Johnny Cash - Out Among The Stars (2014 - Country) [Flac 24-96]
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
If Out Among the Stars had come out when its sessions were completed, it would've appeared sometime in 1984,
arriving between 1983's flinty Johnny 99 and 1985's slippery, sentimental Rainbow.
Allegedly, this album -- discovered by Legacy and John Carter Cash during some archival work in 2012 -- was
shelved because its Billy Sherrill production was just a little bit too pop for Johnny Cash's taste, but
that reasoning isn't sound, particularly with the Chips Moman-produced crossover of sugar of Rainbow taken
into consideration.
Moman had been riding high on the hits he produced for Willie Nelson -- notably "Always on My Mind," Willie's
last great crossover smash -- and he applied a similar heavy-handed touch to Cash, who at that point was
several years away from his last Country Top 10 hit ("The Baron" went to 10 in 1981).
Sherrill had a lighter touch with Cash than Moman, something that might surprise listeners who associate his
name with his symphonic, string-heavy productions for George Jones, but the producer winds up simply sweetening
Johnny without changing his core sound. Comprised of sessions from 1981 and 1984, Out Among the Stars is
generally chipper and bright, containing a couple of spare, reflective moments -- the sentimental "After All,"
the June Carter Cash bluegrass duet "Don't You Think It's Come Our Time," and "I Came to Believe," the gospel-ish
closer that ambles along nicely -- that add a little dimension to a cheerful album.
"Out Among the Stars" nicely updates the signature Cash train-track rhythm, a cover of the Dave Edmunds/Carlene
Carter duet "Baby Ride Easy" rolls along with spirit, Cash yucks it up with Waylon Jennings on a cover of the Hank
Snow standard "I'm Movin' On," and "I Drove Her Out of My Mind" conjures some of the old outlaw magic.
Every one of these seem like they could have some kind of potential on the charts, so the fact they were shelved
is a bit of a mystery because, when taken together -- despite misguided novelties like "If I Told You Who It Was"
-- it adds up to one of Cash's stronger '80s albums.
Artist...............: Johnny Cash
Album................: Out Among The Stars
Genre................: Country
Source...............: WEBQ
Year.................: 2014
Ripper...............: &
Codec................: Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
Version..............: reference libFLAC 1.3.3 20190804
Quality..............: Lossless, (avg. compression: 65 %)
Channels.............: Stereo / 96000 HZ / 24 Bit
Tracklist:
1. Johnny Cash - Out Among the Stars
2. Johnny Cash - Baby Ride Easy
3. Johnny Cash - She Used to Love Me a Lot
4. Johnny Cash - After All
5. Johnny Cash - I'm Movin' On
6. Johnny Cash - If I Told You Who It Was
7. Johnny Cash - Call Your Mother
8. Johnny Cash - I Drove Her Out of My Mind
9. Johnny Cash - Tennessee
10. Johnny Cash - Rock and Roll Shoes
11. Johnny Cash - Don't You Think It's Come Our Time
12. Johnny Cash - I Came to Believe
13. Johnny Cash - She Used to Love Me a Lot (JC/EC Version)
Playing Time.........: 39:35
Total Size...........: 850,03 MB
