I’m generally not a fan of live albums, but there are some exceptions. Because Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison is one of the finest live albums ever recorded, and Cash is in his finest form here.

He opens with “Folsom Prison Blues” (of course) that crackles with an electricity his studio recordings never had. On the second track he announces, in his iconic Johnny Cash drawl, “this is being recorded for an album release on Columbia Records, so we can’t say Hell or (bleeped) or anything like that.”

To roaring applause. That energy surges through the whole show, as Cash rips through his most rakish selections—”Dark As the Dungeon,” “Cocaine Blues,” “25 Minutes to Go,” and the very specific crowd eats it up. There are cheers at every applicable line…“I shot that fat bitch down” (applause), “It’s a long way to walk for someone who don’t wanna die” (eruption).

But it’s not all devil-may-care roguishness. The record features a number of “ballad type numbers,” as he calls them. “Songs like Long Black Veil,” “The Wall,” “Give My Love to Rose,” and “Send a Picture of Mother” are played with all of the somber gravity they require for the context.

The most remarkable part of the album is the rapport he has with the inmates. Johnny had just recently gotten his drug habits under control, and he sings these songs with the conviction of a man who knows what it is to be held captive by some other force. And the audience recognizes his conviction and responds in kind. There is a dark sense of humor here, to be sure, but every part of it is played with sincerity and met in kind from the prisoners.

The unfortunate thing is that my copy, purchased for a quarter or something, is in rough, rough shape. A few tracks are almost unlistenable. Some albums I might not mind–they’re in my collection more to have than to hear. But this one demands a listenable copy, so I’ll be on the lookout.