The Grand Tour

old twangy country.

I’m not a fan of country, even if this is at least a more ‘pure’ form than the new country these days, which is at least okay in that it is the old-school ‘proper’ form. I still wouldn’t listen to it.

Very monotonous, but relatively pleasing to the ear. I won’t be listening again thought. The opening track was pretty good though!

No idea how this made the list.

I do not know if this is a good album or not. Mainly it seems to be a chronicle of Georges troubled love life. It is almost a parody of country songs. 2 stars, he has been done wrong.

*1974. Country - honky tonk. *28 mins. *Totally fine for what it is. I like country in small does, so this worked. RATING - 5.5/10

So far, this is the album which I have best judged by its cover, which promises some super-American country singer, and it certainly delivers. George Jones, who I had never heard of because I am not a US-Midwesterner living in the 1970s, warbles and croons away on some utterly expected songs accompanied by his twangy guitar about life, love, and miseries, but doesn't really say a whole lot. I liked the ironic framing of "The Grand Tour" of his empty house after his wife had left, but I kept waiting for a reveal, or another layer to it - why did this woman leave? She had her reasons, right? Nope, not that we hear, she just walked right out with his child and heart, because women are evil, I guess. Go and have a drink at the bar with your buddies, that's what you need. I wrote that last sentence before looking at Wikipedia, which I see has a whole section on "Alcoholism" for George, and before listening to the final track Our Private Life, where the moral is almost literally "Hey, look, fans, if I want to have affairs and get blind drunk, I will, because I deserve it". Is it any surprise that the rest of these songs are all about people cheating on each other and generally being miserable?

Low effort formulaic country music. He has a good voice though. Favorite song: she told me so.

Very short twangy country 2/5

most country music is worse than this

A little too twangy for my taste. I can get behind country when it's truly gorgeous or historically significant, but this to me feels like neither -- sort of just run-of-the-mill farmhouse lovin'. I get the sense that a lot of people in America would probably call this album their favorite yet; I also get the sense that every single one of them would be the worst person you've ever met. All I'm saying is, maybe there's a reason it's a country music stereotype to only ever sing about your wife walking out on you. Fave songs: - Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through) - The Weatherman - She Told Me So

not for me tho Will I listen to again: 1%

To mor c&w for me

I know a lot of folks love the possum … I’m just not that into him. Couple songs in and I tapped out.

?? Country, aber nicht von Jhonny...? ok c

Blind album and artist. How was this album so short yet so slow and boring. Pick it up a little bit and have some fun, its country music.

Didn’t do a ton for your boy

Never really enjoyed the classic country crooner genre. Very boring.

Country. A bit sappy and each track is musically identical to the previous one. Especially with that cliche, whiny guitar sound. It's a relaxing and chilled album I guess. Jones' vocals are nice enough. The album is short and does exactly what it says on the tin.

whhauhfuahsufhadsasv,

I understand that some music on this list isn’t going to be for me, but damn this album was rough. I can enjoy some country, but this crooning one note stuff is bad. I try to give every album an honest try, but I ended up skipping most of these songs after about a minute. BUT THEN the last song is actually really good?!? What the hell? How did this one good track manage to sneak on to the end of this album? It’s the only thing that saved it from being a one star

Sad cowboy songs

Pretty lame but ok.

A Ronseal paint country album. Its a lovely chocolatey smooth voice but does not engage me as I really don't care for cowboys.

Granddad used to love a bit of country gold on cassette - a gentle, relaxing country delivered by the baritones of Jim Reeves or Charley Pride or Conway Twitty. This falls very much into that 'golden age of country' period. It's a 70s country. It's nostlgically comforting. It's kicking your wet shoes off and wrapping both palms around a mug of hot chocolate. It's the dew on a fresh apple. It's the creak on a stair, a spluttering match held to a frosted pane, it's a half-remembered childhood birthday party, the first downy growth on the upper lip of a Mediterranean girl. The best tracks are the album bookends. The pining title track and the lively 'Our Private Life' written with Tammy Wynette, which must be influenced by Johnny and June. There's little else to say about a man who has a great voice but shat albums out in an almost weekly basis (this is his 50th gosh darn album!). It's a decent album. It has a comfort blanket feel. It's not especially good.

