This CD belongs in the collection of every person with the slightest interest in country music. Ol' George has peers, Johnny, Merle, Willie, but no one is his better.

Couple last random thoughts -- 1) God, I miss Tammy Wynette. 2)Let's be honest, it wouldn't be George if there weren't a couple of over the top, corny dregs -- The Ceremony and Her Name Is are my nominees. 3) I wish he'd written more in the 70's and 80's. Looking at the early songs, I have to think that his great material from those decades could have been even finer mixed with some of his own compositions.

13 of 13 found the following review helpful:


An impressive two-CD box set of classic Possum tracks  Sep 27, 2004 By Daniel Jolley "darkgenius"
The newfangled country radio stations may have stopped playing George Jones years ago, but he was, is, and always will be the voice of true country music. As a general rule, I don't like country music, but George Jones is something special. Two CDs is barely a start in terms of collecting all of his many, many hits over the years, but these 44 tracks still do quite a good job of showcasing his talent and tracing the evolution of his music over the course of the first thirty-three years of his unprecedented career. In addition, the accompanying booklet stands as a particularly good tribute to the man who, as you can see by all the quotes from big-name stars of today, has influenced country music perhaps more than any other entertainer.

One great thing about this collection is the fact that the release date and peak place on the chart are listed for each of these songs, ranging from 1955's Why Baby Why to 1998's The King is Gone (So Are You). A number of these songs should be familiar to a great number of people and hardly even need any sort of description. I have never really listened to country music, yet I knew many of these songs long ago, even before I began purchasing George Jones releases.

When it comes to George Jones, you have to start with one song: He Stopped Loving Her Today. This song never fails to give me goose bumps, and it has never aged one bit. I was fortunate enough to see George Jones in concert once, and the audience all but screamed for him to sing this song - it still has the power to melt your heart. Another touching song found here is Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes, which is basically a tribute to the true pioneers and legends of country music. You'll find plenty of fast-paced fun songs here, as well: e.g., I'm a One Woman Man, The Race Is On, and White Lightning. Unforgettable songs revolving around heartache include A Picture Of Me (Without You), If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will), These Days I Barely Get By, She Thinks I Still Care, The Window Up Above, and the immaculate The Grand Tour. That vintage George Jones twang makes a sad song do things to your heart that no other performer's voice can possibly match. As I said, I could talk about every song included here; every one of them is just terrific.

There are a fair number of duets included here, of course, as that formed a significant part of George's illustrious career. Bartender's Blues features James Taylor, Johnny Paycheck puts in an appearance on Maybelline, both Ray Charles and Chet Atkins team up with George on We Didn't See a Thing, Yesterday's Wine features Merle Haggard, and Melba Montgomery lends her voice to We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds. Then there is Tammy Wynette, an integral part of both George's music and personal life. This collection gives us only a small sampling of four songs from the greatest duo in country music, but each of these four is amazing: Near You, The Ceremony (in which George and Tammy basically renewed their marriage vows), We're Gonna Hold On (which was inspired by the strains that developed in their marriage), and Two Story House.

Essentially, this two-CD box set is a great buy for anyone nursing a newfound love for George Jones' music or just experiencing some curiosity about the man whose music and personal life did much to define country music for so long. Established Possum fans will already own most of these songs, yet the excellent booklet full of track information, biographical material, and pictures from the course of George's career offers much for loyal fans, as well.

11 of 11 found the following review helpful:


a great box set with only minor flaws  Mar 17, 2003 By Jerry McDaniel
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.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:


The best place to invest 25 bucks!  Sep 14, 2000 By Brad
WOW! That's what I can say about this amazing collection. It does a beautiful job of showing how Jones and his music grew and changed over the years, but always remained totally George Jones. The included book uses the songlist to tell the story of George's career with fascinating background notes and information. One of my non-country-fan friends said, "George Jones' voice is a national treasure." This is a truly a classic.

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:


George Jones, Real Country!  Mar 05, 2000
All I have to say is the only real legend that is still Alive, in my opinion, the greatest country music singer of all time, and that would be George Jones

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