About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

Typically, overviews of George Jones' Epic recordings run all the way into the '80s, sometimes going a little bit too far but always including his career-capping single "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Raven's 2009 compilation Step Right Up: 1970-1979 A Critical Anthology isn't a typical collection. As its title makes plain, this covers the '70s only, so it doesn't have the grace note of ending with "He Stopped Loving Her Today" but it does have something other compilations lack: a heavier dose of his long lost Musicor recordings. The first seven songs or so are all solo hits he had for Musicor, with only "A Good Year for the Roses" being a song that regularly pops up on comps, so this has a value for hardcore collectors looking for tracks that have never shown up on CD, but the primary strength of Step Right Up is its narrow focus. By concentrating on the '70s, it adds some songs that don't show up on most collections of George's Epic years -- "Wine (You've Used Me Long Enough)," "A Drunk Can't Be a Man," "Stand on My Own Two Knees," "I Love You So Much It Hurts," "Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All" -- so it digs a little deeper into what is one of Jones' great stretches of creativity. Since it does have a lot of big hits that typically show up on Epic collections like Anniversary -- "We Can Make It," "A Picture of Me (Without You)," "The Grand Tour," "Once You've Had the Best," "The Door" -- this isn't quite a "more of the best" supplement, but it does in effect function as that, providing a pleasing and different view of one of Possum's prime periods. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

• Listener Rating: