Johnny Cash
American IV: The Man Comes Around
Review by Scott Key
A 2003 American Recording, and as far I as know this project was finished shortly before Johnny had passed away. And is indeed a wonderful picture of his life's spiritual journey, with a theme of conversion, faith and the tension of sin and forgiveness. 
At times the songs and there some time abstract meanings tell a sad story of lost and regret mixed with hope and humour. I do believe that he picked songs that had some spiritual significance to his own understanding of Christianity, and for that particular time in his life (even though some songs are not written by Christians - and this to adds a sense of irony).
The recording begins with ‘The Man Comes Around', an original song that is “loosely based on the book of Revelation” and “other biblical sources.” This song took him three to four months to complete with much editing. The idea of this song came from a dream that he had of a would-be conversation that he had with Queen Elizabeth II. He covers Hurt by ‘Nine Inch Nails' (including a QuickTime movie version for preview on the computer), this is a touching visual/audio display that tells the story of disappointment and ‘hurt.' This recording also includes other covers like Personal Jesus by ‘Depeche Mode' and others.
I give it a rating of 4 out of 5 being the best. The only disappointment was Fiona Apples eccentric backing vocals on ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters.' This recording is typically classified as ‘Country Western' and is raw, yet clean sounding and is easy to listen to with strong acoustic guitar parts backing Johnny's warm and unusually rhythmic voice.
