George Jones - Essential George Jones
Product Information
Track List: Essential George Jones
Click on or song title to hear an audio clip. Windows Media player is required.
Disc 1:
- No Money In This DealDownload & Buy
- I'm Ragged But I'm RightDownload & Buy
- Why Baby WhyDownload & Buy
- Just One MoreDownload & Buy
- Color Of The BluesDownload & Buy
- White LightningDownload & Buy
- Out Of ControlDownload & Buy
- You're Still On My MindDownload & Buy
- The Window Up AboveDownload & Buy
- Tender YearsDownload & Buy
- She Thinks I Still Care
- A Girl I Used To KnowDownload & Buy
- The Race Is OnDownload & Buy
- We Must Have Been Out Of Our MindsDownload & Buy
- Take Me
- We Can Make ItDownload & Buy
- Loveing You Could Never Be BetterDownload & Buy
- What My Woman Can't DoDownload & Buy
- A Picture Of Me (Without You)Download & Buy
- Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half As Bad As Losing You)Download & Buy
Disc 2:
- The Grand Tour
- Once You've Had The Best
- We Loved It Away
- The Door
- These Days (I Barely Get By)
- Memories Of Us
- I Just Don't Give A Damn
- A Drunk Can't Be A Man
- Stand On My Own Two Knees
- The Battle
- Someday My Day Will Come
- He Stopped Loving Her Today
- If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)
- I've Aged Twenty Years In Five
- Still Doin' Time
- You've Still Got A Place In My Heart
- I Always Get Lucky With You
- The Right Left Hand
- I'm A One Woman Man
- Choices
Yahoo! Shoppers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed:
-
$19 - $29
-
$8 - $12
-
$5 - $8
-
11% also viewed
George Jones/Gene Pitney/The Jordanaires - Complete 60's Duets With The Jordanaires
Release Date: 03/29/2005
$11 - $16 -
$17 - $22
-
$5 - $8
More George Jones CDs and Albums
Album Details: Essential George Jones
- Release Date:
- 03/28/2006
- Label:
- Sony
- UPC:
- 827969256527
User Reviews: Essential George Jones
-
Superb overview of country music's legendary singe
, November 9, 2006
read all (1) user reviews for Essential George Jones
Pro Reviews: Essential George Jones
| EXPERT RATING: From AMG Reviews It has a similar title and a similar length to Epic/Legacy's 1994 doubledisc set The Spirit of Country: The Essential George Jones, but Epic/Legacy's 2006 collection The Essential George Jones is a different beast entirely. At 40 tracks, it's four songs shorter than the '94 comp, but the real difference is in the song selection. Where The Spirit of Country offered a good overview of every label George recorded for between 1955 and 1989, Legacy could not get licenscing for his work for Musicor in the second half of the '60s, which means there are a few big omissions here, including "Things Have Gone To Pieces," "Love Bug," "I'm a People," "Walk Through This World With Me," "Say It's Not You" and "A Good Year for the Roses." With the exception of "Things Have Gone To Pieces" and "Say It's Not You," all of those singles were on The Spirit of Country, and their absence is felt on Essential, as is the absence of novelty numbers from 1959's "Who Shot Sam" to 1976's "Her Name Is..." These silly songs are nearly as much a trademark of Jones's style as his signature ballad style, so without them and without the Musicor The Essential feels a bit lopsided toward the serious hardcore honky tonk. Hardly a fatal flaw, of course, since this is where much of Jones's legacy lays, and it is a good, accurate overview of George's career, even if it's not as thorough or lively as The Spirit of Country. Apart from the aforementioned Musicor sides and his MCA work of the '90s (which is hardly a glaring omission), this offers a fair representation of his many labels: there are four cuts from Starday, six a piece from Mercury and United Artists, a whopping 25 sides from Epic which is appropriate, since he spent nearly 20 years on the label and had over 60 charting singles while he was there and, as a coda, a cut from his 1999 album for Asylum. Along the way, most, but certainly not all, of his big hits are presented, including "Why Baby Why," "White Lightning," "The Window Up Above," "Tender Years," "She Thinks I Still Care," "The Race Is On," "The Grand Tour" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Any George compilation that has all these hits, along with many other excellent songs, is bound to be a great listen and a useful overview it's just that the absences here are large enough that this can't quite supplant The Spirit of Country, which remains the best overall George Jones compilation. But if that set can't be found, this is a good substitute. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide |
Related Artists
Similar Artists
Roots & Influences
George Jones Biography
By most accounts, George Jones is the finest vocalist in the recorded history of country music. Initially, he was a hardcore honky tonker in the tradition of Hank Williams, but over the course of his career he developed an affecting, nuanced ballad s...Full George Jones Biography
Compare New Prices: Essential George Jones
| Store | Price / Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| $14.97 |
Calculate Total Price
Price
+ Tax + Shipping
= Total Price
|
Go to Store
|
|
| ModernRock.com | $16.49 |
Go to Store
|
|
| Alibris | $15.49 |
Go to Store
|
|
Compare Used and Refurb Prices: Essential George Jones
| Store | Price / Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| $10.99 |
Calculate Total Price
Price
+ Tax + Shipping
= Total Price
|
Go to Store
|
|
-- ©2008 All Media Guide, LLC
Pros: Multilabel collection that samples nearly all of the key phases of Jones' career.
Cons: Missing his late-60s Starday years.
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 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com] ...