Short, sweet, but not for me.

Tolerable at its best. Atrocious at its worst. Fucking country music.

Pas le pire album de l'histoire de la country, mais quand même de la country.

Some nice songs, it was pleasant. It wasn't unique enough to set it apart from other country to me. Rating: 2.3

Nelabai, bet bent trumpas.

This one is fine, I don't really have anything against it except that it feels like the same song over and over again, except for the last song which is a dig at judgemental fans. I don't know. It's OK, but I would only listen again if someone else put the album on.

Not for me, and didn't really enjoy. Fine singing and guitar playing for those who do though, and can hear how it's important.

The possum is the king of the heartache country song. He can cry in his beer better than anyone else. The songs are great, but this era of country ain’t about the albums. It was a singles game and this one shows it.

3/10

Once again I find myself unenthused by country music

I generally don't listen to country with a few exceptions, and most of those are female (I'm a dude). I do appreciate old-school country like Cash and Haggard, but I can't really get behind this one. I guess I prefer the outlaws.

This is one of those "If this list was not so focussed on the USA, this wouldn't be in here." albums. It's a basic country album. Every song sounds the same, and is about the same thing: heartbreak. It doesn't do anything noteworthy. It's just... boring.

Whilst I can understand the appeal of such an album to country fans, it ruined my day.

Tekur mig til baka á harmonikkuböllin sem ég fór á með pabba, ekki harmonikka hér en sama væbið, alltaf sami takturinn

Fine, I like the up-beat numbers not the slow stereotypical country songs. 2/5

God country, han havde nogle ægte gode budskaber, forfriskende kort. Ville nok ikke lytte igen andet end tre sange.

Brings back fond memories of my grandad.

Gäsp. Platt country. Förutom The Weatherman som är en bra låt inte mycket av värde. Tvåa

Divorced dad country

Not for me.

I was not expecting this. It's a weird album written for cucks. In almost every song, he's getting cheated on but he don't mind as long as he get some leftover scraps. This is a whole other side of country music.

2.5

It was boring.

Nah. Not for me

As country albums go, this was better than most. I’ll qualify that by saying that I don’t like country music and mummy ratings reflect that with most being awarded 1 star. It just doesn’t mean anything to me. The lyrics are I’m singing about a lifestyle and landscape I don’t live in. This was marginally better. I was stripping my shower of sealant when listening to it and it flew my. I don’t know whether that was because I was needing to use a Stanley knife in close proximity to myself or whether the music was good. I’ll be generous and say the music was good and give it 100% more stars that I usually award country music on the list. 2 stars.

George has got a nice voice and the instrumentation here is performed really well (some very cool pedal steel). I just can't get into this whiney "woe is me" style of country. Sorry your dog died, your wife left you, and your truck won't start.

Favorite: She'll love the one she's with

Johnny Cash lite

I find the lyrics and style oppressive.

