The title of
Johnny Cash's third album for Sun Records, 1959's
Greatest!, suggests that
Cash's career already merited an anthology of hits a mere four years after he first hit the charts with "Cry! Cry! Cry!." However, this wasn't quite the case, and
Greatest! was actually a collection of B-side and unreleased tunes
Cash had left behind when he parted ways with Sun to sign with Columbia in 1958. The irony is there's a dearth of actual hits on
Greatest!, and while the sizable majority of
Cash's Sun output was outstanding, this album is decidedly weaker than the two Sun long-players which had preceded it. However, there are a handful of gems to be found here -- the rollicking "Get Rhythm," a fine cover of
Charlie Feathers' "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," a pair of solid
Hank Williams interpretations ("You Win Again" and "Hey Good Lookin'"), and his tribute to the singular talents of guitarist
Luther Perkins, "Luther Played the Boogie." While
Sam Phillips and his staff polished a few of these tunes with overdubs after the fact, they still sound leaner and more intense than
Cash's early Columbia sides, and while
Greatest! is second-tier stuff from his Sun period, there's still some great music here from one of the most powerful voices in country music.