where is the love for George Jones?

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=3462

The Best of George Jones (Rhino)
The Best Of George Jones - Volume 1: Hardcore Honky Tonk (Mercury)

There's a little overlap and I'm not sure if they're still in print. But any comp featuring early tracks like "Mr. Fool," "She Thinks I Still Care," "You're Still On My Mind," "What Am I Worth," "A Girl I Used To Know," "White Lightning" and "If I Don't Love You" will do.

Thats a bold claim, but hell, i agree (at least for right now)

His book is GREAT, everyone should read it.

"I lay my head on the wheel
and the horn begins honkin
the whole neighborhood knows
that I'm home drunk again"

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005RDRM.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

One more drink of wine, then if you're still on my mind
One drink, just one more (and then another)

A great song, and I'm pretty sure the Elvis Costello cover is what turned me on to Goerge Jones in the first place way back when.

The Collection I got that hooked me in was "The Spirit of Country"

my fave jones: the musicor recordings (including "good year for the roses," "feeling single seeing double" and lots more) which i first heard on the awesome rounder comps burn the honky-tonk down and heartaches and hangovers. i have no idea what their cd availability is.

there's hardly a jones period i don't love, though he has flagged a bit in the past decade.

and I know I've expressed my love for "Ya Ba Da Ba Do" before. "One Woman Man" is a hard album to find any more. What an amazing song--no one else could wring that much from such an amazingly bizarre conceit. Truly George is a man of the people.

It's on the "Spirit of Country" compilation under the title "The King is Gone." And I'm not so sure it's such a peculiar premise for a story-song. It's just a variation on the classic getting drunk, talking to myself, wallowing in self pity template.

the variation being that in his drunken stupor he consults the spirits of fred flintstone and elvis presley for advice ... and they refuse to let him wallow in his pity ... and he punches out elvis ... and drinks some more ... all while sitting on the floor drinking whiskey out of a jellybean jar.

if that's not a peculiar premise, then what is?

Anyway, it's a great lonely drinking song with vividly imagined lyrics and a hilarious chorus. I think we can agree on that much.

arthur did you check out "Two Story House"?? cause that line or a close apporximation appears ("our house that used to be a home" or something) and it's a great great great song.

Or perhaps, I weep for me.

I like the few George Jones singles I have.

Hell yeah, I heard this for the first time a couple weeks ago, and it is perfection.

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2007/01/15/daily18.html

Holy shit this will be something.

If I privately told you to keep it on the downlow that the entire second season of Cocaine & Rhinestones is about George Jones, you can talk about it now.

Patreon update went out today.

— Tyler Mahan Coe (@TylerMahanCoe) June 29, 2019

I never finished the first season. But was obsessed with the Buck Owens episodes for a while.

god those were good: my favorites

In addition to everything else, there was there the whole mystery angle about Don Rich's motorcycle.

Reminds me: Omnivore's put their Buck Capitol singles series all together now:
http://omnivorerecordings.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Owens-Complete-Capitol-Singles-57-75-OV-392.jpg
Buck Owens And The Buckaroos
The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957-1975
Release date: March 12, 2021
$74.98
For the first time, Omnivore Recordings, in conjunction with the Buck Owens Estate, is proud to present Buck Owens and The Buckaroos’ The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1976—all three of the acclaimed 2-CD collections: The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1966, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970, and The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971–1975, gathered together in a slipcase, available at a new low price.

Taken from the original mono master tapes, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1966 collects all 28 singles from that period, including 13 #1’s, in their original, chronological form, including Buck’s duets with Rose Maddox. Packaging features liner notes from Buck’s autobiography (written with Randy Poe), plus an introduction by Dwight Yoakam.

The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970 collects the A- and B-sides from the original mono and stereo masters to all 18 singles from that period, including 14 Top Ten hits, and duets with Buddy Alan and Susan Raye.

The third and final volume in the series, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971–1975 collects the A- and B-sides to all 21 singles from that period, including 9 Top Ten hits, and 4 duets with Rose Maddox. Packaging features liner notes from Scott B. Bomar.