Pure country. I just can't. Rating: 2

Most of what I know of George Jones I owe to Elvis Costello. Not George himself - I wasn’t raised on country music - but on the enthusiasm of a man who was. Costello once said that Jones could sing a telephone directory and break your heart with it. That always seemed to suggest style over substance. Take A Good Year for the Roses. Costello does a fine version, a UK Top Ten hit, but it’s the bones of the song that stay with you: the half-empty cups, the cigarette ash, the silence. All the ways people vanish but stay in the room. A Stranger in the House, a song Costello wrote for Jones, treads a similar line. There’s someone missing and the house knows it. From my ignorant perspective, this is Jones's story. He sang it again and again. Most famously in He Stopped Loving Her Today – he stopped loving her because he is dead. Or she is dead. Or she just left. Absence through death and absence through heartache are all the same and to be dealt with in the same manner: stoicism. Thus it is no surprise that the grand tour of the album's title and lead single is a tour of a mausoleum, a museum of grief or heartbreak, a shrine to someone gone and the life that went with them. Although He Stopped Loving Her Today wasn’t released until years later, it feels like a spiritual twin to The Grand Tour - same story, same production, same ghostly voice. It could have come out at any point in Jones's career, for the years they won't change George Jones's persona, not one bit. All the songs seem to come from the same ghost-town, but the production makes them all look newly painted. Billy Sherrill’s arrangements - strings, backing vocals, that polished Nashville finish - glide over the surface of things. They are pristine exhibition pieces rather than living objects. Maybe that's what country fans like: Jones plays the role of the tough widower, broken but, somehow intact. The forgiving cuckold. The cautious fella who has been hurt before. And he plays this same stoic role over and over. It may or may not be him. He may as well be singing the telephone directory. It’s not that it’s false, it’s just not very active. A little too tidy, a little too rehearsed. Real man's music where you don't give too much away. It's how my granda held himself and probably how he would have sung. Maybe men aren't like that anymore. Johnny Cash, in the video for Hurt, gives you that same house tour - only in his case, it’s real. You feel the years pressing down. The furniture hasn’t been moved in decades. He’s showing you the place where his life and marriage happened. You don’t doubt it. It works because it happens once, when it was true. We see the horror in Cash's presentation of the Grief Museum, rather than Jones's odd, normalising control. Costello clearly heard something in Jones - a kind of emotional minimalism, maybe. Restraint, perhaps. But even his own Jones-inspired songs (Complicated Shadows maybe?) struggle to match what he seems to be aiming for. He can't be that restrained. You can feel the effort, the strain to be honest. Which makes you appreciate even more the artists who take that same template and stretch it into something stranger, truer. The influence can be heard in a pair of songs by Bill Callahan and Joanna Newsom about their breakup. Joanna Newsom’s Does Not Suffice, for instance. A woman walking out of her ex’s life, one garment at a time. “The tap of hangers swaying in the closet…” She’s not mourning a person so much as an atmosphere. The absence is total - and yet the space is still crackling with memory. It's a gorgeous, discrete short story, unlike Jones's gothic twist in the tale. Or Bill Callahan in All Your Women Things - the frills left behind, turned into something monstrous, something uncomfortably alluring. Callahan takes the "frilly things/scattered round (his) room" and makes "a dolly/a spread-eagle dolly/out of your frilly things." He fucks it! Gross. You can’t quite look away. He’s not the sad man; he’s the man sadness got into and rewired. It's true horror compared to Jones's little boilerplate spook stories. These songs do what Jones's sometimes only gesture toward: they make the private public and the poetic real. They show us what it’s like to live with the aftermath, not just to sing about it. These are two songs about the same relationship, the two singers moving away from each other. Newsom leaving Callahan. It is agonisingly real, awkwardly honest. Perhaps that level of emotional realism is exploitative. Normal people might prefer the distance of George Jones's pose. He had his problems, probably worse than Newsom, Callahan, or Costello, but his restrained performance of a type of man is more functional than artistic. Yes, it might as well be a phonebook. Or might as well be the same ghost story you read every Hallowe'en. Maybe Jones is beloved not because he bleeds, but because he doesn’t. Because he presents sorrow as something that can be sung, sealed, and repeated. Like sad Tupperware. Lionel Trilling once traced the modern shift from sincerity – that is, being true to your role - to authenticity, being true to something deeper, stranger, more interior. Listening to The Grand Tour through that lens, I hear Jones as the last of the sincere men. His grief is a performance of consistency: same gestures, same house, same heartbreak. What once read as emotional truth now feels like genre fidelity. Authenticity, in contrast, has to be disruptive. It has to risk being a bit grotesque. Newsom and Callahan sing like people who have actually lived in the wreckage. Jones walks us through a grief-stricken house tidied up for visitors. You admire the effort, but you know that's not what it's like to live with loss. Costello, like Jones, is still performing a role - just a more modern one. He’s sincere about his desire for authenticity, but that’s not the same thing. You hear the strain, the deliberate construction. It’s closer to theatre than to raw confession. He calls himself “The Beloved Entertainer” and, yet, his songs of loss (Veronica, The Puppet has Cut his Strings, Almost Blue, I Want You) are anything but performative. They're always surprising. Maybe I hear, faintly, what Costello hears - the form, the shape of something deep, the telephone book as Book of the Dead. But it always feels like it’s happening elsewhere. Perhaps Jones works better as a ghost that haunts than as the haunted man himself. 2 This is an odd album. Not the music of course, which is as procedural as it gets, but the lyrics. George Jones chose a number of songs here that consistently cast him in what would be commonly supposed (certainly, I presume, in 1970s Texas) to be a woman’s part. The reluctant lover, wary of heartbreak (Pass Me By if you’re Only Passing Through); the adoring spouse welcoming back a partner who has cheated (Once You’ve Had the Best); the adoring spouse who is still being cheated on and is in denial (She Told Me So); the other woman (Borrowed Angel); and of course the abandoned, heartsick partner (the Grand Tour, Darlin’, Who Will I be loving now?). Maybe I just need to listen to more country music from a half century ago, which may all be like this (I won’t). I did a couple of years of listening to Downtown Country in work; modern country-pop where the men generally sing about beer, trucks and meeting their perfect wives. George seems remarkably secure in his masculinity by comparison. Great voice too - even if the too-Texan accent grates a little. The chorus of She Told Me So doesn’t make sense. 2/5

