A marvelous collection
Jerry McDaniel | 06/21/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This box set contains 3 CD's chock full of George Jones classics and his latter day recordings which are sure to become "classics" as the years go by. The box set comes with a lovely booklet...filled with pictures and biographical data and it's a color booklet, not black and white. There are quite a few pictures i had not seen before and some i've seen once and hadn't seen again until i browsed through the booklet. The songs are listed in the back of the book with chart data and record label/catalog number information perhaps only interesting to historians. This box set is also affordable compared to some that may be available. Almost 15 years have passed since THE ESSENTIAL GEORGE JONES box set was released and so this one contains a third CD and includes, of course, a lot more material than the 1994 box set. This one doesn't go in chronological order...which may irritate some who would prefer box set collections go in yearly order from song to song. For example, "She Thinks I Still Care" kicks off CD #2. That single was a #1 from 1962...but CD #1 closes with his 1970 hit "A Good Year For the Roses". This collection contains his original take on "Tall, Tall Trees" which often goes un-noticed on retrospective collections. "What Am I Worth", "Seasons of My Heart", and "The Last Town I Painted" are also welcome additions seldom omitted from other collections. The second CD features a few more hits from the mid to late 1960's and then ventures into the early Epic recordings during the 1970's and selects the biggest hit songs of that period instead of the more obscure hit songs. The last song on CD #2 is a rarity, the gospel song called "I Can't Find It Here" from 1974's IN A GOSPEL WAY album. The third CD contains 1980's and 1990's material picked at random, pretty much, plus one song from 2001. There are 20 songs on each CD...all original recordings...i couldn't detect any re-recordings. One of the interesting if not strange oddities about this collection was no inclusion of his 1999 hit "Choices". Instead, an album track from the 1999 COLD HARD TRUTH album is featured, "When The Last Curtain Falls". The last song on CD #3 is "Tramp On Your Street", from his THE ROCK album from 2001. For those curious, the actual hit songs from THE ROCK were "The Man He Was", "50,000 Names", and "Beer Run", the latter a duet with Garth Brooks. However, given this is a box set showcasing the music of George Jones, it's a perfect way to close out a collection with a song dedicated to Hank Williams, one of George's biggest influences...and "Tramp On Your Street" is a good choice to close out the collection."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1