The collaboration between hard-core rap/rock producer Rick Rubin and country legend Johnny Cash has produced four albums and 56 recordings over an eight-year period, but precious few new tracks from The Man in Black.

Yet the title-track to the latest effort between the two, "The Man Comes Around," showcases Cash's first original recording since he hooked up with Rubin on 1994's Grammy-winning "American Recordings."

The song was inspired by a bizarre dream Cash had while in England seven years ago, in which he visits Buckingham Palace and has the Queen refer to him as a "thorn tree in a whirlwind." Cash incorporated the descriptor into the chorus in this foot-tapping take on Judgment Day, that shows the 70-year-old still has his songwriting 'chops.'

There's a man going 'round taking names

And he decides who to free and who to blame

Everybody won't be treated all the same,

There will be a golden ladder reaching down

When the Man comes around

The album is also the catalyst for Cash's first music video in nearly a decade. Cash spent three days recording the video for his cover of the Nine Inch Nails' song "Hurt" at the Johnny Cash Museum in Hendersonville, TN with NIN video director Mark Romanek. It's Cash's first video since "Rusty Cage" in 1994.

The song is by far the best of the 10 covers on the 15-song album, that features four Cash classics in "Give My Love to Rose," "Sam Hall," "Tear Stained Letter" and "Streets of Laredo."

Cash's dissonant version of the Trent Reznor tune is one of those rare times when the cover is better than the original, as in the case of the Cowboy Junkies' cover of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane."

Cash is at his best redefining the edge to Trent Reznor's powerful song about heroin addiction. Amidst Benmont Tench's pounding keyboards, Cash's gravelly delivery of the lyrics - And you could have it all/My empire of dirt/I will let you down/I will make you hurt - adds new weight to the song.

In the press release for "The Man Comes Around," Cash describes "Hurt" as the "best anti-drug song I ever heard" and a song he could "relate to from the very beginning."

Although he tries, Cash's cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" - the first single on the album - is less inspired. Perhaps it's because he tried to turn the religious satire into a gospel song.

Cash puts his own spin on classics by The Beatles, The Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel, Hank Williams, Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and the Ross Parker/Hugh Charles number "We'll Meet Again."

If you're a big fan of the original recordings and believe that covers are sacrilegious, then give the album a miss and just buy the singles. Cash's inclusion of the bizarre Sting song "Hung My Head" was a poor choice and he's out of his range on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (accompanied by Fiona Apple), but the others won't make you cringe. He also takes a stab at the traditional funeral anthem "Danny Boy."

In addition to Apple, Cash is joined by Nick Cave on "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," Don Henley on "Desperado" and all three in the chorus for "We'll Meet Again."

When compared to the cotton-candy country emanating from Nashville these days, "The Man Comes Around" is like a cool breeze on a hazy summer day. After nearly succumbing to pneumonia six years ago, while recording "Unchained" with Rubin, this latest Cash contribution should be seen as a bonus.

Yet if critics are too eager to put both the septuagenarian's feet in the "potter's garden," they should heed Cash's own words when he says: "We're not into stopping and polishing milestones. We look forward to the next one - the 51st year (recording), the 71st year. We look forward to the work to be done." (More on Johnny Cash)

Track Listing
1. The Man Comes Around
2. Hurt
3. Give My Love To Rose
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water
5. I Hung My Head
6. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
7. Personal Jesus
8. In My Life
9. Sam Hall
10. Danny Boy
11. Desperado
12. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
13. Tear Stained Letter
14. Streets of Laredo
15. We'll Meet Again