These are the records that made Buck Owens a legend and defined the Bakersfield Sound. It’s history. It’s The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957–1975.
To me, the third volume gets kinda peaked; you might be better off with the first two individually, and then, if you're still Jonesin' for Owens, if you can't Buck the habit, be ready for cherrypickin' time with Vol. 3.
They've also got tons of his stuff on vinyl: 7" singles, maybe EPs, certainly LPs:
http://omnivorerecordings.com/?post_type=product&s=Buck+Owens+vinyl

Final 'prologue' Cocaine and Rhinestones today about the Nashville A Team -- another great overview of course -- and in two weeks we get into Jones straight up with an episode all about "White Lightning," which, yes please.

any prelude that includes Johnny Horton & Bob Dylan side-journeys is aok by me

goddamn if i dont have a full appreciation for the A Team now my god

I really like George Jones and always mean to spend more time digging into his catalog.

I remember when I was first exploring George Jones's catalog, it was pretty messy, and unfortunately it seems pretty messy now on Spotify. Compilations are the way to go with Jones so you'd think that would help matters, but there have been WAY too many Jones compilations, and most of them aren't compiled that well.

Scott Schinder wrote this for Lone Star Magazine right after Jones passed away - it's essentially a record-buying guide for the uninitiated, I couldn't do a better job myself:

https://lonestarmusicmagazine.com/mr-record-man-george-jones/

It helps that Jones's most famous records can be broken down into four labels of ownership:

The first is on Starday/Mercury, and what's close to the definitive compilation of that era is Cup Of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years. Available for many years, it's now OOP but should be easy to find. NOT on Spotify.

The United Artists era came next, and Omnivore just put out a great compilation, The Complete United Artists Solo Singles. That's on Spotify too, but I actually prefer the OOP She Thinks I Still Care: The George Jones Collection from Razor & Tie, which has more tracks including his duets with Melba Montgomery. It also has better sound, but that's more to preference - both sets are mastered very well from first-generation sources. (Razor & Tie actually used the original three-tracks, so that may be Omnivore's source too.)

The Musicor era is still a mess in the U.S. As mentioned Time-Life had The Great Lost Hits which was a godsend but that's apparently OOP. It's not on Spotify either, but you should be able to find it cheap and still-sealed for $10 or $12.

Then there's the Columbia era with Billy Sherrill's schlocky production - that has always been available and endlessly repackaged. The Spirit of Country scoops up almost all of the best stuff, and I like those records now because Jones's ballad-singing is at its peak, but for me the production was an acquired taste.

Coe has been talking up the Bear Family boxes and rightly but of course they’re not designed as introductions.

birdistheword, the fourth edition of the Rolling Stone Album Guide from 2004 contains a compact summary of his then-in-print discography which agrees with many of the points you make.
The only record of his that I own is All-Time Greatest Hits: Volume 1, which is a 1977 re-recording on Epic of earlier hits. Christgau recommended it as a record for country neophytes to get into the genre, presumably because the then-contemporary production would be more palatable for rock listeners than the original recordings.

I forgot about that entry - Tom Hull wrote it, and not only did he upload his entries on to his own website, he's also included his "notes" (basically past Guide ratings and discography entries that he used as a starting point for the new entries he was commissioned to do).

Here's the Jones one:
http://tomhull.com/ocston/arch/rs/jones,george.php

FWIW, there's never been a truly satisfying cross-label compilation, but I think one's possible despite his massive output. Rhino was on the right track with The Best of George Jones (1955-1967). It was one CD, but it was about as long as a single LP, and it would've made more sense to stop at the end of his Musicor period (1971) rather than the middle. Instead of 18 tracks, that CD should've been 25 tracks minimum, probably 28. Leaving out the Columbia material does make sense though - to make the set more stylistically cohesive, but also he was on Columbia for so long and sold so many records that you might as well get a separate compilation for that era.

You can see her, very briefly, as a nightclub singer in violent Italian crime film Colt 38 Special Squad

lol wrong thread

Heh

Columbia era with Billy Sherrill's schlocky production

EXCUSE ME

Olde ILX?

EXCUSE ME

Yeah, I said it! SCHLOCKY! I mean, listen to the "classically trained" singing in the background - every time I hear it, I feel like the Marx Brothers chucking fruit at Mrs. Teasdale at the end of Duck Soup. (By the time they got to the '80s, Sherrill wised up and replaced it with the Oak Ridge Boys et al.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkcfy3Q8vB4

oof!

