Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Flashbak Digital photography is a marvellous thing in many ways, but it’s too immediate, too clean and too easy. Cash had always been that big cooler than the average country star – he had a rock ‘n’ roll vibe about him and he’d proved himself to be a serious artist, with concept albums dating back to 1960. He was a country artist who, at 36, might have seemed over the hill and far away in the era of psychedelia, heavy rock and prog, an era where rock stars and their fans had not yet had the chance to grown old. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The idea was put on hold for a few years until 1968, when Cash visited one of California's oldest maximum-security prisons to record his At Folsom Prison album. His "JC Flippin' the Bird at San Quentin Prison" has become one of the most iconic and most-copied photographs of the 20th century and came about when Marshall asked Cash to express what he thought about the prison authorities: "John, let's do a shot for the warden." A powerful portrait of a legendary musician by a legendary photographer. By 1968, Cash was an artist who had almost thrown it all away on drugs, drink, bad behaviour and general self-destruction, but was now sorting out his life and looking for a fresh start, musically, personally (with June Carter) and spiritually. Its popularity revitalized Cash's career and led to a follow up album, At San Quentin, the following year. Cash, unquestionably, had susbstance. One is just how well Cash photographs – he makes posed shots look casual yet iconic, particularly in the Folsom photos. Cash would be the outlaw, the voice of the oppressed, the Man in Black forever, and that’s entirely down to these two LPs. The resulting album was a hit in the United States, and reached Number One on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart.

Cash had been interested in recording a live album at a prison since his 1955 hit, "Folsom Prison Blues." For whatever reason, Sony Legacy decided to repackage Johnny Cash’s two greatest live albums in reverse order in this double-disc package: At San Quentin was released in 1969, and At Folsom Prison was issued a year earlier. Cult Never Dies Johnny Cash at San Quentin is the 31st overall album by Johnny Cash, recorded live at San Quentin State Prison on February 24, 1969 and released on June 16 of that same year. They both showcase the Man in Black at his very best. There are literally dozens of arguments to made for which Cash records to introduce a novice to, and which are his most important recordings. Marshall was the only official photographer present, and was granted unlimited access. Cash took photographer Jim Marshall (not related to the inventor of the Marshall Amp) to both shows, and his book of photographs documenting the events is a remarkable work. I don’t mean creatively, though that’s obviously important and we’ll come to that in a moment. The resulting album was a hit in the United States, and reached Number One on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. Johnny Cash’s two seminal live prison albums, released in 1968 (At Folsom Prison) and 1969 (At San Quentin), are unique in that they weren’t even performed for the paying public – these gigs are even more exclusive than the Sex Pistols’ legendary Manchester shows (and less likely to later result in disputed “I was there” claims), and both shows have become the stuff of legend and mythology. Johnny Cash was one of Jim Marshall's favorite subjects and you can see this in his Folsom and San Quentin photographs. From arriving off the bus outside the imposing prison walls, to shaking hands with prisoners (including Glen Sherley, who wrote the song "Greystone Chapel" sung by Cash), and performing until sweat dripped down his forehead, Marshall captured the passion, authority and intimacy of Cash's performances.

