This is a fine collection, comprising six full Johnny Cash albums from the period 1958-1962, presented chronologically, along with a number of bonus tracks from around the same period.
The six albums are "The Fabulous Johnny Cash", "Hymns", "Songs Of Our Soul", "Ride This Train", "Now There Was A Song!", and "Hymns From The Heart", and it is good to be able to hear them in their entirety, rather than the same half-dozen or so tracks from each album, which seem to turn up on every compilation these days. Because so much of Johnny Cash's material has now fallen out of copyright, there are any number of cheap and nasty Johnny Cash compilations being released by amateur, fly-by-night record companies more interested in the money than the music. As RCA did with the similarly titled "The Real Elvis" compilation released the same day as this, Columbia (as part of the Sony Group) have included a number of tracks which are still under copyright, as they are the rights holders. Obviously other record companies can not release such material. This, along with the clear, sharp mastering, marks this set out as a cut above all of these other efforts.
The music on this is exactly what you would expect - 88 (YES EIGHTY EIGHT TRACKS!) fine performances from one of the finest, most recognisable voices in American music history, deservedly now ranked alongside the all-time greats. The collection pre-dates many of his biggest hits, but there are still a great many familiar songs on here - "I Still Miss Someone", "Don't Take Your Guns To Town", "Five Feet High And Rising", "I Walk The Line", "Get Rhythm", and many many others.
If you don't already have any Johnny Cash music, or if you only have the hits or the more recent American Recordings, you really should buy this collection without delay - at this price you couldn't possibly go wrong!