The Complete Mercury Albums 1986-1991

by Johnny Cash

Overview

It's widely acknowledged that Johnny Cash's time at Mercury didn't find the Man in Black at either his commercial or creative peak. Cash moved to the label in 1986, just after he departed his longtime home of Columbia, and he stayed there through 1991, a half-decade stint that resulted in only one Country Top 40 hit (1988's "That Old Wheel," which charted thanks to the momentum of Cash's duet partner, Hank Williams, Jr.) and has subsequently been framed as the wilderness years before he righted himself on Rick Rubin's American Recordings. The 2020 box set The Complete Mercury Albums 1986-1991 is the first opportunity to challenge this conventional wisdom, a place where it's possible to concentrate on the relative merits of the handful of LPs he recorded for the label. The box expands upon the original five records for Mercury by adding a bunch of bonus tracks, plus a full album's worth of alternate mixes of the 1988 covers collection Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series and the 1986 collaborative set Class of 55, where he was joined by fellow Sun Records survivors Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison for a set of new songs written in the style of the oldies. Class of 55 opens this chronological set on a shaky note, thanks to freeze-dried Chips Moman production that steers each of these greats toward their worst instincts. It's one of the worst LPs credited to any of the four, and having it open the set suggests that Cash's Mercury stint is as bad as its rep, but 1987's Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town is a better yardstick to gauge this era by. Produced by Jack Clements, Coming to Town opens with a careening version of Elvis Costello's "The Big Light" and then proceeds to run through covers, cornball novelties, sincere ballads, and story songs. It's a dynamic, entertaining record and Cash returned to its formula often on Mercury to admittedly varied but often entertaining results. Clement also helmed 1988's Water from the Wells of Home, a record that gets weighed down by its cameos, but the guests can also conjure some unexpected delights, such as Paul McCartney's appearance on "New Moon Over Jamaica." Producer Bob Moore kept 1990's Boom Chicka Boom tight and focused. The 1991 set The Mystery of Life comprised cobbled-together leftovers from Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town and sessions for a new album that didn't quite come to fruition; it's uneven but has more than its share of moments, including a new version of Bob Dylan's "Wanted Man." Listened to collectively, these records sound much better than their reputation suggests. Even Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series, a collection of re-recordings of his old hits, is livelier than its description suggests, benefitting from Cash sounding spry and invested in the material. That none of these LPs generated hit singles at the time can be chalked up to a matter of age. Cash was on the other side of 50 when he made this music and he'd been a hitmaker for 30 years. He was a known property who couldn't fit into the sound of modern country radio, which happened to be running away from veterans like Cash in the first place. All these personal and cultural changes doomed Cash's Mercury records to commercial failure, and while the albums still have a distinct gloss endemic to the '80s, each of them has its share of moments, and Comes to Town and Boom Chicka Boom are strong records in their own right. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/26/2020
Label:	Mercury / Mercury Nashville
UPC:	0602567726944
Rank:	61799

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Birth of Rock and Roll
2. Sixteen Candles
3. Class of '55
4. Waymore's Blues
5. We Remember the King
6. Coming Home
7. Rock and Roll (Fais-Do-Do)
8. Keep My Motor Running
9. I Will Rock and Roll With You
10. Big Train [From Memphis]

Disc 2

11. The Big Light
12. The Ballad of Barbara
13. I'd Rather Have You
14. Let Him Roll
15. The Night Hank Williams Came to Town
16. Sixteen Tons
17. Letters From Home
18. W. Lee O'Daniel (And the Light Crust Dough Boys)
19. Heavy Metal (Don't Mean Rock and Roll to Me)
20. My Ship Will Sail

Disc 3

21. Ballad of a Teenage Queen
22. As Long as I Live
23. Where Did We Go Right
24. The Last of the Drifters
25. Call Me the Breeze
26. That Old Wheel
27. Sweeter Than the Flowers
28. A Croft in Clachan [The Ballad of Rob MacDunn]
29. New Moon Over Jamaica
30. Water From the Wells of Home

Disc 4

31. A Backstage Pass
32. Cat's in the Cradle
33. Farmer's Almanac
34. Don't Go Near the Water
35. Family Bible
36. Harley
37. I Love You Love You
38. Hidden Shame
39. Monteagle Mountain
40. That's One You Owe Me

Disc 5

41. The Greatest Cowboy of Them All
42. I'm an Easy Rider
43. The Mystery of Life
44. Hey Porter
45. Beans for Breakfast
46. Goin' by the Book
47. Wanted Man
48. I'll Go Somewhere and Sing My Songs Again
49. The Hobo Song
50. Angel and the Badman

