If
Out Among the Stars
had come out when its sessions were completed, it would've appeared sometime in 1984, arriving between 1983's flinty
Johnny 99
and 1985's slippery, sentimental
Rainbow
. Allegedly, this album -- discovered by
Legacy
and
John Carter Cash
during some archival work in 2012 -- was shelved because its
Billy Sherrill
production was just a little bit too pop for
Johnny Cash
's taste, but that reasoning isn't sound, particularly with the
Chips Moman
-produced crossover of sugar of
taken into consideration.
Moman
had been riding high on the hits he produced for
Willie Nelson
-- notably "Always on My Mind,"
Willie
's last great crossover smash -- and he applied a similar heavy-handed touch to
Cash
, who at that point was several years away from his last Country Top 10 hit ("The Baron" went to 10 in 1981).
Sherrill
had a lighter touch with
than
, something that might surprise listeners who associate his name with his symphonic, string-heavy productions for
George Jones
, but the producer winds up simply sweetening
Johnny
without changing his core sound. Comprised of sessions from 1981 and 1984,
is generally chipper and bright, containing a couple of spare, reflective moments -- the sentimental "After All," the
June Carter Cash
bluegrass duet "Don't You Think It's Come Our Time," and "I Came to Believe," the gospel-ish closer that ambles along nicely -- that add a little dimension to a cheerful album. "Out Among the Stars" nicely updates the signature
train-track rhythm, a cover of the
Dave Edmunds
/
Carlene Carter
duet "Baby Ride Easy" rolls along with spirit,
yucks it up with
Waylon Jennings
on a cover of the
Hank Snow
standard "I'm Movin' On," and "I Drove Her Out of My Mind" conjures some of the old outlaw magic. Every one of these seem like they could have some kind of potential on the charts, so the fact they were shelved is a bit of a mystery because, when taken together -- despite misguided novelties like "If I Told You Who It Was" -- it adds up to one of
's stronger '80s albums. [
was also released with an untitled bonus track.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine