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Listening to this album, one can't get around the knowledge that it is a posthumous collection made in Cash's last days, but even without that context, it would have much the same impact.
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The songs have a measured, elegiac intensity, the sound of musicians choosing their notes carefully and making just the right choices.
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You never heard a sadder album than American V.
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Perhaps the most intimate of an intimate series.
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BlenderSome selections are heartwrenching... But others bear the stain of sentimentality, denial, even exploitation. [Jul 2006, p.98]
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It’s a pleasant collection, comfortably consolidated and comfortably nice, despite the lack of anything earth-shattering.
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This is not a 'commercial' release, at least not in the commonly construed meaning of the word. If you had to be picky, you could say that nothing has the impact of that cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt" or Nick Lowe's "The Beast In Me". But that's beside the point.
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A fitting eulogy.
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This set of songs comes with a chill of morbidity that's hard to shake.
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If this is, as Rubin has said, ''Johnny's final statement''... then it is a fitting one, completely representative of the faithful old man he had become, having long ago shed his outlaw image no matter how often others tried to resaddle him with it.
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FilterA hefty team was assembled to do this right... and do it right they do. [#21, p.93]
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If the force-of-nature power of his prime is often missing, in its place is an undeniable resolve and faith in his mission. [25 Jun 2006]
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MojoThe dignity and sharp poetic instincts on American V are all classic Cash. [Aug 2006, p.89]
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It is put together with a huge degree of dignity and respect that makes it the perfect swansong for the Man In Black.
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New Musical Express (NME)Thank you very much, Mr Rubin--The Man In Black is still with us. [1 Jul 2006, p.36]
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As with his last couple of releases in the American series, his voice no longer commands attention with booming authority, but there's something about that gasping frailty that makes this proud final bow even more endearing.
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Virtually every song sounds like a leave-taking, though the overall mood is reflective and restrained, in places almost easy-going.
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Paste MagazineFrom beginning to end, it's as heartwarming and heartbreaking an album as you're likely to hear this year. [Aug 2006, p.86]
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It's a satisfying and often moving final chapter to Cash's life and career, one that rejects self-pity and remorse in favor of hopefulness and even celebration.
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If A Hundred Highways had kicked off Cash’s American resurgence, it might have been greeted as a minor release, a nice offering by an artist who was in his sunset years.
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Q MagazineIt makes a dignified final addition to the American Recordings series. [Aug 2006, p.109]
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It's a hard record to bear, but it's a deep one.
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No one expects an album full of songs about death to be fun, but overall this set feels more ponderous than it should.
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SpinThough his delivery veers between strength and frailty, he's in full control. [Aug 2006, p.83]
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It could be the soundtrack to death, love, pain, strength, joy, suffering, courage, despair, and faith all at the same time.
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V... is actually less tearjerking and portentous than IV.
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The music isn't afraid to call for tears, but it does so through understatement. Cash's voice is always exposed, whether it's full-toned or faltering, and most of the tracks are folky and reverent, placing measured finger-picking above churchy chords.
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UncutUnsurprisingly, American V is the most desolate of the series, bereft of the moments of playfulness that leavened its predecessors. [Aug 2006, p.92]
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Under The RadarHighways is a far cry from what made this now deceased legend eternal. [#14]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 28 out of 30
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Mixed: 0 out of 30
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Negative: 2 out of 30
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Jul 24, 2015
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Jul 31, 2012
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DecepticonPomDec 13, 2006