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
'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,
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"
all of those singles were on
, 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
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
' legacy lies, and it is a good, accurate overview of
's career, even if it's not as thorough or lively as
. Apart from the aforementioned
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
United Artists
, a whopping 25 sides from
-- 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,"
"He Stopped Loving Her Today."
Any
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
, which remains the best overall
George Jones
compilation. But if that set can't be found, this is a good substitute. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine