Johnny Cash: Love/God/Murder (Sony)
This welcome three-CD repackaging of the man in black's key recordings is cleverly divided into the above themes, with the 40 or so tracks covering his monumental career, from the early Sun rockabilly days through the country star period, the outlaw days and now the man as American icon. The downside is that almost all these tracks have been in other compilations, but remastered and handsomely repackaged, the music is vivid and telling in its earthy tales of love, God and violence - all themes that have coursed through Cash's career. Songs such as Delia, Folsom Prison Blues and I Walk The Line remind the listener how Cash's take on the American experience - excess, guilt and remorse - has passed into common currency, but there are other less celebrated classics here such as the stripped-back When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below). Simply put: every home should at least have one copy.
Joe Breen
North Mississippi Allstars: Shake Hands With Shorty (Tone-Cool Records)
If music can be born in you, then Luther and Cody Dickinson got a head start, as their father is the legendary Jim Dickinson of producing (The Replacements, etc) and playing fame. The good news is that they've made good use of this advantage: the North Mississippi Allstars is one mighty steaming hardcore blues band that would be more at home in a sweaty small-town bar than some awestruck venue. The NMAs - Luther (guitar), Cody (drums) and Chris Chew (bass) - are steeped in the music of R. L. Burnside and Fred McDowell, and their reverence is manifest in their robust, low-key approach, with Luther's guitar squeezing shivering solo after solo. Even tracks as familiar as Sitting On Top of the World sound refreshed in their young hands. Maybe it's comeback time for blues trios - though what they do next will be interesting.
Joe Breen