Johnny Cash - The Legend Of Johnny Cash: Volume Ii

The legend of Johnny Cash has loomed even larger since his death, though this 20-cut anthology appears designed more to capitalize on that legend than enhance it. While it chronologically spans nearly half a century, the scattershot selection seems almost arbitrary: a few hits (though none of the biggest), a few lesser-known album cuts (though not necessarily his best), and a better sampling of the career-reviving recordings he made with producer Rick Rubin that reestablished him as an alt-rock icon. Among the highlights are the irresistibly cheesy "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" from his early Sun Records days, the socially conscious "Ballad of Ira Hayes" (the Marine whose story is told so movingly in Flags of Our Fathers), and a live, fully orchestrated rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire." This might fill a gap for those who want to go deeper into the Cash legacy than a greatest-hits collection but aren't ready to splurge on a definitive box set. --Don McLeese

Disc 1:

1. There You Go
2. Home of the Blues
3. Ballad of a Teenage Queen
4. Ways of a Woman in Love
5. I Still Miss Someone
6. Don't Take Your Guns to Town
7. Long Black Veil
8. Ballad of Ira Hayes
9. It Ain't Me Babe - Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash
10. Girl from the North Country - Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan
11. Daddy Sang Bass
12. Flesh and Blood
13. Night Hank Williams Came to Town - Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings
14. That Old Wheel - Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Jr.
15. Beast in Me
16. Unchained
17. I Won't Back Down
18. I Hung My Head
19. Bird on a Wire [Live]
20. In the Sweet By and By