang were, in most cases, real. They felt lived in, and he believed in what he sang about and made that known. No wonder his fans are as diverse as Nick Cave and James Hetfield from Metallica.
Johnny was associated with a movement in music called the "Outlaw" movement. Although in the eyes of most people that title stuck because he sang songs about spending time in jail and various social injustices, oh and killing people too. But that is not in itself correct, although it probably helped. The title was applied to people like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and others because what they did was "outside" the accepted conventions of country music, whose aristocracy is based around the all powerful Nashville music scene and "The Grand Ole Opry". Jim Reeves, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette were/are "Nashville-approved", Johnny Cash, strictly speaking, was not. He, like the others I've mentioned, chose to do things their way and flipped the bird at Nashville. Thus the title "outlaw".
image source: mirandoenlared.blogspot.com
And I think popular music on the whole is all the better for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)