It has a similar title and a similar length to
Epic/
Legacy's 1994 double-disc set
The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country, 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 1994 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 licensing 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 like 1959's
"Who Shot Sam" to 1976's
"Her Name Is..." These silly songs are nearly as much a trademark of
Jones' style as his signature
ballad style, so without them -- and without the
Musicor songs --
The Essential feels a bit lop-sided toward the serious hardcore
honky tonk. Hardly a fatal flaw, of course, since this is where much of
Jones' legacy lies, 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 apiece 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