Man, Jones really finds the most fucked up heartbreak stories!

Hm!

Michael Shannon Duets With Jessica Chastain In ‘George & Tammy;’ John Hillcoat Directing Limited Series On George Jones & Tammy Wynette Marriage https://t.co/WTfWBRRakj

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 7, 2021

Okay, maybe I do need Disney+ after all.

nice try, Disney

Fear not

George & Tammy will premiere exclusively on Spectrum followed by a second window on Paramount+ and the Paramount Network.

Oh, I think the rest of the Redd family has Paramount+ for some Star Trek stuff so I’m good, thanks.

nice try, ViacomCBS!!!!

lol

him and that con twang twatter guy are just so damned ugly and boring!

HowDY!

John Hillcoat! Oh yes I will watch this

I'm still enjoying the live 'un I posted about upthread: George Jones and the Jones Boys, Live in Texas 1965---an Ace import, but ace as usual, and not very expensive when I got it in 2018, year of its birth (as such, although based on an earlier Ace). Varied and cohesive, recorded for release, but then, well, it's a Jones/suits thing; the notes provide enough autopsy. My verdict: fun, with its own kind of '65 vibe.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/arts/music/george-jones-lost-tapes.html

How did I not know the story about him driving to liquor store on his lawnmower because his wife hid his car keys? #hero

I thought that was one of the stories everyone knew!

It's definitely part of the country music canon.

OTM. I can't recall not knowing that.

The corner of the multiverse were that didn't happen has measure zero.

There's a music video from the '90s or '00s that references that story as it shows Jones riding a mower.

I know what Ned means about everyone knowing it - the first time I read anything about Jones (if not a Rolling Stone Album Guide probably the liner notes to one of his compilations - Spirit of Country maybe?) they mentioned that story.

Lol. Send me down to the minor leagues I guess

On another topic, the late Peter Stone Brown's website has a great review about Jones where he goes to see him in concert. It repeats an important lesson I found out as well - it makes a huge difference to see an artist in their "natural surroundings" rather than just anywhere. IIRC seeing Jones in the South at the height of his fame was a completely different experience, with women screaming in Beatle-like hysteria.

Yeah, def. revelatory to enter the atmosphere, incl. interaction of presentation, audience. and overall sound, of that mad-60s concert on Ace Records that I posted about upthread.

George Jones and the Jones Boys, Live in Texas 1965

Thanks for the recommendation dow! Ace does so many great releases, it's too bad they don't get much attention in the U.S. (Understandably perhaps as they're UK releases, but they're so good and hell I usually get them!)

Listening to that now, great stuff!

Glad yall are enjoying it!

xpost(Such off-label uses of riding mowers are not so uncommon, in mah retail experience.)

For all the antagonism the recordings have stirred up, no one is sure the eight brittle reel-to-reels will survive an effort to convert them into digital recordings. No one has played them in decades, not even the judge who accepted them as collateral. https://t.co/NDTzbf96nE

— New York Times Music (@nytimesmusic) April 24, 2022

guys

guys

how did i not know about “george jones and the smoky mountain boys”????

george jones ✅
roy acuff’s backing band ✅
recorded pristinely some time in the early 1970s ✅
traditional fiddle arrangements etc ✅
just banger after banger after banger ✅
including a pre-red-headed-stranger “blue eyes crying in the rain” ✅✅✅✅✅

ah maybe post. hard to find info about this. there is some unhappiness from the producer about getting no credit.

https://eu.tennessean.com/story/money/2018/03/15/george-jones-widow-record-label-sued-earl-peanutt-montgomery-5-million/427475002/

finally caught up with season 2 of Cocaine & Rhinestones. devastating stuff.

I wish Jones had recorded this song. (This is a demo Elvis Costello recorded for Jones, basically to pitch him the song and show how it would work as a country arrangement.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IibfRi_7S_o

listening to a CDr of stuff from his complete united artists recordings 1962-1964 and i just love it to death! it just sounds so good to me. especially those harmonies. whoever did the harmonies with him is awesome. i don't really listen to george jones. but i got hundreds of CDrs that someone had burned of cool country comps/rockabilly/bear family boxes. great sound too. this is a real standout. love "Brown To Blue". its all good though.

I haven't seen that series yet. Does Michael Shannon pull it off?