album reviews

Why They Shouldn’t Let John Carter Cash Handle His Daddy’s Songs

By rascalita ⋅ May 19, 2008 ⋅ Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

John Carter Cash and Compadre Records must have decided Johnny Cash’s memory and music weren’t worth respecting anymore. They were probably just thinking of easy profits when they decided to release 20 of Cash’s songs recorded on Sun records but remixed into a garbage-sounding album. I’ve had the questionable “pleasure” of listening to three samples on Compadre’s website. The songs are crowded, some times it sounds like there are two songs playing at the same time, and the rap and hip-hop arrangements just don’t mix well with Johnny Cash’s music. Johnny Cash is timeless, and his music should not be polluted with a totally non-related element.

As it says on Compadre’s website, their challenge was “to maintain this [Cash’s] fantastic charm and personality while filing [sic] out the sound and creating bold re-interpretations. The remix producer’s reverence and gratitude is essential to the process. The goal is to bring the sensibility and technology of 2008 to recordings universally accepted as timeless with the blessing and support of the custodians of Johnny Cash’s legacy.” What can I say? They didn’t achieve any of their goals, and they came up with a very crappy product.

From Compadre’s website, here’s a list of the confirmed mix producers:

QDT (Snoop Dogg, Teddy Riley, DJ Quik) featuring Snoop Dogg (”I Walk the Line”) is the new production team led by Snoop Dogg. This production team was responsible for Snoop’s current album Ego Trippin’, as well production credits by Riley include Michael Jackson, Tupac, Kylie Minogue, and discovering the production team The Neptunes. Quik recently completed remixes by Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z, and Yung Joc, among others.

Kennedy (”Sugartime”) is a cornerstone of the new UK music movement called DirtyPop. Kennedy’s current music video has been viewed over three million times and counting. In 2007, Kennedy signed a lucrative contract with Cordless Recordings, a Warner Music Group company, and Atlantic Records in the UK. His music has appeared in American Pie, Blue Crush, and several Virgin Mobile campaigns.

Philip Steir (”Get Rhythm”) is currently the only remixer allowed to work with the Reprise Records Frank Sinatra collection. He recently remixed Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” licensed for major commercials and films.

Sonny J (”Country Boy” featuring Joss Stone) is London-based has recently remixed the Jackson 5’s “Can’t Stop Moving.” Joss Stone is pending as a guest vocal.

Pete Rock (”Folsom Prison Blues”) is representing Hip-Hop, he has produced tracks for artists from Nas to Rakim and also includes Slick Rick, Run DMC and Busta Rhymes. Wale is pending as a guest vocal.

Apparat (”Lonesome Whistle”) is a Berlin-based electronic musician who has remixed Telefon Tel Aviv, Orb, and Swayzak.

El-P (”Goodnight Irene”) is based in Brooklyn and has recently appeared on several Trent Reznor tracks. He recently released his own record featuring Cat Power, Aesop Rock, The Mars Volta, and Reznor.

Mocean Worker (”Hey Porter”) remixed Elvis’ “Burnin’ Love” which wound up as the soundtrack of Honda’s Superbowl TV commercial. He also remixed Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, and Herb Alpert.

Count de Money (”Wide Open Road” and “Big River”) is based in Paris and routinely collaborates with Moby. He has remixed Justin Timberlake, Billie Holiday, The Bee Gees, Fantasia Barrone and The Scissor Sisters.

J. Scott G (”My Treasure”) has remixed tracks from Madonna, Seal, Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, and films such as Tomb Raider and Bad Boys II.

Alabama 3 (”Leave that Junk Alone”) is London-based and best known for creating the theme song of HBO’s award-winning series, The Sopranos. Alabama 3 is a touring band with several US dates in 2008.

The Heavy (”Doin’ My Time”) is London-based and recently released a record worldwide to critical acclaim. They deliver two versions of this track for the album.

Troublemaker (”Straight A’s in Love”) is based in Los Angeles and recently won the Scion/URB annual mixtape contest and produced mix CDs for Complex Magazine, Reebok’s RBK label, and Scion. Most notably, he remixed Linkin Park’s “Runaway” for the multi-platinum Reanimation album on Warner Bros.

Midnight Juggernauts (”Port of Lonely”) is based in Australia and just wrapped up their first U.S. tour supporting Summer ‘07 “It” band Justice. After tours of Europe and China, the group — guitarist-singer Andy Streetcrimes, singer-keyboardist Vin Vendetta and drummer Daniel Stricker — started accruing some major word of mouth thanks to MySpace.

Mexican Industry of Sound/MIS (”Trail to Mexico”) is based in Mexico City and in the past year, MIS has received widespread acclaim from outlets like Spin, NY Times, and KCRW, and has been featured in “Ugly Betty”, Dos Equis’ national advertising, and the upcoming EA Games release ‘FIFA 2008.’

Machine Drum (”Belshazzar”) is based in NYC and is a hip-hop influenced, electronic musician and one of the artists that helped launch Merck Records. He has done remixes for artists Illkae, Cinelux, and Tiki Obmar.

Wolf (”Rock Island Line”) has multiple producer credits, most recently Avril Lavigne, Leona Lewis, Annie Lennox, and Celine Dion, among others.

I would never buy this album; I view it as an insult to an American icon and I wish it had never happened.

Here’s a link to Compadre’s website where, if you’re not faint of heart, you can listen to the same samples I was subjected to:

http://www.compadrerecords.com/cash.html#

- by Rascalita