Rolling Stone (1/23/97, p.44) - Ranked #5 on Rolling Stone's list of the "Ten Best Albums" of 1996.
Rolling Stone (12/26/96, p.198) - "...a more conventional country-blues record than AMERICAN RECORDINGS. It is also less of an art project. Cash brings equal helpings of spirituality and savoir-faire to his singing..."
Entertainment Weekly (11/08/96, p.69) - "...a travelogue of Cash's sticky psyche--the repentant sinner wrestling with dark desires. Backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Cash still sounds like the Voice of the Ages, with his bass baritone wobbling on pitch as it hasn't in years." - Rating: B+
Alternative Press (4/97, p.66) - 3 (out of 5) - "...Cash slips on [these] tunes as comfortably as a black mourning coat."
Musician (2/97, p.123) - "...the sound is pure Cash--all chesty rumble and straight-strummed guitars with nothing funkier than a rockabilly beat from the rhythm section....UNCHAINED seems such classic Cash it almost doesn't matter who's playing with him..."
Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #21 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Rovi