Customer Reviews

Essential: Spirit of Country (Dbl Jewel Case)

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At least half the songs on this collection are among the finest country songs ever recorded, some because they are flat out great songs (She Thinks I Still Care, Wine Colored Roses), some slight but made much more by the seen-it-all, drunk-it-all, sung-it-all Jones voice. List 'em -- Why Baby Why, Just One More, She Thinks I Still Care, We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds, The Race is On, A Good Year for the Roses, The Grand Tour, Golden Ring, and the incredible streak of cuts 8-14 on disc two -- Two Story House (story in both senses of the word of course), He Stopped Loving Her Today, I'm Not Ready Yet, If Drinkin Don't Kill Me, Still Doin' Time, Same Ole Me, and Yesterday's Wine. You are talking over 30 years of material here, add another 15 to bring us up to 2003 (see his last two CDs and you will have no doubt that George's quality has stayed superb) and that's nearly half a century of song stories that ring as true, sad, and life strong as the first time heard.

This CD belongs in the collection of every person with the slightest interest in country music. Ol' George has peers, Johnny, Merle, Willie, but no one is his better.

Couple last random thoughts -- 1) God, I miss Tammy Wynette. 2)Let's be honest, it wouldn't be George if there weren't a couple of over the top, corny dregs -- The Ceremony and Her Name Is are my nominees. 3) I wish he'd written more in the 70's and 80's. Looking at the early songs, I have to think that his great material from those decades could have been even finer mixed with some of his own compositions.

The newfangled country radio stations may have stopped playing George Jones years ago, but he was, is, and always will be the voice of true country music. As a general rule, I don't like country music, but George Jones is something special. Two CDs is barely a start in terms of collecting all of his many, many hits over the years, but these 44 tracks still do quite a good job of showcasing his talent and tracing the evolution of his music over the course of the first thirty-three years of his unprecedented career. In addition, the accompanying booklet stands as a particularly good tribute to the man who, as you can see by all the quotes from big-name stars of today, has influenced country music perhaps more than any other entertainer.

One great thing about this collection is the fact that the release date and peak place on the chart are listed for each of these songs, ranging from 1955's Why Baby Why to 1998's The King is Gone (So Are You). A number of these songs should be familiar to a great number of people and hardly even need any sort of description. I have never really listened to country music, yet I knew many of these songs long ago, even before I began purchasing George Jones releases.

When it comes to George Jones, you have to start with one song: He Stopped Loving Her Today. This song never fails to give me goose bumps, and it has never aged one bit. I was fortunate enough to see George Jones in concert once, and the audience all but screamed for him to sing this song - it still has the power to melt your heart. Another touching song found here is Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes, which is basically a tribute to the true pioneers and legends of country music. You'll find plenty of fast-paced fun songs here, as well: e.g., I'm a One Woman Man, The Race Is On, and White Lightning. Unforgettable songs revolving around heartache include A Picture Of Me (Without You), If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will), These Days I Barely Get By, She Thinks I Still Care, The Window Up Above, and the immaculate The Grand Tour. That vintage George Jones twang makes a sad song do things to your heart that no other performer's voice can possibly match. As I said, I could talk about every song included here; every one of them is just terrific.

There are a fair number of duets included here, of course, as that formed a significant part of George's illustrious career. Bartender's Blues features James Taylor, Johnny Paycheck puts in an appearance on Maybelline, both Ray Charles and Chet Atkins team up with George on We Didn't See a Thing, Yesterday's Wine features Merle Haggard, and Melba Montgomery lends her voice to We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds. Then there is Tammy Wynette, an integral part of both George's music and personal life. This collection gives us only a small sampling of four songs from the greatest duo in country music, but each of these four is amazing: Near You, The Ceremony (in which George and Tammy basically renewed their marriage vows), We're Gonna Hold On (which was inspired by the strains that developed in their marriage), and Two Story House.

