Title - 'Bootleg, Volume 2: From Memphis to Hollywood'
Artist - Johnny Cash
Much as if Columbia/Legacy were on a mission themselves, these Johnny Cash Bootlegs are a series of multiple-disc packages being released in 2011 - and, as word has it, through the coming years too!
Collecting together historical importance, both musically and factually, each collection; set, if you will, is created to stand alone. Sure they all will give us another doorway to walk through to become captivated with the great man once more, but this mans overly-popular legacy should be remembered constantly - and these sets are perfect for doing just that.
Having said all that though, some will just like to buy this for the large number of previously unreleased tracks and for the historical importance. They really don't care about the new sound quality, or the glimpse into the more private life of Cash. Most fans of his already heave most all of his previous releases; even rarities.
And a lot of people will acknowledge that plenty of songs on this album are still new to them me also. I was not disatisfied, that's for sure. The two CD set includes radio shows and demos from the 1950's and more than a dozen previously unreleased tracks from the sixties.
Indeed, the 1960's CDs contain twenty-five tracks of which half were not previously released. Highlights include a Bob Dylan composition, "One Too Many Mornings," "Foolish Questions" (which calls attention to Cash's lighter side and interest in humor which would lead to "A Boy Named Sue"), and "The Folk Singer" - which Cash co-wrote with Charlie Daniels that has withstood the test of time.
Fans of The Johnny Cash Show (ABC-TV 1969-'71) will enjoy a complete cover of "Come Along and Ride This Train" which was heard in part each week. I truly hope that 'Bootleg Vol. 2' will be considered by Cash fans and collectors as an essential component of their libraries; for it fully deserves to be.