Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave

In Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash found perhaps his most sympathetic producer and for the most part Ain't No Grave is as candid and bare-bones as anything from the exceptional American Recordings series, with rattling guitar strings and plangent keys sounding as corporeal and unadorned as Cash's own voice. Although the authenticity of Cash's gravitas was never in question, at this point Rubin runs the risk of dilution through repetition, with explicit nods to Cash's imminent passing appearing on almost every cover (only one Cash-penned track appears on the album).

It is perhaps for this reason that the album errs wisely towards brevity, and yet for every moment of real poignancy (a plaintive rendition of Kris Kristofferson's For the Good Times is particularly effecting) the listenener is aware of a corresponding instance of heavy-handedness - the ghoulish chain-dragging samples of the title track being a prime example. A worthy addendum to Cash's legacy then, but not an essential one. [Mark Shukla]