Ok 2/5

I don't really know what to say about this album. I have listened to it 3 times. Why? Because I found a bit of comfort in the way it sounds in terms of productions. It feels somewhat relaxing. But it is still a bit painful to sit through the more and more I listened to it. The third time I was wishing for it to finish when I had only reached the half point. Also, for once, I decided to look up for the lyrics. I felt curious when one of the times I was able to head the fantastic line which is 'Each night she thanks God for the day she found me'. Yes, these lyrics can get very very corny at times, and all the songs are about love or how he misses or will miss some other girl. Anyway, I don't really want to come back to this album. I'm very sure that there's dozens of other country albums that do it better.

George Jones: The Grand Tour: How dare a country singer disgrace the Grand Tour. Its country music: I don't like it. Nothing of note at all, its just fucking country music. The worst part is that this is definitely like "top tier" country music, and it still all sounds the same and is not interesting. At least the album is short. 4.5/10

At least it's short.

A voice made for Country music but just not for me. Includes a duet with the soon to be ex Tammy Wynette on Our Private Life.

Easy to listen to and it can be kind of fun. This isn't my kind of music but has a time and place. 4/10

3/10 I wasn't drunk so I didn't enjoy. 7-9-2025

Not my type of music but brings back memories of music my mom & grandparents listened to when I was a child. Wouldn't seek this out or listen to it again but didn't hate it.

Ich mag Musik mit Country-Einflüssen, aber in Reinform wie dieser ist mir das zu schmierig.

Most-all of the songs are covers or things he didn't write, so I guess my focus judging the album should be mostly on the sound itself? In which case it sounds like pretty normal old country music, I think? Maybe a little more of a consistently satisfying listen? It does sound pleasant. Maybe I've simply had a fundamental misunderstanding about the list. Maybe this album isn't on the list because it's one of the best works of music ever recorded, maybe it's on the list because Robert Dimery is worried that if you don't consume at least one album's-worth of standard country music, there'll be a gap left in your musical knowledge and you won't know what it's meant to sound like when Johnny Cash isn't there tearing it up. This is the king of competent music

Country has got to be one of the most uninventive genres. I’m not saying it can’t be interesting, but in the 60s and 70s American artists were producing country albums in such quantities that there was not enough time to innovate. There’s nothing to say about this album. It doesn’t have anything you wouldn’t hear in any other country album from the same time period. He can sing, but the music overall is very generic, uninspiring, and boring. At least it’s short…

Well at least this was a short album because one you've heard one song you've heard them all. Sure it's a great example of early country music and executed well but I don't necessarily need or want it. 4.25/10 (2.125/5)

Sad man sings of joyless infidelity.

No ta

I think this album is hard carried by the fact that he has a pretty nice voice. Instrumentally, this is chock full of country twang that grinds my gears. 2.5 Stars

There’s something strangely homely about this type of country; and I’m from Denmark. George Jones has me intrigued in the start, but The Grand Tour quickly turns out to be a one trick pony.

