Album: Johnny Cash, Live Around the World – Bootleg Vol III (Sony)

Richard Nixon, introducing the late Johnny Cash at the White House in 1970, said: "It's rather hard to describe him in terms that are adequate." And if Tricky Dicky struggled, what chance do we have, over 40 years later?

So let's take comfort in numbers: 50 songs, 39 unreleased, culled from shows played between 1956 and 1979. This is Cash at his rawest and most riveting, singing his soul out to platoons, prisoners and presidents alike. Hard to describe in terms that are adequate.