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The quarter drops, and out comes the voice of Despair, anxious at first, then desperate, with the singer sliding up a wail meant to caress and exorcise his demons at the same time. He holds the cry as he might the last bottle on earth and then plunges to the low notes in a moan that leaves no doubt--when you talk about pain and suffering, George Jones has been there. The proof is in this 44-song, two-disc box set, a tear built into every groove, starting with the stripped-down production of Pappy Daily's early Starday hits ("Why Baby Why"), segueing to the Mercury years ("The Window up Above"), dipping into the United Artists and Musicor material ("Love Bug"), and then moving on to the Billy Sherrill era at Epic, where Jones secured his legend with his emotionally charged renderings of melodramatic material ("The Grand Tour"). The set is rounded out with a smattering of Jones's countrypolitan duets with Tammy Wynette ("Golden Ring"), as well as "He Stopped Loving Her Today," the preeminent modern country song and performance. --Alanna Nash
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Is Discontinued By Manufacturer
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No
Product Dimensions
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5.5 x 5 x 1 inches; 6.19 Ounces
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Disc 1: 1. Why Baby Why?; 2. Just One More; 3. Color Of The Blues; 4. White Lightning; 5. Who Shot Sam?; 6. The Window Up Above; 7. The Tender Years; 8. She Thinks I Still Care; 9. We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds (with Melba Montgomery); 10. The Race Is On; 11. The Love Bug; 12. I'm A People; 13. Walk Through This World With Me; 14. If My Heart Had Windows; 15. A Good Year For The Roses; 16. We Can Make It; 17. The Ceremony (with Tammy Wynette); 18. Loving You Could Never Be Better; 19. A Picture Of Me (Without You); 20. We're Gonna Hold On (with Tammy Wynette); 21. Once You've Had The Best; 22. The Grand Tour.
Disc 2: 1. The Door; 2. These Days (I Barely Get By); 3. Golden Ring (with Tammy Wynette); 4. Her Name Is; 5. Near You (with Tammy Wynette); 6. Bartender's Blues (guest vocal by James Taylor); 7. Mabellene (with Johnny Paycheck); 8. Two Story House (with Tammy Wynette); 9. He Stopped Loving Her Today; 10. I'm Not Ready Yet; 11. If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will); 12. Still Doin' Time; 13. Same Ole Me (backing vocal by The Oak Ridge Boys); 14. Yesterday's Wine (with Merle Haggard); 15. I Always Get Lucky With You; 16. Tennessee Whiskey; 17. We Didn't See A Thing (with Ray Charles and featuring Chet Atkins); 18. She's My Rock; 19. Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?; 20. Wine Colored Roses; 21. I'm A One Woman Man; 22. The King Is Gone (So Are You).
Those connected with the production of this CD set - compilation producer Bob Irwin, project director Adam Block, and liner note writer (16 fascinating pages of them folks( Rich Kienzle, to name just some - deserve a pat on the back for a masterful job. George Jones IS Country and that was evident from his very first hit way back in 1955 - Why Baby Why (# 4 in Nov-Dec on Starday 202) - right up to, and including, his final charted single in 1997 - a duet with Patty Loveless on You Don't Seem To Miss Me (# 14 Oct-Dec 1997 on Epic 78704).
Unlike many other Country stars, very few of his 159 hits crossed over to the Billboard Pop charts - just 8, the best was a # 73 in April 1959 for White Lightning, written by J.P, Richardson, aka The Big Bopper, on Mercury 71406). But, rather than detract in any way from his legacy, it only serves to underline the fact that he was pure Country with no Pop aspirations. As one-time wife and singing partner Tammy Wynette is quoted as saying in the notes "the greatest voice in Country music, both past and present, is that of George Jones ... never have I heard a voice packed with such emotion and feeling and I truly doubt that we'll ever hear an equal ... some of the proudest moments of my career are my recordings with George ... long live the King."
In this set you get five of the 14 duets with Tammy, 2 of his 6 hits with Starday, 6 of 18 with Mercury, 2 of 17 with United Artists, 5 of 29 with Musicor, and 29 of 67 with Epic/Columbia. He also had one lone hit with RCA Victor in 1972 (A Day In The Life Of A Fool - # 30) but that is not included.
The insert contains a complete discography of the contents, many more pictures of George, album cover reproductions, and acknowledgements of his importance to the industry by some of the biggest names in the business (Clint Black, Patty Loveless, Davis Ball, Joe Diffie, and Travis Tritt). The sound reproduction is impeccable. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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.
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