I tell you, I hate Counrty music. It bores me to tears, but I LOVE Johnny Cash. Johnny is the type of guy I love. A real wise guy, an in-your-face attitude that doesn't care about being politically correct. In this two-on-one CD you get two of his greatest albums. Even though Johny Cash is in two of the worst prisons in the US, he sings every prison song he knows, makes fun of the living conditions the prisoners have, and makes fun of the warden.

Johnny's songs come across with the wit and personality of Johnny himself. The songs that we have come to know and love, "Boy Names Sue", "Folsom County Blues", etc., and the lesser know songs are all catchy, fun, and to-the-point.

Get this album, even if you hate Country musc...especially if you hate Country music.

You can't get anymore country than this! This album contains the best songs that Johnny Cash has recorded.

Both the Folsom Prison and San Quentin live recordings from the late 1960s have recently been reissued with a number of extra tracks included for the first time, but this CD contains some of the best tracks from each recording and has long been a favorite of mine. The songs are great, but the banter between Cash and the audience is most interesting, proving to be straight-laced and even somewhat eye-opening at times. Cash's affinity with those behind bars is apparent as he relishes the response to his more audacious lyrics and makes a few snide comments about prison life and the men who oversee it. I actually am not in favor of entertaining the types of hardcore prisoners found at Folsom and San Quentin, but I enjoy this album immensely nonetheless. Several songs surely made the guards wince, such as Cocaine Blues, with its reference to shooting cocaine and then shooting your woman down, and San Quentin, in which Cash loudly proclaims that a prison such as San Quentin does its inmates little good. In contrast, though, Cash also offers up a few songs with a religious bent to them, such as Peace in the Valley. I especially enjoy the inspirational Greystone Chapel, which was actually written by one of the inmates at Folsom.

It is clearly the audience that drives Cash's selected song choices. There are a number of classic prison songs: Folsom Prison Blues, 25 Minutes to Go, I Got Stripes, Wall, San Quentin, and Starkville County Jail being the most prominent. There are also a few laughter-generating ditties such as Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog and Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart. In contrast, Dark as a Dungeon, Long Black Veil, Send a Picture of Mother, and Green, Green Grass of Home convey a somber, reflective mood. Naturally, Cash also includes hits such as Jackson (with wife June Carter Cash), A Boy Named Sue, and the Cash staple I Walk the Line. Wanted Man, a song written by Bob Dylan, is another standout track that really gets the crowd of prisoners excited.

Clearly, the newly reissued recordings featuring a number of extra tracks from each prison performance make this CD less desirable than it used to be, but these original releases are still well worth the money and served over a quarter of a century as the most desirable Cash recordings available. The audience is obviously enthusiastic, and the man in black is in fine form. By all means, buy the reissued albums separately in order to get the "complete" prison concerts, but appreciate this 2-in-1 CD for all the great music it has provided for us over the years.