Search - George Jones :: You Ought to Be Here

You oughta have this CD

Jerry McDaniel | 11/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"released in 1990 on Epic, this CD for whatever reasons just was not promoted at all. i remember at the time the CD originally came out. i was at a local store and i bought it. i listened to it and couldn't wait until i started hearing some of the songs on the radio. "Hell Stays Open All Night Long" was the first single but i didn't hear it on the radio and never saw it advertised anywhere in magazines. then, when "Six Foot Deep, Six Foot Down" was issued as a single, there was no promotional campaign or anything! by now it was late 1990 and George was on the radio with Randy Travis on "A Few Ole Country Boys"...but nothing surfaced about this album. THEN in mid 1991 he has out with a new CD on MCA records and i was like "what the heck? You Oughta Be Here With Me was ignored!!". since that time the cassette/CD has been out of print. i like all the songs and very interestingly two of the songs were to become hits for other singers. Tracy Lawrence did "Somebody Always Paints the Wall" and just recently "Ol Red" was a hit for someone. "I Sleep Just Like a Baby" and "A Cold Day in December" are two of my favorites aside from the singles "Hell Stays Open" and "Six Foot Deep, Six Foot Down". on the Baby song he sings: "everynight I sleep just like a baby. i wake up every hour and cry". the title track wasn't a single. co-written by Roger Miller, it's now available on the recent compilation CD of George's called 'Love Songs' on the Sony label. in case the CD i'm reviewing isn't available, check out 'Love Songs'. if not, you oughta have "You Oughta Be Here With Me"."

You Oughta Be Ashamed If You Ain't Heard This...

Jerry McDaniel | 12/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Released in 1990, YOU OUGHTA BE HERE WITH ME was the last album George Jones recorded with legendary producer Billy Sherrill for CBS Records (discounting FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES, which was a cut and paste duet album) and it is also the record that prompted Jones to leave the label in disgust. This LP was virtually ignored and received no promotion from the label, sinking without a trace. This is indeed a shame.



The opening track, "Hell Stays Open All Night Long" is vintage George and the masterpiece of the album, a slab of stone-cold country about a man begging to "come back home" but turned away by his beloved. The Roger Miller written "You Oughta be Here With Me" is also sung majestically, with a spoken word piece delivered with the emotion only "the Possum" can breathe into a microphone. Other highlights include "I Sleep Just Like A Baby," "If The World Don't End Tomorrow," and "A Cold Day In December." More than anything else, this album shows that Jones and Sherrill were still looking forward and were not afraid to take chances, which is clearly evident on "Ol' Red," a song about a prisoner who escapes from prison with the help of a vicious but very horny bloodhound. It boggles the mind that this album is a lost classic, but it is, and if you consider yourself a true George Jones fan and you've never heard this, you must order it now! YOU OUGHTA BE HERE WITH ME proves that Jones may have gone out with a commercial whimper with Sherrill and CBS Records, but it was a big bang artistically."