A Good Year For The Roses: The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971 (Part 2) [Box set, Import]

George Jones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 10, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Bear Family
• ASIN: B0025U0ZZI
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,124 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Wrong Side of the World

2. As Long as I Live

3. The Poor Chinee

4. New Man in Town

5. Beneath Still Waters

See all 35 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Just an Average Couple

2. I'll See You While Ago

3. She's Mine

4. If Not for You

5. The Race Is On

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. I'm Finally Over You

2. Rosie Bokay

3. These Hands

4. A Wound Time Can't Erase

5. Try

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. I Wouldn't Know About That

2. Yearning

3. Would It Do Me Any Good

4. Someone Sweet to Love

5. Sometimes You Just Can't Win

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Picking up only a matter of months after its predecessor, Walk Through This World with Me, left off, Bear Family's four-disc box A Good Year for the Roses -- The Complete Musicor Recordings, 1965-1971: Pt. 2 runs through the last half of George Jones' stint with Musicor, a period that showed a greater sonic variety than his preceding two and a half years with the label yet ultimately illustrates that George's partnership with producer and manager Pappy Daily had reached a dead end. Always eager to make a quick buck, Daily steered George toward the weirdest quick cash-in he ever recorded, pushing the trippy folk-rock mock-protest song "Unwanted Babies" upon Possum, its swirling minor-key march sounding like psychedelic 1967 but like nothing else here. The rest of the music on the box is firmly within the tradition established by the first Musicor set, meaning there's plenty of hard honky tonk and ballads, but within that Jones is beginning to branch out, building upon the Bakersfield and Roger Miller influences evident on Walk Through This World with Me, but also edging toward richer, detailed productions, a sound evident on both the dense "Burn Another Honky Tonk Down" and the gorgeous, elegant title track. Pappy may have pushed "A Good Year for the Roses" on George, hearing a hit when the singer didn't, but that doesn't mean he was showing any more care in recording his label's lone star. He still fed Jones songs from his publishing house, not caring much about their quality, happy to re-record old songs once again and filling out a session by covering current hits. This situation was only exacerbated at the end of George's time at the label, when he was burning through songs intent on ending his contract, re-recording tunes he originally did when he first started at Musicor! Emphasizing quantity over quality didn't much bother Daily -- it gave him more product to sell or to license later to RCA -- which is one of the primary reasons Jones was eager to leap from Musicor to Epic, where he would be able to duet with his new love, Tammy Wynette, and record with her producer, Billy Sherrill, yet listening to A Good Year for the Roses as a body of work it's possible to understand Pappy's side of things. At his worst, which didn't arrive all that often, George was still a compelling vocalist, and his Musicor recordings are uniformly enjoyable, even with subpar performances and slapdash productions. Pappy could package this stuff and sell it to satisfied customers because it was always good and occasionally transcendent. As on Walk Through This World with Me, it can take some digging to ferret out those gems, but it's a pleasurable hunt, more so than before due to that greater sonic variety, which also happens to be the very thing that illustrates beyond a doubt that George Jones could achieve more artistically than he did here. At Musicor, he was treated as a hitmaking machine, churning out pure product without discrimination. At Epic, he was treated as an artist and wound up with bolder records that turned into bigger hits. Some have called those Sherrill productions overblown, but after listening to George's Musicor recordings in their entirety, it's easy to see why Jones was eager to be over-produced: he had spent too long with no production at all. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More gems from down yonder, Possum Holler., June 24, 2009

By 

Scott McWade "dubs" (NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Good Year For The Roses: The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971 (Part 2) (Audio CD)

Muddy ? Hoss, clean them taters out yer ears. These remasters are pristine ! Bear Family should be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It's a joy to be discovering this man's voice, at a time when a record company is paying so much of his previosly neglected material, the attention it deserves. Again, a few of the tunes are downright insipid, but George's delivery elevates all of them into a heavenly realm. The only other artist I can compare him to, in this regard, is Billie Holiday. It's that good. This also has his first duets with Tammy and while I don't think there as good as those with Melba, available on the Bear Family's She Thinks I Still Care, they're quite good. There are 3 duets with Brenda Carter and they sound horrible, her voice clashes with George's and it just doesn't work. There is a great picture of George sitting on a couch across from Brenda. It looks like George is making a joke at Brenda's expense, she looks real upset, and there's a teenage kid that looks like he's enjoying George's joke. The whole package offers insight into "the voice" of Country croonin' at an interesting juncture in his storied career. These three little Bear Family sets are the proverbial missing link, the grail, the rosetta stone. This is Country Music. Don't walk, run !

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bear Family has corrected the faulty CD, offers them free., August 12, 2010

By 

K. Z. Mahon (Roulette, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Good Year For The Roses: The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971 (Part 2) (Audio CD)

I purchased this box set when it first came out, and I had the same trouble with track 20 on disc 1 as everyone else; it faded out too. I emailed Bear Family about it twice - the first time, I got no reply, and the second time, it took maybe a week to reply to me.

The email is below, edited for privacy:

On 12 Aug 2010 at 2:12, K.Z Mahon wrote:

Hello [...]-

Has track 20 on disc 1, "When The Grass Grows Over Me" been corrected and faded out properly on newer pressings of the disc?

Also, is there any way I could receive the replacement before I mail in my copy of the disc? I am afraid that mine would get lost in the mail, and given what I paid for my box set, which was around [Amazon's price], I do not want to be missing a disc from it.

I have purchased around fifteen CDs from the label, so I look for quality in each album, and I would hate to be denied that opportunity in this instance.

Thank you -

Kegan
-----

Dear Kegan,
[...]

CD 1 George Jones has been reproduced. I will send you a replacement copy as soon as you let me know about [I asked about ordering a different CD].

You don't need to return the faulty George Jones CD. [I had previously been told I would have to return my faulty copy first].

best regards,




Christian Schweder
[e-mail]
Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]

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5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for the ulitmate George Jones fan!, January 19, 2011

By 

Tammy Holmes (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Good Year For The Roses: The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971 (Part 2) (Audio CD)

I received my box set and was very much surprised how elaborate it was put together, the attention to detail is very nicely done. I had no problems with any of my music, all CD's are a master's work. The sound of each CD are amazing. If you are a true George Jones fan this set is a must have and would be the ultimate treasure of all your collections. So many songs I have never heard before. Well worth the money. You will enjoy this set and your so called George Jones buddies will envy you for having it...