This is a fabulous album filled with painful memories. It's a hard one to listen to, but that's me personally. I think Jones has that singularly sweet voice loaded with reminisce for "the good ole days" and lyrics to match.

I like his clothes more than his music. Those encrusted rhinestones twankle bright (and partially make up for how boring his music is).

I’m sure George Jones’ “The Grand Tour” is a lovely example of the genre. But it’s a particular genre that I just can’t stand. The couple of faster-paced songs are the most tolerable.

So sloooow. Dude needs more pep in his step for this grand tour.

I wish more of this album were upbeat like Our Private Life.

I know every genre has songs about love and loss and heartache and being mistreated in a relationship. But there’s something about putting it over a steel guitar that makes it really off-putting.

Quality recording and good performance makes this album all the worse for me, as this is the type of country music I least appreciate.

As one half of UK Country & Western behemoths Houmous & Chutney I can really appreciate George’s effort here. Of course he never quite makes it to the levels of H&C 2.1 1/11 The Grand Tour

De Nicho; principalmente para oldies y gringos.

i don’t know, man… i’m tired of this genre, boss. it was listenable, though, and i liked Mary Dont Go Round, but jeez, it just didnt wake anything in me.

Didn’t like it.

Pretty slow, old country album. Generally not my thing, but at least it’s short. 2/5 Won’t listen again

🤷

Fine.

Vanaf de eerste seconden weet je wat je gaat luisteren. Een of andere huilerige countrykweelmeneer. Het is niet eens lekkere automuziek, het tempo is dat van een hobbelende ouwe knol. De teksten hebben ook al niks origineels. Wat is hier bijzonder aan?

Ik heb dit maar even in drieën geknipt. Even wat Italiaanse rap er tussendoor. Man, wat een energietrekkende saaiheid. Het is jammer dat de man prima kan zingen. Kan ik hem geen 1 geven.

En daar hebben we weer een knauwende countrycrooner. Piano, violen, steel guitar, alles voor de ultieme snik. Dit heeft een hoog palinggehalte, voor zover ze daar palingen vangen op het Amerikaanse platteland. Omdat het uit Amerika komt, mag dit wel in de snoblijst, maar Hazes staat er niet in. Onbekend maakt onbemind? Deze smartlappen zijn alleen niet suitable for work, terwijl hazes dat dan weer wel is. Gek eigenlijk. Zolang de nummers wat meer tempo krijgen en de smartlap verruilt wordt voor snelle koiboiboots, is het allemaal nog wel vermakelijk. De smartlappen zijn niet mijn ding. Ik hou het op 2 sterretjes

I have always disliked a lot about country music, the writing, the vocals, the sounds, the reeking sentimentality, and this album encapsulates all of it.

I do not enjoy his voice

Nice if wanting this vibe. For me it’s ok

*honk shooooooooooooooooooo*

This sounded like one long, sad song to me.

Great voice, otherwise the lyrics were the epitome of the melancholic 1970’s country music vibe.

Was alright, didn't stick with me

It's ok

Willie Nelson came on immediately after this and I didn’t realize it was new album. But I noticed the music was better…

5/10

Only got through half. Musically it’s nice but I’ve just got a built in bias against country. I tried to place exactly what’s wrong with it but it’s just taste. Put this on while I’m in line at knotts and it wouldn’t really bother me.

Like I can see how it could be liked but just wasn’t my thing. 2 stars

Not my jam. Wish there was a 2.5. And I assume for George Jones fans the rating would be higher. What I do like is it just stripped down, back to basics country. Nice steel, also

Man, when we lived in the Arctic, the older Inuit folks lived and died for George Jones (listening to the Inuit CBC shows it was just a lot of words that couldn’t understand and then fairly reliably “….George Jones…” and the man was in your ears! I do love country, especially old country, but never really loved GJ. He’s too clever by half and too much just like his songs. This old country ‘love’ song trope is well past its best before date. Too bad he didn’t have an updated later phase to his career like Johnny Cash and Willie, ‘cause now he’s just that misogynist drunkard for eternity

I’m torn with these country albums. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never gotten into country as a genre. But I definitely love Willie Nelson, Emily Harris, and sturgill Simpson , who sound a lot like George jones. So maybe my dislike of country is starting to thaw… Jones’ voice is great. Still not a huge fan but didn’t hate it.

