Johnny Cash - The Complete Colombia Album Collection

I just bought Johnny Cash - The Complete Colombia Album Collection which features all/most of the albums he produced with Colombia.

Sadly the first 19 are all in mono. I knew this when I bought the box set and the sound quality is good. Just seems odd that they were unable to source stereo master tapes for some of these older albums. A few years ago I downloaded an MP3 version of his some Casey Jones. This MP3 was in STEREO. So the master tapes must have existed.

Anybody know which of these older albums have been issued in stereo on CD?

I have also bought Dave Brubeck -Complete Colombia Album Collection 1955 -1967, and every one of these albums are in stereo, even his first Colombia album Burbeck Time from 1955?

 

"the fabulous Johnny Cash" first on Columbia has been stereo since 1962...and followings too !......

 

I always loved the stereo 'fabulous' personally. I guess part of the reason to use the mono's, is that has now become a big favourite
once again amongst listeners. some of the other cash albums I remember are hard panned instrumentally?
I don't find it a deterrent, that's what the 'mono' button is for.
'fabulous' has been released in stereo on Cd and it's great. I have the 'American milestones' release from 2002 which I love
This is the copy I would seek (with bonus tracks):
Johnny Cash - The Fabulous Johnny Cash »
http://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-John...61656189&sr=8-2&keywords=johnny+cash+fabulous

 

"Original albums classics"....five first Columbia CDs in Stereo....

 

I have that, which is a great value. But it is not his first five albums.

 

I'm trying to find the Stereo version of Blood Sweat and Tears. I've found this version from Amazon which appears to have been issued by Colombia Legacy in 2008. Any idea if this might be a Stereo version?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Swea...-1&keywords=Johnny+cash+blood+sweat+and+tears

 

Whenever a CD or box set is issued in mono where a stereo version once existed (or still does) there should be a HUGE warning sticker on it!

 

It's not that they were unable to source the stereo tapes. They chose to use mono instead because they thought it would be a good marketing strategy... "rare mono mixes previously unavailable on CD."

Of the first 19 albums in the set, all of them have been reissued on standalone stereo CDs except: I Walk the Line, Everybody Loves a Nut, Happiness is You, and From Sea to Shining Sea. Some of the individual CD releases feature remixes rather than the original stereo mixes, however.

Another option is to buy the Bear Family box sets, which feature the contents of all his 50s and 60s albums, plus a lot of unreleased tracks, arranged in chronological order of recording. The Bear Family boxes feature all original stereo mixes.

 

Does anyone have a definitive answer on which albums were remixed? Lists have varied. As far as I know, these are the ones that were remixed: Songs Of Our Soil, Ride This Train, and Orange Blossom Special.

 

Mono is OK for just one guitar, harmonica and vocal (the early records). With a full band it's another ballpark.

 

The reissues of Carryin' On and The Ballads of the True West from 2002 were also remixed.

 

The standalone CDs released as mid-price in the 90s by Sony were not remixed:
Now There Was a Song
Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Ring of Fire
Christmas Spirit
Bitter Tears

As far as I know, all the Sony 70th birthday releases in 2002 were remixed:
Fabulous Johnny Cash*
Hymns
Songs of Our Soil*
Ride This Train*
Orange Blossom Special*
Sings the Ballads of the True West
Carryin' On
I have the ones above marked with asterisks, and can confirm those definitely are remixed, but I'm pretty sure they all are.
Of the above, Hymns and Sings the Ballads of the True West are also available in their original stereo mixes on releases by DCC and S&P, respectively.

The second gospel album, Hymns from the Heart, was only released as part of The Gospel Collection (which is essentially a two-fer of Hymns and Hymns from the Heart). That CD is all remixed.

Finally, The Sound of Johnny Cash was released on standalone CD in 2014. I do not know if that one is remixed or not.

 

I suspect that the decision to issue some of the earlier albums in MONO was about marketing... the STEREO versions are already out there. And when it comes to modern buyers of vintage music on compact disc, MONO is usually preferred, no? The Dylan MONO box is certainly my "go to" version of his catalog up through John Wesley Harding.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I'd also say it was for marketing. However, most of the mono discs in the JC set are quite inferior to the stereo versions imo. The exceptions being Now, There Was A Song! and Ride This Train for me.

 

It's actually kind of thoughtful in some regards, when you think about it - Sony trying to limit the amount of stuff you'd be rebuying by buying the box, being kind to the devoted fans who had already bought everything previously (hand raised). However, some stereo albums did slip through the cracks. How "Everybody Loves a Nut" was never given it's own CD release is beyond me. Ridiculous. The Bear Family boxes provide the solution, but you have to piece them together yourself, which I have.

 

Great box-great sound. Definitively prefer the mono-mixes

 

It really is a lovely set. I saw it on sale and didn't own any Cash in my collection but I'm glad I bought this.

I do enjoy the deluxe editions of Folsom Prison Blues and San Quentin, though, for the extra content.

 

That's true. The 60s albums had already been released on the Bear Family boxes and various standalone CDs, whereas a good 80% of the 70s and 80s albums had never appeared on CD before. So it stands to reason a lot of people wanting the set for the later albums already had the earlier stuff.

It's a wildly uneven album, but the good stuff on it is very good, and I love it because it presents a side of Johnny Cash that was totally de-emphasized by the American marketing team at the end of his life. The American version of Cash was pretty one-dimensional... all black and white photos and songs about death. There's more to Cash than that. Plus, the Jack Davis album cover is a masterpiece.

