At Madison Square Garden

1	Big River 2:21
2	I Still Miss Someone 1:37
3	Five Feet High and Rising 2:51
4	Pickin' Time 2:35
5	Remember the Alamo 2:48
6	Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream 3:03
7	Wreck of the Old '97 2:14
8	Long Black Veil 3:01
9	The Wall 1:08
10	Send a Picture of Mother 2:36
11	Folsom Prison Blues 3:34
12	Blue Suede Shoes / Carl Perkins 3:12
13	Flowers on the Wall / The Statler Brothers 2:31
14	Wildwood Flower 3:45
15	Worried Man Blues 1:39
16	A Boy Named Sue 4:25
17	Cocaine Blues 1:57
18	Jesus Was a Carpenter 3:40
19	The Ballad of Ira Hayes 3:11
20	As Long as the Grass Shall Grow 3:50
21	Sing a Traveling Song / Anita Carter 3:32
22	He Turned the Water into Wine / Anita Carter 3:16
23	Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? 4:16
24	Daddy Sang Bass 2:15
25	Finale Medley: Do What You Do, Do Well/I Walk the Line/Ring of Fire / Carter Family 4:44
26	Suppertime 2:55

Barnes & Noble

Recorded December 5, 1969, but unreleased until now, At Madison Square Garden captures Johnny Cash and his traveling troupe -- which included Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, the Carter Family, and Cash's brother Tommy -- on a peak night. The set spotlights Cash's finest attributes -- not only in his authoritative performances but also in the sculpting of a show that's a sweeping history of American roots music. Much of the essential Cash canon is performed -- "Folsom Prison Blues," "Big River," "A Boy Named Sue," "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line," et al. -- and Cash is never less than captivating, whether he's singing or talking to the audience with a singular ease and intimacy. Cash isn't the whole story, though. Perkins offers up a fierce take on his "Blue Suede Shoes"; the Statlers chime in with the fanciful "Flowers on the Wall"; and the Carter Family, with Mother Maybelle singing a weathered lead, bring chills with their renditions of "Wildwood Flower" and "Worried Man Blues." The gospel interlude -- featuring "He Turned the Water into Wine," "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)," and the joyous finale on Perkins' "Daddy Sang Bass" -- is deep and moving. And in a touching tribute, Cash performs a new song in honor of its composer, Kenny Jones, Helen Carter's 16-year-old son who had recently perished in a car accident. Jones had written the poignant "Sing a Traveling Song" when he was 14, and Cash gives it an emotional reading worthy of a wistful lyric about a rootless man. At Madison Square Garden doesn't have the intense performer-audience interaction of Cash's San Quentin and Folsom Prison albums, but in its own way, it's a more memorable outing. Mark it essential. David McGee

All Music Guide

Not released until 2002, all 26 of these songs -- adding up to a generous 77 minutes -- were recorded at Cash's successful show at Madison Square Garden in New York on December 5, 1969. Two best-selling live late-'60s Cash albums, At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin, have long been available, and it will be pretty difficult for this to dislodge those in prominence among those scouting for live material in the Cash catalog. Still, it's a good document of Cash as he reached the apex of his mainstream popularity. Also, its setting in a large, popular venue by itself guaranteed that the ambience would be somewhat different than it would be on the two aforementioned live albums, both recorded in prisons. While Cash has a full band (including Carl Perkins on electric guitar and his longtime associate Marshall Grant on bass), the sound, to its credit, remains spare. The sound is not amazingly top-of-the-line, but it's pretty good, and the repertoire is extremely varied, taking in oldies like "Big River," "I Still Miss Someone," "Long Black Veil," and "Folsom Prison"; his then-recent smashes "Boy Named Sue" and "Daddy Sang Bass"; the Americana and Native American advocacy of songs like "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" and "Remember the Alamo"; the spiritual "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord"); and Ed McCurdy's anti-war folk revival tune "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream." There are also guest star turns for Carl Perkins (who does "Blue Suede Shoes"), the Statler Brothers (who do their hit "Flowers on the Wall"), and the Carter Family, whose two songs are actually vivacious highlights of the disc, and a good change of pace from Cash's customary low chug. Between-song raps on the Vietnam War, prison, and other topics testify to Cash's ability to reach out to all stripes of his constituency, though the finale medley (and the bits near the end announcing the renewal of his TV show and explaining pregnant June Carter's absence) are a tad showbizzy. Richie Unterberger