Albums to watch

American VI: Aint No Grave

Johnny Cash

American VI: Aint No Grave

The final installment in the series of Rick Rubin produced albums by the country legend

ADM rating[?]

7.1

Label
Mercury
UK Release date
22/02/2010
  1. 10.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    American VI is every inch Cash’s final, life-affirming masterpiece
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  2. 8.0 |   The Times

    To hear Cash serenely intoning “Until we meet again” on Aloha ’Oe amounts to more than closure. Indeed, no man ever sounded so delighted to be to be serenading his own wake
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  3. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Redemption is the subtext of the entire album, from the opening title-track to the concluding Hawaiian farewell "Aloha Oe", and never more so than on a devastating version of Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day"
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  4. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Print edition only

  5. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    This is a spartan farewell but like its predecessors (surely pop's finest late-career renaissance) it's beautiful
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  6. 8.0 |   The Sunday Times

    Cash lost his wife during these sessions, and had little left to live for except these moments in front of the microphone. The results bring us face to face with emotions that most music can only hint at or fabricate
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  7. 8.0 |   The Scotsman

    ...these ten valedictory songs are far from barrel scrapings. Collectively, they last just a shade over half an hour and every second confirms that Cash was making some of his greatest music right up until he met his maker
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  8. 8.0 |   Uncut

    Simultaneously an act of self-mythologising and of unfashionable sincerity. A Johnny Cash record, in other words
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  9. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    Ain’t No Grave is, song for song, a more effective record than the last installment and, therefore, provides a more fitting resolution to Johnny’s recording career
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  10. 8.0 |   State

    Ending with ‘Aloha Oe’, an old song from Honolulu penned by the final monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, it is perhaps fitting to hear the last true king of country bid us farewell in such a composed and cool manner
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  11. 8.0 |   Sydney Morning Herald

    The tone here is principally calm and warm, speaking of a wisdom hard-earned as well as an end to tiredness that comes with fighting
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  12. 7.0 |   Blurt

    All told, Ain't No Grave provides Cash with another brilliant epitaph
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  13. 7.0 |   The Observer

    Inevitably, it's not as strong as its predecessors, but there's wit alongside the solemnity
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  14. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    ..he is unmistakably sprightly and alive, delivering each song with a master-vocal stylist's gift for phrasing, and turning the Hawaiian standard "Aloha Oe" into a sly, sexy come-on
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  15. 6.0 |   Eye Weekly

    The best moments are the simple ones, like Cash alone with a guitar singing “Cool Water” and poppily lamenting on “I Don’t Hurt Anymore.” Otherwise, there’s no reason to revise this legend
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  16. 6.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    ...it's hard not to be involved, given what we know
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  17. 6.0 |   Scotland on Sunday

    ...where the previous record was the thriller, this is mostly filler
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  18. 6.0 |   Q

    Print edition only

  19. 6.0 |   The Skinny

    A worthy addendum to Cash's legacy, but not an essential one
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  20. 5.7 |   Pitchfork

    Ain't No Grave isn't really Cash's farewell as much as it is Rubin's memorial mixtape
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  21. 4.0 |   NME

    Cash deserves better than this. In fact, he deserves to be left in peace. Some things should just be left alone
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