6 NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS On sale, Friday, week ent.l March 29, 196.q JOHNNY CASH & BOB DYLAN

PREPARE to have your minds blown and your senses tickled by the coming to­ gethe, on one album of two of the world's greatest musi cal talents - Bob Dylan a nd Johnny Cash. It's an open secret tha t the y have recorded together, but it 's not so well-known just how it came to pass. In pu rl'r uit of know lcdgs> I w ent to the London

0 1 8 1 ~~~l~mo: E;!el R:%o~d~o!;~e nhder~~e:nri l~6r~ ::~ po rl ant, Dylan's recording ma nager Bc., b Johnston. Jnhn111on is not ver)' ta ll, well,huih, bearded and oh11h1u5h Tuan. His manrui r i1 easy, h li;: lnnguai:c c11lourlul .ind his a u iludl's confirmed. ~ e shnwl'd 3 marked reluc: ta nc:e to discuss Dy la n, sa,·101,: hv wr.y ol explanalion: " He has heen m is­ ances1 ry, though he is as American Quenli ri and 8'.lh IO)d me about It. q u n11:d 110 011.-n , 11nd so hove I, th at I'd ra ther people as lhe West side of Grosvenor " Th ey are bolh maxi mum secur• talk Ill him II hr has anylhlnJt to say, he' ll soy ii . Square, replied: "Beca us~ he's th e ity prisons and San Quentin has " He's not onl.v a J:OOd friend, bu! I have three hcst record producer," when I the gas chamber ... he pointed ou t son1 10 feed." Which n emed reaso nable enouah. asked why he selected Bob fo r th t.: without ne11: lectl ng hiJ tu rkey. He rclaxl..'d a hu le, hcwevcr, In due course and told Fam e Joh. Perhaps this is borne " Johnny wrote a song ahout San me: ·· Thl' ,ecnrd cnmDanv call~ me up a nd says nut by a look al the people he Quenl ln and he told me he'd sing ' When can we have a Dyla n record?' and I just !e ll does, or has. recorded. i1 last hecause of the effect ll'd !ht m 1ha1 when he's rudy, he'll ,:o intu the s tudio Apart from D)'lln and Cash - have. I said 1hat was okay, then and do une, and surely that Is enough recom­ we coultl hightail it out of there. mendation in llsclr - he ha ndles " When it came to lhe show, he I ;~ ~ t:hr~J:=~~el al~~ ;aer~t~;;: sang it second and 1 thought lhe re a:::, ~~t::r ,~~~ :~ ~ FAME 108 Man y Rohblns, Flan and Scruggs, CEOIICIE b1i ng rtconltd In London by .JOHNSTON , the man who got was Rili ng to he a rlol. Some of ht. H)' S '5(1 IOOR' and thal's \t Then he calls me Oylan and Cash tog ether at th ■ stud lo1. Canada's poet laureate, Lt0nard and te lls me he ¥-•a n1 s In record C.Ohen, and, until recently, Simon and fix the session." a nd Garfunkel. :~~;, Je~!s y![,T/ ~D~l h~ ~! r~n.''~~ II just so ha ppened that when lie dropped the taller duo lhal the guards had a real tough Dylan decided to c:ut an album, bttause " the)' can take lhree joh queitenin' them down. I Willi Bob had fixed 10 do a Johnny Cash NME's Richard Green talks to their hundred hours on • single and, ready 10 run1 session, So he slyly Arra nged for 1 1h " Joh l'l ny ha d been tent a song Dy lan's to run from two-five and Dylan, Johnllon says, Is US)' 10 ~~~~~.g~ h!~': n:~~e~~h! ~fme n~~ by a prisoner there three yeau Cash's from six to nine. work wllh. He knows wh ■ I he the lncllnatlon lo spend that Jong before a. nd he asked the wa rden if Cash 11 rrived earl y, walked Into wa nts, when he wanls II and how producer, Bob Johnston on one record." he was still In. He looked at the Dyla n's studio and joined in the he wants It. In the s tud io, he Is ■ II records, but lh t• guy had been proceedin gs. The end result, I have SCI 10 go and there's no messln'. Fame. He came o ver at Iha for him and we' ll mak e the fin al We talked of chain gangs and rdeased on parole. it on the highest authority, Is One of the lracks on the new Invita tion of Ches. chok e from three I havt: in mind ."" the terrible justice eked out by "That same afternoon that something that has to be heard to .slbum was wrlllen In lhe car As we walked through the Ma y­ Jack Bruce has been on some Southern au1horities (something Johnny arrived, not tha t mo rn ing he believed. between 1he motel and the u udlo. fair back streeis fo r lunch, Bob sessions with Georale and 11 r1 to that both Bob and Ch es have o r that evening, the prisoner wu. The Dyla n album took threl' 11 explained, no t without a 1ouch of be hos,ed that youn K Fame will get painful, if funny memories of) a nd re.admitted fo r parole vlola1lon days to complete and word of al~umw !vhf~~>"eJoh~~t~n lie~ ~i:. laughter: "Ches called me and said his hit with something he ller th an got round 10 cash's prison and he was s itting in the fr ont r r--N Cash'• Involvement bega n s pread• duced. It contains a moving 1 1 0 th e awfull)' contrived Bonnie and recordings. at the concerl. How about lhat?' 1 version of "The Times The)' Are A F:::i : a~d \k!a1J , -~~~rt 10Yrcts Cl)'de gimmick which I'm sure The Fulsom Prison album has Which is wha t a lot of per,ple :: g PT!~1~~ j~~:ir e:ic u~h~ns:~d Changing." Again the Dylan con­ I'd give hi m a Top Ten record. didn' t do him much &ood al all, been certified as a gold disc and are gol na to he. saying, thou,:.n In denying all, preferring to wait until neClion. then give him o ne In 1he States. Ches, who resembles a pop sale1 are In excess of 900,000 fa r stronger terms, in a fe-..· weeks the dee-jays put the needle on th e Dylan crops up again In "They said would I like to put gypsy, who lili: es dubbing, who Is which Is aolna some. Cash and time when the Dyl a n •C ■ s h album fi rst aroove. Then wlll come the Johnston's purpose in visit ini that on paper, snd I said I wo uld as easy-going as the German rail­ Johnston had ii In mind a t the is released upon a n uns uspe cting explosion. London, which Is to record Georgie I've 101 a coup le or Dylan's songs way system and who claims lrith time to do a similar thing in San puhl k .