Cup of Loneliness (1994)
George’s Favorite Color Is Blue… Except When He’s Rockin‘
Cup of Loneliness - The Classic Mercury Years is a limited edition, 51 track collection of George Jones’ first recordings from 1954 to 1961. It’s “limited” because of its packaging, but it also features 3 tracks * not included on the more common retail version. What’s here is nothing short of county music history – a collection of Jones’ honky-tonk genius and heart wrenching country balladeering. But, best of all, this set collects many of Jones’ toe-dipping, late 50s rockabilly and rock & roll sides – a style he’s little known for but, nonetheless, a style he and his contemporaries toyed with in the wake of Sun Records’ genre-bending wake-up call. The raw country material speaks for itself, but Jones’ rockabilly material is a revelation. “Maybe Little Baby,” “Revenooer Man,” “White Lightning” and a handful of others were considered novelty records at the time (just like rock & roll itself) but, as you can hear, this stuff is the bedrock of everything that would follow. More than that… it’s just plain fun, and Jones quickly mastered the emerging new musical idiom just as easily as he was able to re-chart the rivers of country music in later years. This Mercury material, however, is the raw template, already fully formed and, to quote the All Music Guide, it “bristles with energy and invention.” Guaranteed this music is in Dave Edmunds‘ record collection. Hear the country weeper “Color Of The Blues” and George’s 50s rockabilly blueprint, “Revenooer Man,” below. When shopping for a hard copy, check the tracks to get the extra “limited” tunes. Find it at Amazon, HERE.
No Money In This Deal
Why Baby Why
Seasons Of My Heart
I’m Ragged But I’m Right
Just One More
Uh, Uh, No *
Don’t Stop The Music
Too Much Water
Flame In My Heart
Hearts In My Dreams
Tall Tall Trees
No Use Crying
Frozen Heart
Cup Of Loneliness
Take The Devil Out Of Me
You Never Thought *
Color Of The Blues
A New Baby For Christmas
Maybe Little Baby
I’m Gonna Burn Your Playhouse Down
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
If I Don’t Love You (Grits Ain’t Groceries)
Treasure Of Love
White Lightning
Mr. Fool
Who Shot Sam
Big Harlan Taylor
Everything Ain’t Right
Relief Is Just A Swallow Away
Talk To Me Lonesome Heart
Accidentally On Purpose
Revenooer Man *
The Last Town I Painted
Your Old Standby
Watcha Gonna Do
You Better Treat You Man Right
Out Of Control
Glad To Let Her Go
You’re Still On My Mind
Tarnished Angel
Slave Lover
Family Bible
Window Up Above
Nobody’s Lonesome For Me
Heartaches By The Number
I Love You Because
(I’ll Be There) If You Ever Want Me
If You Got The Money (I Got The Time)
Life To Go
Tender Years
Achin‘, Breakin‘ Heart
30 Comments
Big thanks!
I love "White Lightning"!!
~LZ
George Jones has one of those voices that you can just sink into… Thanks very much!
I have the retail version, and find that all those songs are plenty without the 3 extras, though it does confuse and annoy me when a record label will play games like that, I guess tricking the "TRUE" fans into spending a little more for the "limited edition collectors edition", *sigh* whatever.
I could never listen to George after he got all slicked up in the 70's, but this stuff is killer, tunes like "Don't Stop the Music" are as emotional as any blues record ever made.
'Rockin' the Country' album had the song I love on cassette from a radioshow all these years: Sparkling Brown Eyes which begins
There's a ramshackle shack
In old Caroline
It's callin' me back
To the girl of mine…
do you have that anywhere?
I'm dowloading these others now!!
Hi ge,
Wish I did. 'Rockin' The Country' was the album that turned me on to George's rock and roll sides. It's just the rockers and a great, great collection. If I ever come across it (or if someone else has it), I'll happily post it here.
Many thanks for all the comments.
Willard
at 8:12 of this show it is played:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/23216
-hope it's ok webiquette to put that here
Of course. We're big WFMU fans here at The Boat. Thanks again.
Wonderful post. Thank you so much!
K
Thanks very much
Thanks again Willard, but no "Root Beer", or was that not a Mercury side? I hear it all the time on Sirius/XM.
Thanks for posting this. I have the 'commercial' version on CD but I'm such a fan. I've been playing George's records since the late 60s and learning his songs to play out almost as long (unusual for someone from the intellectual Northeast, I know). I think I was as intrigued by his old flat top haircut at first. I wish someone would do as compact and comprehensive a collection of the United Artists and Musicor sides. Not having looked, I expect Bear Family has already done just that. These were some of the first George Jones sides I accessed as his Mercury LPs were ubiquitous in Upstate New York in the cut-out bins in the late 60s and early 70s. Aaaah! Back when cuo-outs were 44 cents! Thoise were the days!
What a generous share! George Jones has always been in the top drawer of my country music closet. Haggard's another. Over the years Nashville and record label execs have tried to their damnest to homogenize their songs, but the honesty of the material always manages to break through. It's the hallmark of a great artist and songwriter.
Thanks Willard.
I LOOOOVE this period of George's!! Pure honky tonk, rockabilly and amazing lyrics. Thanks so much!!
From Medellín, Colombia,
Juan
Thanks.
This is Definitely in Dave Edmunds record collection. Great observation. "A1 on the jukebox" could have been a Jones number from 61 ..Many thanks for this, Willard.
Thanks! This is the big time for guys like me who could use a little more exposure on the country side of things. (There's a whole world beyond Johnny Cash, you say?) The little Jones that I've heard was impressive as hell to me, and that WAS the "all slicked up" stuff from the seventies, so this should be really potent.
Thanks again!
What a treasure trove of rockin' George Jones tracks! Thanks, Willard.
RF
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Find it all HERE
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The king of the honky tonks, forever and ever A-Men
54man
This shit kills.
Willard,
I see that I already thanked you for this two years ago, but I’ll do it again because almost every track from the first disc is on my current iPod playlist, which helps provide my daily George Jones fix. So, thank you one more time.
RF
Cool, double thanks. This re-upping program is paying off.
Oh, I’m loving this, thanks for doing so much to expand my classic country repetoire lately.
Wow – I think this has changed my life! Beyond awesome …
thanks for posting!
Canada
This is his best! Awesome post
The link for the second disc doesn’t seem to work. Thanks!
It’s working fine. Try a different browser or explain what it’s doing.
Thanks, Willard. I finally got it to work. I kept getting caught in a loop: I’d type in the captcha info and instead of getting a link, the page would refresh. Really strange!
Thanks again. Looking forward to listening to this!
Thanks.