Jobie Reviews Music 161: Greatest Hits: The Sun Records Years (album) by Johnny Cash

(requested by ActuallyApollo)

Greatest Hits: The Sun Records Years (known as simply “Greatest Hits” on Spotify), is a 2017 country compilation album by Johnny Cash. It contains 20 tracks, spanning 47 minutes and 1 second. The album, as implied by the title, is a compilation of Cash’s most well known works. Originally sold as a vinyl exclusive, the album contains remasters of classic Cash tracks, including his signature song “Folsom Prison Blues”.

Of course, being a Johnny Cash compilation album, the over half-hour album is packed with great country melodies. Cash fans will be delighted to see the inclusion of the aforementioned “Folsom Prison Blues”, as well as other classics such as “I Walk the Line” and “Cry! Cry! Cry!”.

Aside from being a great 20 track compilation album, the album, of course, has excellent instrumentation and vocals throughout its 47 minute runtime. Cash’s signature vocals make each track (even more repetitive tracks like “Katy Too”) enjoyable to listen to, with care clearly put into each and every track included on the album.

Similarly, the lyrics are well-written and thought out, with the storytelling that Johnny Cash is known for being present on a good percentage of the album’s 20 tracks. The compilation album is very consistent with its selection of tracks, with no one track standing out as particularly bad.

While the 20 tracks vary widely in their instrumentation and composition (at least two tracks contain a piano), one thing that they all have in common is their high quality nature. As said in the previous paragraph, the tracks presented here are very consistent when it comes to how excellent they are, each part of their compositions being of high quality.

My favorite tracks from this album are “Folsom Prison Blues”, “I Walk the Line”, “Home of the Blues”, “Big River”, and “Thanks a Lot” (in case you were wondering, this was indeed a tough call to make!).

Overall, Greatest Hits: The Sun Records is a well-thought-out selection of 20 excellent Johnny Cash tracks, with excellent instrumentation and vocals encompassing the entire compilation album. The quality of the lyrics on each of the 20 tracks is, of course, on par with these two attributes, making for highly enjoyable country tunes. No complaints here.

Overall rating:

9.5/10

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5r9acCLnMK9zrcaGZIcINx