Search - George Jones :: Essential

REAL COUNTRY

Jim Newsom | Norfolk, VA | 05/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"George 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.



The 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.



Essential 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."



Ironically, 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."



After 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.



George 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.



Originally published in Port Folio Weekly, 4/18/06.

copyright 2006 Port Folio Weekly. Used by Permission."

A Good Start ...

Paul W. Dennis | Winter Springs, FL USA | 05/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 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.



Since 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.



Disc 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.



Disc 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.



Sound quality is excellent



My 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



"

Superb overview of country music's legendary singer

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 11/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The mergers and acquisitions that have marked the last decade of the record industry may be concentrating more power in the hands of the few, but it's also making it a lot easier to market multi-label anthologies of long-running artists such as Jones. This 2-CD, 40-track collection surveys nearly all facets of Jones' career, from his early success at Starday, through his breakout sides on Mercury, a stint on United Artists and his long run on Epic. Missing are his late '60s sides for Musicor, which had been licensed for earlier multilabel sets, but were unavailable (or too expensive) this time out. The out-of-print Musicor-focussd "George Jones: 24 Greatest Hits" (on the Tee Vee label) thus makes a nice complement to this set.



Jones' earliest sides find him still in the thrall of honky-tonk legends Hank Williams and Lefty Frizell. His work for Starday and Mercury were hardcore country, honed in the roadhouses of his native East Texas. But by the start of the '60s, at the tail end of his tenure for Mercury, Jones started to find a new voice. On breakthroughs like "She Thinks I Still Care," Jones and his producer shook off a bit of the twang, slowed down the dancehall tempos, and introduced the beginnings of the vocal style that would become his trademark over the next two decades.



The quality of his recordings surged and floundered throughout his hit-making years, alongside his drinking and drugging, but not always in correlation. At turns, the despair of his personal life fueled his performances, at other times it simply overtook him. By the end of the '60s, having left Musicor, he landed at Epic and wrote his legacy large with recordings produced by Billy Sherrill. Solo and with then-wife Tammy Wynette, Jones recorded many of country music's most indelible sides, including "Love You Could Never Be Better" and "Take Me." His divorce in 1975 and subsequent substance abuse fueled sides like "Memories of Us" and "A Drunk Can't Be a Man." Jones bottomed-out personally and triumphed professionally in 1980 with the song many consider to be country music's all-time greatest, "He Stopped Love Her Today."



Jones continued to record with Sherrill into the late '80s, at which point he moved to MCA and finally to Asylum, minting top-10 singles (and catching a Grammy© for "Choices" in 1999) along the way. This 2-CD set provides a broad overview of Jones' career, save for the missing Musicor years, and provides an excellent introduction for the neophyte, as well as a nicely condensed listening experience for fans. [2006 hyperbolium dot com]"