Last song was interesting, but thankfully the album was less than half an hour long

Nothing against Country fans but how many of them are trying to hear these 1001 albums before they die? Just curious! Anyway, sentimental Country just isn’t my thing. It’s not George Jones’ fault that he’s not Johnny Cash but I can’t find anything much here to move me.

No interest in this type of country music.

Listens: 2 Standout tracks: Our Private Lives Very twangy. Some of the tracks almost had a pseudo-Hawaiian quality to them, like as if they are something you'd hear in a spoof/stereotypical Hawaiian scene in a movie, or cartoon. Not for me.

Weepy country. Do you have to feel sorry for yourself to write this music? Is this the source of all the cliches or just borrowing them? Just tedious.

Generic country... pretty dirgey. Not much for me to enjoy here. Best track - Our Private Life (at least it's upbeat!)

1.5 - I literally had to check that I hadn't accidentally clicked the repeat button after the first song

Yawn 2/5

Didn't mind this, bitta old school country. Mid to late 2s

I am country enough thanks

He's got a good voice, but this is not my kind of thing at all. Every song started to sound the same after a while

I guess I can get why someone would like this, and he has a nice voice for sure, but my god is it boring. That's basically all I have to say about that. Favorite song: The Grand Tour Other: Once You've Had the Best, She Told Me So, Our Private Life 4/1/25

Once again this is an above average country album but even at just 28 minutes long I get bored of this sound so quickly. I can respect it if this is your jam but for me country music will just never really blow me away no matter what decade you take it from. Favorite track: The Grand Tour 2.5/5

Very thankful that these 70s variety-show-type country albums are always like half an hour. Some great lyrics on Borrowed Angel and She’ll Love The One She’s With for all the cheaters and manipulators out there. I actually really like the lyrics on Our Private Life because they’re so real and speak to something I’ve thought for a while. Like, why DOES society expect celebrities and rich people to be these pictures of morality when we all know a hundred assholes each IRL? Unfortunately I must give this a 2 because I have heard all of these songs on the other country albums from this era on the list. These songs would hit if I was a really sad drunk tho probably

Type shit you hear at your friends grandparents vacation home

It’s fine, just sort of generic country, which isn’t really my favourite. Didn’t hate it; probably wouldn’t listen again.

Tried to be impartial, but I just don't like the style. Everything just made me think of a sad, quite, sparsely populated bar. Some of the lyrics were entertaining, but again, didn't enjoy the style. Thankfully it was a short album

4.5/10. Thank you, but I'm not interested in said tour. Sorry!!! :)

Great vocal quality. A style of music I don’t particularly enjoy, and don’t find memorable at all.

It's fine, not offensive. Definitely not the type of country I like. It's very twangy and "generic" (maybe wasn't generic in 74 and that's just a function of a lot of country since then through the 90s sounding like that), and the lyrics aren't doing much for me outside of The Grand Tour. Well covered ground for these topics in country. Would be a 2.5 if I could give half points.

ok country but couldnt get into it

If I liked 70's Country music, this would be a fine listen, but unfortunately this didn't peak my interest or change my view and bias against the genre. I get it, George Jones is legendary and he has written and performed a lot of songs I like and enjoy, but The Grand Tour, as a whole isn't my idea of a great time. Though his version of "Once You've Had The Best" was mildly amusing.

