Man in Black on Black

To be diplomatic, a lot of classic Cash was not the last word in audio fidelity. Even though my systems are now all digital, I owned a lot of the original vinyl versions on Columbia twenty and thirty years ago. As a side note, even the SACD of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is just OK sounding.

With that said, if you are looking at pure performance, I would suggest acquiring the following:

JC at Folsom Prison
JC at San Quentin
Highwaymen - 1st album

Rich

His first Columbia recording, "The Fabulous Johnny Cash" (1958) is excellent and pretty good sounding. Look for an original 6-eye mono.

Another pretty good original Columbia recording is "Carrying On With Johnny Cash" featuring June Carter.

The Sundazed reissues are pretty good, especially "Original Sun Singles 1954-1958".

Definitely hunt down an original of American III: Solitary Man.

Thanks- I had heard the Columbia pressing weren't the greatest. That review I mentioned also mentions the same.
That review is in the new positive-feedback online BTW.
Interestingly, all future Sundazed pressings are now supposed to be pressed at QRP, Acoustic Sounds. They have already done some Simon and Garfunkel for Sundazed. I am usually partial to originals or 1st presses when available, but they can be tough to find. That's why The Fabulous JC on IMPEX looks interesting. They are supposed to do some High Quality stuff. Thanks for all the suggestions, The Highwaymen is quite a super group, and COWJC w/ June Carter looks interesting too.

All the American recordings are a must have. Johnny has a billion records so it's not about the sound quality always. It's the music and he is right there with Frank and Ella at what he does. Definitely not a me too kinda guy. All the Sun records are a must then the big ones on Columbia. Yes he is a my hero. Sundaze got f@#ked and had to find new pressing plant. Chad has almost a lock on that.... For now anyway

"Sundaze got f@#ked and had to find new pressing plant. Chad has almost a lock on that.... For now anyway"
*Coffee 1-Hopefully this is a good thing! Not saying the Sundazed was bad. In fact, I recently spun the Butterfield Blues Band S/T on Sundazed. The sound was better than I expected! Back to Cash, I am hoping someone can offer some feedback on the Speakers Corner pressing of San Quentin. They are usually top notch, but perhaps the "you can't polish a T**D" factor comes in to play !

Thought I would chime back in, as I hit my regular record shop on a recent Montreal trip. It's called Aux 33 tours, and it is my favorite to date. I have been meaning to hit Academy Annex in Brooklyn, but didn't make it there last time. I did hit the other Academy, not the classical one, and was fairly impressed. Aux 33 was worth the trip as usual. Finds this trip included a nice Japanese Wes Mongomery: California Dreaming, and Joni: Ladies of the Canyon on Brown label Reprise.... Clean/quiet Joni records are a bitch to find, especially her first two. Heeere's Johnny!They had a columbia Greatest hits Vol.1 , a nice collection of early stuff, and both of the records I referred to in my OP. I picked up the SPEAKERS CORNER Live at San Quention, and the columbia GH dbl LP. Live at SQ is worth every penny. I was pleasantly surprised overall with the sonics. Johnny is dead center, guitars right, drums left. It doesn't have that compressed, dated type sound though. His voice is open and transparent, but still rich and full. Pressing is dead quiet, not a whisper of anything you don't want to hear. Coffee 1- agree wholeheartedly about JC being right there w/ Frank and Ella. A true legend, and SQ is IMO, proof of that.Kudos to Speakers Corner for choice of material, and top notch quality pressing.