Essentially, this two-CD box set is a great buy for anyone nursing a newfound love for George Jones' music or just experiencing some curiosity about the man whose music and personal life did much to define country music for so long. Established Possum fans will already own most of these songs, yet the excellent booklet full of track information, biographical material, and pictures from the course of George's career offers much for loyal fans, as well.

this box set was released in 1994 during the middle of his 40th Anniversary as a recording artist. this box set is great and for a major record label like Epic/Sony to showcase George's other hits on other labels too, well, that in itself is amazing. i love the selections that are showcased BUT (here comes the "but" interjection once again)...i didn't like the liner notes in the mini-booklet dealing with George's signing with Epic in 1971. the guy who wrote the liner notes, Rich Kienzle, if you didn't know, is or was a critic for a magazine called "Country Music". Rich and several other critics for that magazine don't keep their hatred hidden for George's Epic material. Rich and Bob Allen are the two biggest complainers of the Epic days. well, anyway, Rich goes into detail about the "soap opera" that Billy Sherrill created with George and Tammy's songs. he then goes in for more detail after the break-up and the "no show" days. on top of this, in a box set supposedly to celebrate George Jones' incredible body of work, Rich feels it necessary to quote Billy Sherrill's odd statement which went something like: {i think that George oversang 'Bartenders Blues'; it was like George Jones trying to sound like George Jones...}. was there any need for such a comment like that to be included in this box set? i love Bartender's Blues and in reality it's James Taylor's soaring harmony that would make you think it's "oversung". the music itself is excellent and all original material. the box set was issued by Sony/Epic and therefore all of George's major Top-40 hits on Epic from 1972-1989 are on here (minus his wonderful 1977 Top-40 "If I Could Put Them All Together", his 1984 Top-10 "You've Still Got a Place In My Heart" and his two Top-20 duet hits with Brenda Lee on "Hallelujah, I Love You So" and Lacy J. Dalton on "Size Seven Round and Made of Gold" in early 1985 but that's about the only Epic material that made the Top-40 that ISN'T on here, though!). as a result, this box set totally wipes out the importance of having 1982's "Anniversary: Ten Years of Hits" unless you're a completist. near the end of this booklet, Rich talks about how "I'm a One Woman Man" was his last hit for Epic in early 1989. this is incorrect. "The King is Gone", which was originally known as "Ya Ba Da Ba Do", hit #26 in mid 1989 and "Writing On The Wall" would hit #31 in late 1989. so, technically, "Writing On The Wall" was George's final hit single. two of his 1990 Epic singles wouldn't chart and THEN he moved to MCA in 1991...but that's another story, maybe there's a volume two in the works to showcase his post 1991 material???! get this box set but be aware of the highly opinionated liner notes and some inaccuracies (like the one i just described about "One Woman Man" NOT being his last hit for Epic). you know, some people assume because an album contains no hit singles that it isn't worth talking about. well, i look at it with this view: i'd rather have an album that had NO hits because NOBODY would know about it and i'd have a RARE/little-known album and as a collector i know that completists like myself want the rare unknown albums as much as the well known titles. there is simply no excuse for critics and "historians" on George Jones to ignore 1983's "Shine On", 1983's "Jones Country", 1984's "You've Still Got a Place In My Heart", 1987's "Too Wild Too Long", and 1990's "You Oughta Be Here With Me" and act like they don't exist. once again, get this box set BUT throw away the booklet if you walk away thinking it's too negative for an "anniversary" project like this.

WOW! That's what I can say about this amazing collection. It does a beautiful job of showing how Jones and his music grew and changed over the years, but always remained totally George Jones. The included book uses the songlist to tell the story of George's career with fascinating background notes and information. One of my non-country-fan friends said, "George Jones' voice is a national treasure." This is a truly a classic.

All I have to say is the only real legend that is still Alive, in my opinion, the greatest country music singer of all time, and that would be George Jones

George has had a long career spanning half a century and recorded for several labels. Sometime he re-recorded hits he'd had with previous labels, but what makes this compilation unique is that it includes original recordings from four different labels, covering the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties. Sony (who own the Epic recordings) licensed tracks from the other three labels represented here.

