American IV: The Man Comes Around

1	The Man Comes Around 4:26
2	Hurt 3:38
3	Give My Love to Rose 3:28
4	Bridge Over Troubled Water / Fiona Apple 3:55
5	I Hung My Head 3:53
6	The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 3:52
7	Personal Jesus 3:20
8	In My Life 2:57
9	Sam Hall 2:40
10	Danny Boy 3:19
11	Desperado / Don Henley 3:13
12	I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry / Nick Cave 3:03
13	Tear Stained Letter 3:33
14	The Streets of Laredo 3:41
15	We'll Meet Again 2:58

Barnes & Noble

Inspired by a dream of Queen Elizabeth II and verses from the Book of Revelations, Johnny Cash's "When the Man Comes Around" embodies everything that's great about the Man in Black, from the authority he brings to his recitations to the vibrancy of the writing to the anxiety-ridden Judgment Day atmosphere evoked by an insistently strummed acoustic guitar and a gospel piano. It's the second great new song Cash has introduced this year, following "Tears on the Holston River," from Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. III, and it's hands-down the highlight of American IV, the latest in Cash's collaborations with producer Rick Rubin. But there are a lot of close seconds here, including Cash canon favorites such as "Give My Love to Rose" -- reprised as a dirge, the mise en scène set by a flat-picked acoustic guitar and a wall of moody chords, courtesy of Benmont Tench on harmonium -- and "Sam Hall," which he originally recorded for 1965's grand Sings the Ballads of the True West, in which the title character gleefully recounts the events leading up to his hanging for murder ("I'll see you all in hell/damn your eyes!"). Not surprisingly, murder, redemption, and the Old West figure prominently throughout, in Cash's own songs and in some interesting covers, such as Sting's "I Hung My Head," a murderer's repentance on the day of his hanging, and the Eagles' well-thumbed "Desperado," with Don Henley adding a guest vocal. With keyboardist Tench augmenting the acoustic lineup, there's hardly a moment that isn't captivating in mood alone, whether it's the slow-building crescendo mounting behind Cash's bleak reading of Trent "Nine Inch Nails" Reznor's "Hurt" or the plaintive organ lines providing the sole support to a forthright take on "Danny Boy." Fiona Apple adds an expressive vocal to Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water," Nick Cave wobbles through Hank Williams's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and a mess of folks billed as "The Whole Cash Gang" sign off the album with a touching, folk-flavored rendition of the poignant pop classic "We'll Meet Again." All that's left to say is, I hope so. David McGee

All Music Guide

Johnny Cash's fourth project with producer Rick Rubin continues on the same path as many of their previous releases: Cash's warm and rumbling baritone over minimal production and gentle duets with some surprising guests. One of the things that sets American IV: The Man Comes Around apart from the others is Cash's song selections. The success he experienced with his previous interpretations of contemporary songwriters (Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage," Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat") is applied to this album with varying degrees of success. His throaty reading of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" easily fits into his "Man in Black" persona, and the spiritual conviction underlying Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" is certainly powerful. Unfortunately, the inclusion of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (featuring a lost-sounding Fiona Apple) and a passionless snooze through the Beatles' "In My Life" should have been so much stronger (given the subject matter of both songs and Cash's prolific life story). One of the reasons his previous covers were so successful is that in the past he had chosen some pretty obscure songs (Bonnie Prince Billy's "I See a Darkness" and Beck's "Rowboat," to name a couple) and reinterpreted them with his unique perspective and unmistakable voice. However, there is really no need to hear his versions of the Irish standard "Danny Boy" or the clunky rendition of Sting's "I Hung My Head," since something about them just doesn't fit -- either Cash wasn't entirely comfortable with the song or the performance was never fully realized. Luckily, the new songs Cash wrote for the album are pretty strong, and his cover of the standard "We'll Meet Again" is among the best versions of the song ever recorded. It is a relief to hear that, although Cash's voice is clearly older and not the booming powerhouse it was in the earlier Sun and Columbia days, he's still got some punch left in him, and the wisdom he's gained in his later life seeps through between the grooves, revealing a man who has lived through it all and lived to tell the tale. Zac Johnson

Entertainment Weekly

Cash has once again... written an apocalyptic title track and put his stamp on an eclectic batch of material. (A-) Holly George-Warren