Sunday, May 1, 2011

Till Things Are Brighter: A Tribute To Johnny Cash (1988)


Y'know, I'd like to offer you context about this proto-alt-country collection of Johnny Cash covers done at his career's nadir by a bunch of British post-punkers like Mark Riley of The Fall, Jon Langford of the Mekons (who together were the executive producers), Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks, Mary Mary of Gaye Bykers on Acid, Mark Almond of Soft Cell et al but Graeme Thompson over at The Guardian wrote the book on it. Don't miss his fantastic article, the inspiration for this post, right HERE. To learn about twenty-three covers that prove that Johnny Cash always kept in touch with the underside of culture, please go read (and listen to) THIS POST,of which I take some pride in.


Here, for your listening pleasure, are a few of the many highlights, including Mark Riley's cover of the Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan composition, "Wanted Man".




What do you make of this early attempt to restore some lost cool to Johnny Cash's reputation? Leave us a comment to let us know what you think.



The download link for this hopelessly out-of-print item is in the comments section.
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21 comments:

  1. jeffenMay 1, 2011 at 7:45 PM

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    Hey, if you dig this - please leave a COMMENT!!

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    http://www.mediafire.com/?4e2hh3y3iva1e64

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  2. SkipMay 1, 2011 at 8:08 PM

    You had me with 2 simple words: Jon Langford... never heard this but the Post-Punk Brits had a sympatico w/ American Country that was in weird way more genuine than the later American Alt Country crowd... maybe because they were suffering the oppression/Depression of post-Thatcher Britain which probably felt more like the rural American South whereas Alt Country came out of the opulent boom years of the 90s so the relationship to real Country couldn't help being a little Post-Modern ironic

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  3. SkipMay 1, 2011 at 8:11 PM

    another possibility is that they weren't that far away from the English Folk roots of American country that was so huge in the 70s with Sandy Denny & Richard Thompson & Jethro Tull etc. etc. Prog often sounded like pre-Nashville/Countrypolitan country music...

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  4. BrynMay 1, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. BrynMay 1, 2011 at 10:07 PM

    Thanks for sharing this! I'd just been reading that article from the Guardian, so I'm looking forward to downloading and listening to this one.

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  6. John BakerMay 2, 2011 at 12:10 AM

    This is wonderful. Thanks much for this and so many other tasty bits.

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  7. chesterMay 2, 2011 at 2:14 AM

    hey i played bass on this! cheers for the post(s)
    c

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  8. WoodworkerMay 2, 2011 at 6:58 AM

    Nice! Thanks.

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  9. AnonymousMay 2, 2011 at 11:54 AM

    Perverse as it might sound, this compilation, picked up in a second hand store, was my introduction to the songs of Johnny Cash. My copy got lost in a basement flood so this is a real find. Thx. W.

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  10. AnonymousMay 2, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    Thanks jeffen,

    This looks really interesting!

    When is the next installment of Nobody sings Dylan like Dylan?

    I enjoy visiting your blog.

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  11. FreddogMay 2, 2011 at 6:32 PM

    When this album came out I was too cool for school or anything else not indie. I bought it for Jon, Almond, Riley and it opened my ears to the joys of Cash. Never looked back. How highs the water mama....

    Freddog

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  12. AnonymousMay 3, 2011 at 7:02 PM

    I was a Johnny Cash fan growing up in the 70s because my father was a big fan of his. Definitely not cool to be into Johnny Cash in high school in 70s. So I felt vindicated when this comp came out. Some UK punks thought Johnny Cash was cool!

    Thanks for posting.

    PS - You shoudl check out Langford's other Cash comp "misery loves company"

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  13. MichaelMay 3, 2011 at 8:21 PM

    Cash never lost his cool. Rock lost it's cool and then rediscovered Cash.

    :-)

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  14. manofpeaceMay 4, 2011 at 10:55 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. AnonymousMay 5, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    Thanks a lot, looking forward to hearing this.

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  16. jeffenMay 6, 2011 at 6:27 AM

    Skip
    Yeah and Cash loved old folk music (much of which comes from the British Isles) so the connection is more obvious than it first appears.

    Bryn
    Loved that article!

    John
    You're welcome for the tastiness!

    Woodworker
    Thanks for liking all the different little comps here!

    w.
    Hey my first Merle Haggard album was a tribute album - did the trick!

    Anon
    More NSDLD next week (and more to come!)

    Freddog
    "well it's six feet high and rising."

    Anon II
    Yeah but that "man in black" shtick still gave hims some cool - even back in the 80's.
    (I'll check that album out)

    Michale
    Yeah the 80's could've used more Cash!

    Anon
    Enjoy!

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  17. SlackjackMay 23, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    Johnny Cash belonged to no genre, he was/is a legend who strode across the musical landscape and was welcomed in whatever place he found himself

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  18. TimothyNovember 22, 2011 at 9:08 PM

    Thank you! I've been searching for this for a while... had the LP a long time ago. This will make my brother in law very happy when I give him a copy.

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  19. DougMarch 7, 2013 at 2:50 PM

    Jeffen

    What is the possibility of getting a repost?

    Thanks

    Doug

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  20. DougMarch 26, 2013 at 11:30 AM

    Hi Jeffen

    Not sure if you noticed my request for a repost.I missed this album post initially.

    Thanks

    Doug

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  21. DiegoApril 1, 2014 at 8:16 AM

    Nice.. Very nice

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