The first seven tracks were recorded for Mercury and cover the period 1955 to 1961, beginning with Why baby why and ending with Tender years. The standout from this period is Window up above, a very sad song about lost love. George's Mercury years are covered in greater depth in the 48-track double CD Cup of loneliness.

The next three tracks - She thinks I still care, We must have been out of our minds (with Melba Montgomery) and The race is on - are from his period with United Artists (1962 to 1965). Although these are the three most famous tracks, there should have been more than that. This period is covered in greater depth in the 40-track Razor and tie compilation She Thinks I Still Care: The George Jones Collection.

The next five tracks are from his Musicor period (1965 to 1970), including Walk through this world with me and Good year for the roses. There were other great songs from this period, but there is no definitive compilation covering this period.

The remainder of this compilation is devoted to his long spell with Epic which covers most of the seventies and eighties, including duets with Merle Haggard, Johnny Paycheck, Ray Charles and four songs with Tammy Wynette. Of his own songs from this period, the most famous is He stopped loving her today, a very sad song about a man who remained loyal to a woman who had left him - until he died.

This is a stunning collection of George's music. It's not possible to get all his big hits into two CD's, but this is the best place to begin a George Jones collection.

Fans of country music and George Jones will consider this a must-have, but it's essential for the new generation which is unfortunately missing out in the real SOUL of C&W, thanks to the proliferation of artists who are churning out wannabe-pop-crossover pablum instead of real C&W. George's plaintive voice soars on the ever-immortal "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and evokes haunting images of his ill-fated, stormy romance with Tammy Wynette in "If The Drinkin' Don't Kill Me, Her Memory Will." George Jones was a national treasure. There aren't enough stars for this one

I grew up on rock & roll, but began looking to expand my horizons several years ago. I found George Jones by accident. I was on the road, in the middle of nowhere searching the AM stations for something interesting. I came across a station that was doing a feature on George Jones. Many of the songs included on this 2 CD set were played. I was sold, and bought this set as soon as I could. George Jones' voice is indeed the Cadillac of country music. The Essential George Jones is just that. Essential. Buy it.

George Jones is the greatest real COUNTRY singer of all time. He sings real country music. He doesnt have to have a fancy stage, tight pants, tatoos, cowboy hats, I.E.-Kenny,Tim McGraw, George Jones has lived the life and walked the walk. The two-cd's here show George's durablity and longevity. White Lighting all the way to Golden Ring, George puts all his emotion into every song. Country music know is about $, the image, putting on a fancy show. George JUST sings the song with a voice like no other. This CD is a good starter for any George Jones collection. It is nearly impossbile to put all his songs in two cd's. I recently saw Randy Travis in concert, George's influence was evident in his singing. George Jones does not need an image or fancy videos to sell records. He is country music.

A few years ago I went to a flea market at the Cyclorama in Boston and found a box set of music (The Spirit of Country) by this guy, George Jones. Over the years I'd heard intriguing bits and pieces about the man and his remarkable voice. An association to Keith Richards stood out in my mind. Evidently each thought the other to be the truest instrument of his particular style of music.

For years I'd been coming around to country music by way of legends like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. These two outlaws had crossover appeal that made them gate-keepers of my initiation as a country listener. But behind those doors stood a man who never crossed over and never cared to.

That would be George Jones. Not since John Lennon had I been so sucker-punched by a voice. The minute I pressed play, I understood the bricks of reverence that musicians pile at this man's feet. So I built my own George Jones pedestal.

I started singing with fever because of "The Possum," with more encouragement from my golden-voiced father and "that singing friend of mine," Ed. Still it was George Jones that made country music essential to me. I was so moved by his mastery, I Just set out in the direction of his particular light-and recorded my CD, "Wild Irish Rose, reverences of George Jones."

Maybe in my old age, in some coffee house, the stars will align and I'll deliver one song the way George Jones delivers a song. Maybe I'll sing for three minutes like the man Frank Sinatra called "the second greatest singer" and others call the "the Rolls Royce of country singers."

Then I'll wake up from that dream and go put on a George Jones record. Probably "It Don't Get Any Better Than This."