As country became ever glossier in the 1980s, Cash tried to keep up but became ever more irrelevant – it wasn’t until the American Recordings in 1994 that Cash would regain his cool cred and find a new audience outside the increasingly slick and commodified country music world. These photos are an extensive documentation of the two events, but they don’t feel as though Marshall was shooting willy-nilly, cranking out shots and then picking the best – there’s a feeling of consideration here and, as importantly, a sense of substance – these are images designed to be physical, tactile objects, as prints or in print, and they feel different. The other striking thing is the photography itself. Again, Marshall was personally invited to document the concert. But there was still the possibility of him slipping into irrelevance and obscurity as the new decade beckoned. Warped Perspective. The performance shots are remarkable – Cash, alone on stage, sat on a stool with his feet dangling over the edge of the stage and the inmates seemingly inches away with no barrier – most pop bands today wouldn’t even trust their own paying fans to get that close.
Closing Medley: Folsom Prison Blues/I Walk the Line/Ring of Fire/The Rebel [Bonus Track. The concert was filmed by Granada Television, produced and directed by Michael Darlow. The myths see an ex-con returning to the place of his incarceration as a redeemed, if not repentant figure, and Cash was happy to indulge them – but the truth is that Cash had never actually been in prison (not as a convict, at least) and these two shows were far from his first performances in such places. Like what we do? This body of work showcases some of the most arresting photographs of the country music star ever taken. like all the best photographers, he might have had the perfect subject matter to work with, but it’s his choices – what, when and where to shoot – that create art. Folsom State Prison (FSP) is een gevangenis in de Amerikaanse staat Californië.Het ligt 32 kilometer van Sacramento, de hoofdstad van de staat.. De gevangenis heeft als locatie gediend voor een aantal speelfilms, waaronder Riot in Cell Block 11, American Me, Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison en Walk The Line over Johnny Cash.. Geschiedenis. People don’t look like this anymore, I thought regretfully, as I studied the images – where are men like this today? I mean technically, the film and the film camera. Backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom. Perhaps it’s because San Quentin was the better-selling album because of its novelty crossover hit, A Boy Named Sue, and Cash was rolling on his own with a variety series at the time. But then, so did everyone it seems – the book is a fascinating collection of worn out, lined faces with expressions that tell their own stories. Johnny Cash at Folsom and San Quentin | ISBN 9781909526563 direct en eenvoudig te bestellen bij Boekhandel De Slegte. Either way, it hardly matters, as both albums are greatly expanded from their original LP and CD versions, and are presented in fully remastered 24-bit sound. Let’s not get too hung up on the technical qualities of film vs digital, or the photogenic qualities of the subject matter. Cash had personally commissioned Marshall to photograph the shows, and that trust and comfort allows the photographer to get moments of intimacy as well as extraordinary images of the event itself. I hate to sound like a luddite – but film is more authentic somehow. Cash’s two prison albums of the 1960s are not perfect by any means – At Folsom Prison was recorded in the wake of Cash’s attempts at country populism and contains too many novelty songs and weak numbers. Church of Satan By the time of his 2003 death, he was once again seen as the defiant outlaw and iconic musical rebel, and his two prison albums of 1968/1969 became totems of that image – the voice of the underdog and bird-flipping anti-establishment hero. At Folsom Prison is, however, the more electric recording, and both are seential parts of any worthwhile record collection. It works as a piece and a record of an event rather than a collection of songs, even though the best moments are unquestionably brilliant. At San Quentin is the more musically substantive of the two and includes the hit single A Boy Named Sue, that Cash and the band pretty much improvised on the spot based on Shel Silverstein’s lyrics. The Swedish album has little in the way of iconic songs and the TV special feels like an unnecessary repeat of the other two albums. Nine Banded Books Imagine rehearsal shots of any modern acts of a similar age and you’ll see primped, preening popinjays with no substance to them. Interestingly, the colour images in the book are a lot less striking. Melon Farmers Censorship Watch

A real novelty, Cash's recording is spiced with hoots and hollers from the Folsom inmates as … He’s a handsome – but certainly not pretty, but with a lived-in ruggedness – man, and there’s a sense of danger about him. Folsom musically, but San Quentin sentimentally. Quillette There’s a sense of integrity here that is admirable. Carefully curated with full access to the Jim Marshall Archive, this handsome oversized volume offers the definitive view of Johnny Cash's legendary prison concerts at Folsom in 1968 and San Quentin in 1969. At Folsom Prison is, however, the more electric recording, and both are seential parts of any worthwhile record collection. A streak of teenage mischief landed the “Mama Tried” outlaw in San Quentin Prison by age 21 and, as a by-product, granted him admission to a life-changing concert hosted by the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash. Cash would attempt to squeeze more momentum out of the format, though neither På Österåker, recorded in a Swedish prison in 1972 and released a year later, and the TV special A Concert Behind Prison Walls, broadcast in 1974 and postumously issued as an album in 2003, are as impressive.

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