Not something I'd check out in my own time. Been wanting to get more into country music as it remains a large musical blindspot for me. Not sure what expectations to have going into this one. The Grand Tour Feels quite standard for a country song. It's a fine vehicle for the story he wants to tell. Using a house tour to convey sorrow over a woman leaving is admitably clever. Amused. 3.5/5 Darlin' Opening straight onto the chorus. If you see this song as being about the same person as the previous song it then adds an interesting layer to it. Otherwise fairly standard. 2.5/5 Pass Me By (If you're only passing through) The chorus has a nice melody. The steel string guitar helps distinguish the song from the others on the album so far. The Piano also adds another layer to the instrumentation. Fairly uninteresting concept however. Fine. 3/5 She'll love the one she's with Another sorrowful song about unrequited love. The singer comes across as unlikeable in this one. Basic song structure. Unremarkable. 2.5/5 Once you've had the best Instrumentation at the start is nice. The strings were a surprise. Cute little love song 3.5/5 The Weatherman A different tempo is a breath of fresh air. Using the weather forecast as a metaphor for relationship trouble is probably novel for the time, it's at least fun. Backing singers do a great job. Fun! 4/5. Borrowed Angel Repeating some themes here... Is this a song about cheating with a married woman? Extremely suspect. Weird. 1.5/5 She Told Me So Extremely unlikable premise. Getting gaslit anthem. Dumb chorus. Did not like. 2/5 Mary Don't Go Round Swingin'. Fun chorus. A dencent change in vocal performance. 3/5 Who Will I Be Loving Now Finally a song about the narrator getting over someone. Seems like an unhealthy relationship with love. Boring 2/5 Our Private Life Higher tempo. Confused commentary about people obsessing over celebrity culture. Tongue in cheek, though also comes across as bitter. Feels like someone's response to getting cancelled. Weird vibes. 2/5 Yeah not sure about this one. There's some good here, but there's just a lot of the same old love songs about being sad about some girl. Competently performed, and some of the tracks are well written, but ultimately falls flat for me. Fave track. Weatherman Least fave track. Borrowed Angel

meh

Reminds me of when I went to Silver Dollar City and watched a really pretty blonde twirling on stage during a Bluegrass set. Gorgeous smile, nice legs, and an even better ass. And you’re thinking, “I don’t like this, but I’m not going to look away.” That’s kind of how I feel about this album.

Other than the title track which has a wonderful emotional element, I won't be coming back to this album. When you're impatiently waiting for the end of a 28-minute album that speaks volumes.

Grand is a bit of an overstatement. It was ok and short but nothing spectacular.

A crooner, with an influential sound. Seems like the basis of a lot of modern country that i do not like, though this is basically just songs from a singer/songwriter. Doesn’t stand up against Johnnie Cash, Merle Haggard, or Hank Williams.

This was okay. I cannot imagine listening to this after a break-up though...ooof this guy only writes sad songs about loving some hot babe who doesn't return the favor (or can't).

Yee-haw music, but ✨fancy✨. Key tracks: The Grand Tour

I've tried a few times throughout this challenge but I am just not a fan of honky tonk country. I don't know why. It's fine but just not that interesting. I guess the focus of a lot of country music is the sorrowful, expressive vocal performances, often about heartache. I kind of get it. It's very human and George Jones certainly can bellow out a performance about loss, likely aided by his actual divorce. And I mean, there are some joyful moments too. Yesterday I got a Radiohead album and a lot of the reviews were complaining about it being depressing and whiny. But Thom Yorke does more than his share of interesting social commentary through those lyrics. But honky tonk country so often just sounds like it's drowning in its own self-pity. That's probably an unfair comparison but I can't help thinking about that juxtaposition of albums this week. I can't deny George Jones' abilities as a vocalist to convey sorrow and loss. But this just isn't for me.

Two of these arent tearjerkers. This was boring

Not for me

Once I’d heard Johnny cash, Charlie feathers and Kris kristofferson, all other country pales in comparison

Doesn‘t hurt.

p332. 1974. 2 stars. Mostly melancholic yeehaw. Now I need a hard drink. On the plus side, it's short. Then again, so is my hard drink.

This is the country I think of when I think of country. Generally not my genre. This is ok. There are a couple songs I can get behind like Mary Dont go Round and Our Private Life, but mostly, for me at least, meh.

It's fine for 70's country, I guess. It's nowhere near the great stuff of the era.

Langweilige Musik

every song sounds the exact same. just filler. OK singing and guitars but. Favourite songs: first one and the weatherman one.. Overall around 4/10

I'm pretty sure that if you typed in "classic country ballad" in a music generation AI, you'd get something indistinguishable from 80% of these songs. I'm afraid George's voice is really the only saving grace on this album for me.