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Johnny Cash   Primary Artist,Vocals
Paul McCartney   Primary Artist
The Everly Brothers   Primary Artist
The Carter Family   Primary Artist
Hank Williams, Jr.   Primary Artist
Emmylou Harris   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Waylon Jennings   Primary Artist,Vocals
U2   Primary Artist
The Light Crust Doughboys   Primary Artist
Rosanne Cash   Primary Artist
Jerry Lee Lewis   Primary Artist
Jessi Colter   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
Tom T. Hall   Primary Artist
Glen Campbell   Primary Artist
Carl Perkins   Primary Artist
John Carter Cash   Primary Artist
Linda McCartney   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
June Carter Cash   Primary Artist
Roy Acuff   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
Roy Orbison   Primary Artist
Kenny Malone   Percussion
Jack Clement   Dobro,Guitar
John Hartford   Banjo
Mark Howard   Guitar,Mandolin
Lloyd Green   Dobro,Guitar (Steel)
Ralph Mooney   Guitar (Steel)
Roy Huskey   Guitar (Bass)
Marty Stuart   Guitar,Mandolin
Ace Cannon   Saxophone
Bobby Wood   Piano
Charles Cochran   Piano
Joey Miskulin   Piano,Accordion
W.S. Holland   Drums
Jim Dant   Drums
Cindy Reynolds Wyatt   Harp

Technical Credits

Allen Reynolds   Composer
Paul Buskirk   Composer
Allyson R. Khent   Composer
Paul Kennerley   Composer
Paul McCartney   Composer,Producer
Elvis Costello   Composer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Ira Forest Stanphill   Composer
Chester Lester   Composer
Chick Rains   Composer
J.J. Cale   Composer
J.D. Souther   Composer
Jack Clement   Composer,Engineer,Producer
Larry Mullen, Jr.   Composer
Will Jennings   Composer
Jack Hale   Recording Arranger
The Edge   Composer,Producer
Charlie Rich   Composer
Geoff Emerick   Engineer
James Talley   Composer
John Charles Crowley   Composer
John Fogerty   Composer
Mark Howard   Engineer,Remix Engineer,Mixing Assistant
Walt Breeland   Composer
Lorene Mann   Composer
Dennis Ritchie   Engineer
Merle Travis   Composer
Jennifer Pierce   Composer
Robbie Adams   Mixing
Jim McBride   Composer
Lillie McAlpine   Composer
Peter La Farge   Composer
Matt Butler   Engineer
Jerry Reed   Composer
Merle Kilgore   Composer
Billy Smith   Composer
Micheal Smotherman   Composer
Tom Russell   Composer
Tom T. Hall   Composer
Bruce Channel   Composer
David Ferguson   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Remix Engineer,Assistant Producer
Guy Clark   Composer
Denny Purcell   Mastering Engineer
Harry Chapin   Composer
Harold Shedd   Producer
Brian Eno   Producer
Marijohn Wilkin   Composer
Danny Dill   Composer
Donivan Cowart   Mixing,Recording
Richard Adler   Engineer
Chips Moman   Composer,Producer
Kris Kristofferson   Composer
Claude Gray   Composer
Curtis Buck   Composer
Carl Perkins   Composer
Luther Dixon   Composer
Joey Miskulin   Producer,Remix Engineer,Executive Producer,Recording Arranger
John Carter Cash   Composer
John Prine   Composer
Johnny Cash   Composer,Producer
June Carter Cash   Composer
Roy Acuff   Composer
Roy Cash, Jr.   Composer
Roy Orbison   Composer
Gregory S. Perkins   Composer
Michael Martin Murphey   Composer
Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey   Composer
Adam Clayton   Composer
Glenn Douglas   Composer
Dave Loggins   Composer
Bobby Braddock   Composer
William E. Justis Jr.   Composer
Morrey Burns   Composer
Benny Quinn   Mastering Engineer
Charlie Williams   Composer
Jim Elliott   Composer
J. Niles Clement   Engineer
Mark D. Sanders   Composer
Bob Moore   Producer
Declan MacManus   Composer
Willie Mannion   Mixing Assistant
Joe Nixon   Composer
Don Schlitz   Composer
Ken Beal   Composer
Claudia Mize   Producer
Tom Skinker   Engineer
Bob Bradley   Engineer
Erwin Thomas Rouse   Composer
Richard McGibony   Composer
Jack Wesley Routh   Composer
Blake Emmons   Composer
Sandy Campbell Chapin   Composer
Coley Coleman   Producer,Executive Producer
Cousin Bob Clement   Engineer
Reba Hancock   Producer
Jack Stack-a-Track Grotchmal   Engineer