After massive elvis and cash binge I keep hearing of George jones. Where's the best place to start with him. I noticed he had several record labels. Is it worth saving for the bear boxes, or would other compilations suffice for a beginner?
You'll have to pick up a few compilations to get a full overview of his career. There are countless collections of his 1955-'62 Starday/Mercury work including The Definitive Collection 1955-1962, The Best of George Jones, Vol. 1: Hardcore Honky Tonk, Cup of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years [2CD], a forthcoming six-disc Bear Family box, and so on. For his '62-'64 United Artists stint there's The Complete United Artists Solo Singles, Razor & Tie's rare double-disc She Thinks I Still Care: The George Jones Collection (The United Artists Years), and a five-disc Bear set. Options for his '65-'71 Musicor material are more limited. Fairly sure it's just Time-Life's 2CD The Great Lost Hits and a pair of Bear Family boxes totalling nine discs. The floodgates fly open once you get to his Epic stuff. Most Jones comps focus on this material. Raven Records has a trio of collections focusing on his 70's, 80's, and 90's output. They also recently put out a two-disc set called The Tour de Force 1972-1980 containing five of his albums from that period. The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country is the only set that touches upon every stage of his career from the 50's through the 80's. However, it gives his pre-Epic work the short end of the stick and is thus a less rewarding listen.
Try this out first: Mastering by Vic Anesini. The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country - George Jones | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic »
An excellent recommendation. Probably the best available introduction to the work of George Jones and the set that once made me a fan. Godblesstinytim listed a few other great compilations like Cup of Loneliness, Hard Core Honky Tonk and The Great Lost Hits. Anniversary: 10 Years of Hits is a pretty good summary of his first ten years on Epic, a period when he recorded some of his best known songs.
Not to muddy the waters, but there's a more recent 2-disc Sony/Legacy comp simply called The Essential George Jones (2006) with a slightly different tracklist, also mastered by Vic Anesini. Probably hard to go wrong with either one — they're cheap & easy to find, too. Enjoy!
I decided against suggesting that one because they weren't able to license his Musicor recordings for it, so it's missing smashes like "Walk Through This World with Me" and "A Good Year for the Roses".
Are you a fan? Not sure how much youve heard. Put in the name George Jones over at youtube. Its free.
Most of what's been recommended seems like overkill to me for a beginner to just get started. I think the Anniversary double Lp is a good place to start, and then decide if you wanna go whole hog.
For a good one-disc overview of his 1955-67 period, there's: The Best of George Jones (1955-1967) - George Jones | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic »
Understood! But for me, this is about finding a cheap & easy overview for a newbie, not quibbling over individual tracks. That said, your descriptions of the various comps in post #2 are pretty much spot on.
Without a doubt for a beginner The Essential George Jones The Spirit of Country Music is the affordable way to go. To add a single album to it to hold you over for a while, he has his classic "I Am What I Am". You'll get a couple duplicate tracks but the other studio stuff on it is on par with the rest that I'm suggesting. And make sure you get the one with bonus tracks.
The Anniversary 10 years of hits is the best single disc compilation for sure. The Spirit of Country is the best double set and I Am What I Am is the best studio album.
Thanks all. Matter of interest is he an artist that if you like then you'll most likely want all his stuff or is a couple of compilations cover all you would need. I ask as a person who has all elvis albums and busily buying ftd and is also pretty much trying to buy as much Johnny cash as possible.
George has a few clunkers in the catalogue but there's first rate stuff from start to finish, as already said a compilation gives you an idea of which period to explore a bit deeper next. One thing has never happened to me though, regretting a George Jones album purchase.
Gary, the Bear Family sets are all highly recommended, although uneven in some parts. I really enjoy listening to the somewhat forgotten/overlooked album cuts and some of those should have been hits as well. Honestly, I don't care for much of George's material from the 1990s and I saw him live many times. The songs he was recording for those 90s albums were rowdier and of a much lower quality than his material from the 60s, 70s and 80s. It seemed as though George was trying too hard to fit in with the 1990s modern country scene by recording songs such as 'High Tech Redneck' or 'I Don't Need No Rocking Chair,' which could've been a hit for Brooks & Dunn or Barf Brooks. George released an excellent gospel album set in the early 2000s and I saw him on that tour where he basically played 2 sets, one with spirituals and the other with his usual semi-canned hits setlist. George released this excellent album in 2005, entitled "Hits I Missed & One I Didn't." This disc gets back to George's classic country sound and is highly recommended.
Yeah, High Tech Redneck is a clunker, The Cold Hard Truth from 1999 is a great album though, You Ought To Be Here With Me from 1990 too. Don't forget the duets, away from Tammy you've got Margie Singleton and Melba Montgomery, Melba was his best duet partner in my opinion, wonderful singer. Barf Brooks
Definitely agree about "High Tech Redneck": I remember talking about that song with my cousin, who also likes George, and I was saying how "uncountry" that song is for someone who's supposed to represent hardcore/traditional country music and how it seemed to me that he was trying too hard to fit in with what was current at the time... My cousin's response was something like "Well, he probably figures if you can't beat them, join them..."
Just know going in that George Jones is Country Music. Real Country Music. Even far more country than Johnny Cash who is a combination of folk and Rockabilly. George Jones isn't just Traditional he's Honky Tonk. Only Hank Williams is as Country as Jones.
These four collections will give you 25 years worth of The Possum and it's all top quality stuff. Cup of Loneliness - Mercury Years She Thinks I Still Care - The UA Years The Great Lost Hits - Musicor Years Tour de Force - 1972 - 1980 5 Epic LPs on 2 discs