 

This might be more information than you need, but here's my 'source list' for compiling, in stereo, the 19 albums that are in mono in the Complete Columbia box set:

01 The Fabulous Johnny Cash : The Real Johnny Cash (Sony 2011) *Clone of Legacy Edition*
02 Hymns by Johnny Cash : The Real Johnny Cash (Sony 2011) *Clone of Legacy Edition*
03 Songs of Our Soil : The Real Johnny Cash (Sony 2011) *Clone of Legacy Edition*
04 Now, There Was A Song! : The Real Johnny Cash (Sony 2011) *Clone of Legacy Edition*
05 Ride This Train : The Real Johnny Cash (Sony 2011) *Clone of Legacy Edition*
06 Hymns From The Heart : The Real Johnny Cash (Sony 2011) *Clone of Legacy Edition*
07 The Sound of Johnny Cash : The Man In Black 1959-1962 (Bear Family)
08 Blood, Sweat and Tears : Sony Legacy CD CK 66508 2002
09 Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash : Sony Legacy CD CK66890 1995
10 The Christmas Spirit : The Man In Black 1963-1969 (Bear Family)
11 Keep On The Sunny Side: The Man In Black 1963-1969 (Bear Family) (except "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" which was not included on the Bear Family box since JC isn't on the track -- source from vinyl for stereo)
12 I Walk The Line : The Man In Black 1963-1969 (Bear Family)
13 Bitter Tears : Sony Legacy CD CK 66507
14 Orange Blossom Special : Sony Legacy CD CK86329 2002
15 The Ballads of the True West : Sony Legacy CD CK86789 2002
16 Everybody Loves A Nut : The Man In Black 1963-1969 (Bear Family)
17 Happiness Is You : All tracks sourced from The Man In Black 1963-1969 (Bear Family)
except "She Came From the Mountains" (Come Along and Ride This Train (Bear Family) and "No One Will Ever Know" (The Man In Black 1959-1962 (Bear Family)).
18 Carrying On... : Sony Legacy CD CK86088 2002
19 From Sea To Shining Sea : Come Along and Ride This Train (Bear Family)

I tend to prefer the remixed stereo versions since it cuts down on a bit of the vocal/instrument separation -- which annoys me a bit even if it's true to the period.

A poster above mentioned a 2014 'The Sound of Johnny Cash' reissue, but I'm not aware of that -- unless they're talking about the 2013 release via a public domain label. Maybe it was on vinyl only which might have slipped right by me. If it was released by Columbia/Legacy I would have snapped up the CD in a second.

Definitely pick up a cheap copy of The Real Johnny Cash CD set to get the first six Columbia albums in tastefully remixed stereo.

And throw me in with the group that prefers these early recordings in mono -- especially the first dozen or so albums.

 

It's been a few years so I don't remember how much it cost, but didn't it work out to being less than $4.00 per disc? That was an incredible bargain. I had a number of albums on vinyl and CD and had done vinyl-transfers of a few. I'm glad that I'd been "getting into" his recorded works for a few years prior to this box. Sure, I rebought a few things, but I was primed for this set, which was good. It's a lot to digest from ground zero (or near ground zero).

I've expressed this opinion a few times here on SH --- I love his albums from the 1970's. They're a mixed-bag, but he was following his muse and he had nothing left to prove. His vocal performances are more relaxed to my ears, maybe after the amphetamine edge was taken away.

 

I take back what I said about that. I saw the CD in a store a couple years ago, and I could have sworn it was a Sony release, but I can't find any evidence online that Sony ever released it, and it seems unlikely they would have reissued one standalone Cash CD in 2014, so I'm going to conclude my memory was wrong and I was mistaken.

I always wondered why that album was not part of the 2002 reissue series. It's a pretty good album, and more importantly it's got the original version of "Delia's Gone" which you'd think would have made it marketable to casual American-era fans who were interested in exploring the rest of the catalog.

 

Ok, so now I have the Complete Columbia, and the recent Sun Albums boxsets. Which leaves me the Mercury years.

Can anyone, with a decent knowledge about the various album/cd releases and subsequent compilations from those albums, tell me what I should/could buy to complement/complete my Cash collection?

- Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town (1987)
- Water From The Wells Of Home (1988)
- Classic Cash (1988) (re-recorded classics)
- Boom Chicka Boom (1990)
- The Mystery Of Life (1991)

I found numerous Mercury releases:
- https://www.discogs.com/Johnny-Cash-Nashville-Sessions-Vol-1-Johnny-Cash-Is-Coming-To-Town-Water-From-The-Wells-Of-Home/release/2373140
which seems complete.
- Johnny Cash - Nashville Sessions Vol. 2: Classic Cash '88 & Boom Chicka Boom
which seems to omit a few tracks from both albums.
- Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town / Boom Chicka Boom
which seems complete, but doubles the 'Coming To Town' album.

I probably should buy some of these seperately, like Classic Cash, to get all the tracks. Don't know about other complete Mercury releases. The Cash release list on Discogs is super long.

Mastering comments are also welcome.

 

Each to their own, I guess. I love Fabulous in mono, the stereo bugs the hell outta me.

 

Have the big Columbia box. Love Ride This Train released 1960.