George Jones: The Essential George Jones - Disc 2 of 2 CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

George Jones The Essential George Jones - Disc 2 of 2 (2006)
The Essential George Jones - Disc 2 of 2\n2006 Epic/Legacy\n\nOriginally Released March 28, 2006\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: It has a similar title and a similar length to Epic/Legacy's 1994 double-disc set The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country, but Epic/Legacy's 2006 collection The Essential George Jones is a different beast entirely. At 40 tracks, it's four songs shorter than the 1994 comp, but the real difference is in the song selection. Where The Spirit of Country offered a good overview of every label George recorded for between 1955 and 1989, Legacy could not get licensing for his work for Musicor in the second half of the '60s, which means there are a few big omissions here, including "Things Have Gone to Pieces," "Love Bug," "I'm a People," "Walk Through This World with Me," "Say It's Not You," and "A Good Year for the Roses." With the exception of "Things Have Gone to Pieces" and "Say It's Not You," all of those singles were on The Spirit of Country, and their absence is felt on Essential, as is the absence of novelty numbers like 1959's "Who Shot Sam" to 1976's "Her Name Is..." These silly songs are nearly as much a trademark of Jones' style as his signature ballad style, so without them -- and without the Musicor songs -- The Essential feels a bit lop-sided toward the serious hardcore honky tonk. Hardly a fatal flaw, of course, since this is where much of Jones' legacy lies, and it is a good, accurate overview of George's career, even if it's not as thorough or lively as The Spirit of Country. Apart from the aforementioned Musicor sides and his MCA work of the '90s (which is hardly a glaring omission), this offers a fair representation of his many labels: there are four cuts from Starday, six apiece from Mercury and United Artists, a whopping 25 sides from Epic -- which is appropriate, since he spent nearly 20 years on the label and had over 60 charting singles while he was there -- and, as a coda, a cut from his 1999 album for Asylum. Along the way, most, but certainly not all, of his big hits are presented, including "Why Baby Why," "White Lightning," "The Window Up Above," "Tender Years," "She Thinks I Still Care," "The Race Is On," "The Grand Tour," and "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Any George compilation that has all these hits, along with many other excellent songs, is bound to be a great listen and a useful overview -- it's just that the absences here are large enough that this can't quite supplant The Spirit of Country, which remains the best overall George Jones compilation. But if that set can't be found, this is a good substitute. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nREAL COUNTRY, May 10, 2006\nReviewer: Jim Newsom (Norfolk, VA)\nGeorge Jones is the archetypal country singer. Born in a log cabin in east Texas and raised on gospel music in church and Carter Family records at home, he left school at sixteen, married and divorced young, spent a couple of years in the Marines, cut some sides for a small record company, performed with Elvis Presley, boozed, brawled and rode atop the country charts for thirty years. \n\nThe Essential George Jones tells his story in music, collecting forty songs recorded between 1954 and 1999, tracing the career of one of the true greats of the genre. Listening to the early sides, we see that Jones started out as a Hank Williams disciple, with the first four tracks sounding more like ol' Hank than young Possum. But as the set progresses, Jones' own distinctive style emerges. Old Rock-n-Rollers will remember "White Lightning" a silly rockabilly novelty hit in 1959, and "The Race is On" from the Beatle summer of 1964, but it's his string of number one country ballads that best defines the Jones legacy. "The Window Up Above," "Tender Years" and the classic "She Thinks I Still Care" defined the sound of Nashville in the early `60s in much the same way that Patsy Cline's records did, with that tinkly Floyd Cramer-style piano in the forefront and full vocal chorus in the background. \n\nEssential has a six-year gap in its chronology, as Legacy was apparently unable to acquire the rights to Jones' output for Musicor Records in the second half of the `60s. But it picks up again with his 1971 duet with third wife Tammy Wynette, the beginning of a particularly fruitful four-year period back at the top. It was anything but fruitful for Jones personally, though, as he dug deeper into the bottle, added cocaine to the mix, and developed a reputation for missing concerts that earned him the moniker "No-Show Jones." He and Tammy separated, reconciled, then divorced, and his song titles reflected the mess his life had become: "These Days (I Barely Get By)," "I Just Don't Give a Damn," "A Drunk Can't Be a Man," and "Stand on My Own Two Knees." \n\nIronically, though he was bottoming out with drug addiction, public rampages and a televised police chase through the streets of Nashville, Jones reappeared at the top of the charts in 1980 with the tear-jerking classic, "He Stopped Loving Her Today," launching another musically successful run that included #1 hits "Still Doin' Time" and "I Always Get Lucky with You." \n\nAfter finally detoxing in 1983 following his fourth marriage, he continued to hit the country charts with songs like "The Right Left Hand" and "I'm a One Woman Man" until the hat acts of "new country" bumped him off the radio playlists for good. Through the `90s he was more elder statesman that hitmaker, but at the end of the decade he briefly reappeared on the air with "Choices," a song given added poignancy by a drunken car crash during its recording sessions. \n\nGeorge Jones epitomized the sound of country music before the rough edges were sanded off by big money and big corporations. His music came straight from the heart, full of soul, twangy, often clich?d, but always real. \n\nOriginally published in Port Folio Weekly, 4/18/06. \ncopyright 2006 Port Folio Weekly. Used by Permission.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Good Start ... , May 8, 2006\nReviewer: Paul W. Dennis (Winter Springs, FL USA)\nThis two disc set of 40 songs on the Epic / Legacy Label is an excellent introduction to the career of George Jones. Of course, when you've charted over 160 singles over the course of 50 years, any 40 song set can only scratch at the totality of his career. While I can think of additional songs that I'd like to add to this collection, I can't think of any that are on the set that I'd be willing to delete. \n\nSince this set comes to us from Epic,it naturally focuses most heavily on George's 20 years or so with the label. It does, however, delve into the early catalog of Starday and Mercury recordings, including three songs ("No Money In This Deal", "I'm Ragged But I'm Right" and "Why Baby Why") that date back to the earliest sessions in 1955. \n\nDisc One includes such classics from the Mercury and United Artists years as "White Lightning", "Tender Years","A Girl I Used To Know", "You're Still On My Mind", The Race Is On", "She Thinks I Still Care" and "Window Up Above" plus duets with Melba Montgomery ("We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds") and Tammy Wynette ("Take Me"). The Musicor years are conspicuously missing,probably due to licensing difficulties. The last three songs on Disc One are from the Epic years as are 19 of the 20 songs on Disc Two. \n\nDisc Two can be best described as the best of the Epic years with such classics as "The Grand Tour", "The Door", "Still Doin' Time", "I Always Get Lucky With You", "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)". The post-Epic period is represented only by the Billy Yates-penned classic "Choices", but the end of George Jones as a hit singles artist essentially coincided with his departure from Epic. \n\nSound quality is excellent \n\nMy suspicion is that any listener buying this set as their first George Jones collection, will be pursuing many more George Jones recordings. If so, this is a good place to start the journey \n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nPersonnel: George Jones; Melba Montgomery, Tammy Wynette.\nRecording information: 1954 - 1988.
This country cd contains 20 tracks and runs 58min 36sec.
Freedb: 2a0dba14

Categories

Latest lists

George Jones: The Essential George Jones - Disc 2 of 2 CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal