YOU ARE BIDDING ON A LP BY JOHNNY CASH CALLED "LIVE AT SAN QUENTIN". IT WAS RELEASED ON THE COLUMBIA  LABEL (CS 98278) OUT OF THE U.S. IN 1971. THE COVER & THE LP ARE NEAR MINT- (YOU'LL BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND A CLEANER COPY) 

To put the performance on in a bit of perspective: 's key partner in , guitarist , died in August 1968, just seven months before this set was recorded in February 1969. In addition to that, was nearing the peak of his popularity -- his 1968 live album, , was a smash success -- but he was nearly at his wildest in his personal life, which surely spilled over into his performance. All of this sets the stage for , a nominal sequel to that surpasses its predecessor and captures at his rawest and wildest. Part of this is due to how he feeds off of his captive audience, playing to the prisoners and seeming like one of them, but it's also due to the shifting dynamic within the band. Without , isn't tied to the percolating two-step that defined his music to that point. Sure, it's still there, but it has a different feel coming from a different guitarist, and sounds unhinged as he careens through his jailhouse ballads, old hits, and rockabilly-styled ravers, and even covers ("Darlin' Companion"). No other record sounds as wild as this. He sounds like an outlaw and renegade here, which is what gives it power -- listen to "A Boy Named Sue," a composition that could have been too cute by half, but is rescued by the wild-eyed, committed performance by , where it sounds like he really was set on murdering that son of a bitch who named him Sue. He sounds that way throughout the record, and while most of the best moments did make it to the original 1969 album, the 2000 Columbia/Legacy release eclipses it by presenting nine previously unreleased bonus tracks, doubling the album's length, and presenting such insanely wild numbers as "Big River" as well as sweeter selections like "Daddy Sang Bass." Now, that's the only way to get the record, and that's how it should be, because this extra material makes a legendary album all the greater -- in fact, it helps make a case that this is the best album ever cut.

WANTED MAN WRECK OF THE OLD 97 I WALK THE LINE DARLING COMPANION STARKVILLE CITY JAIL SAN QUENTIN SAN QUENTIN A BOY NAMED SUE PEACE IN THE VALLEY FOLSOM PRISON BLUESRNEAR MINT-