Not my kind of music. Not sure how it made its way onto this list.

genre: country af. it was fun but too boring to finish

Old timey country

If I had a granny that lived, oh I don't know, somewhere in the woods near the Cumberland Gap, and she liked to bake pie, but had some fairly unacceptable views on race and sexuality, I can imagine this album would be the soundtrack to my visits there. I grew up in a shitty suburban UK council estate.

Con este disco logró desprenderse de la etiqueta de marido de Tammy Wynette (una diosa del Country, con todo merecimiento). The Grand Tour es no solo la mejor canción del álbum sino de la música country. Enriquecen el disco las aportaciones de The Jordanaires que habían trabajado entre otros para el gran Elvis Presley. Otros discos, en mi opinión mejores que este de George: Here Come The Warm Jets de Brian Eno. On The Beach de Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Gram Parsons, Kraftwerk, Gene Clark, Supertramp, Genesis, Bob Marley, Big Star, Neil Young, Tangerine Dream o los imprescindibes directos de Van Morrison y Bob Dylan. También los de New York Dolls, Tom Waits, Mike Oldfield, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Minnie Riperton, Brian Eno, Roxy Music, ELO y King Crimson

Does not impress... No idea why it is among 1001 albums you must listen

кантри в моей списке не сильно котируется , к сожалдегниб

I kinda like this kind of melancholic old school country. It sounds so much like Hawaiian music, which I never really made the connection until now. Why does country music sound like Hawaiian music? Is it just the steel guitar? Anyways, all the songs sound exactly the same but it's still nice. 2 because it's not bad at all but there were no songs apart from the title track that stood out to me and I just don't see myself realistically ever listening to this again. At least it was short at under 30 minutes.

Jones has a nice voice and I like the first couple of songs. The problem is, for me at least, that almost every other song on this thing sounds pretty much the same as those first songs. As a result, it became old really quick.

I liked the title track and “The Weatherman,” but otherwise pretty bland.

The title track was great, the rest not so much

So if you had a clockwork country and western style album making machine this is just what it would produce. It’s unadventurous, predictable, mawkish and mildly misogynistic. It’s not bad, but instantly forgettable, and if it committed a crime you’d never pick it out of a line up.

At least it was short

Pros: I love steel guitar. Totally underrated instrument. Cons: literally everything else

Ástarkántrýlög. Þau voru öll eins og öll frekar leiðinleg. Sem betur fer var platan stutt og það komu hress lög inn á milli en eins mikið og ég fagnaði fjölbreytni þá stungu þau of mikið í stúf. Of lítið og of sjaldan

‘If she’s not with the one she loves/she’ll love the the one she’s with’ Damn. (Can’t really assess this objectively. Not for me etc)

George Jones makes an ode to country artists better than him.

Meh, honkey tonk white-guy country isn't so much my vibe. I didn't realise the album had finished. It was kinda dull.

Yeah unbothered about this. These songs kind of all sounds the same to me. Sorry George!

The title track is good and George Jones voice is great throughout, but the album feels like it's a bit production line-y.

Not my thing

I don't mind country but this is like pure undiluted country, too country for me. Middle 2.

Its certainly an album. I dont know why you would have to hear it, though. 2/5

Really not into this one. George Jones knows how to put you off to sleep amidst a heartbreak album. So much for this LP being his best, hopefully I don't need to listen to any more of his LPs Best: The Grand Tour Worst: Borrowed Angel

I grew up listening to my mother’s country music records but this is the kind of country music neither of us likes…

Seichter Folk

Pleasant country, his voice is nice enough but it's not exactly essential listening.

I have nothing against country as a genre, but if there is one simplified overarching theme of my music preferences, it's that I like peppy and I don't like languid. And a lot of this is very very languid. But not The Weatherman, which is the standout track of this album for me — an excellent peppy heartbreak song, my favorite subgenre.

An entire album carried on the back of a weepy steel guitar, but beyond the first track the songwriting is pretty weak.

Boring country crap

Not bad. It definitely sounds like Tennessee. Not really my cup of tea tough.

It's ok. I'm not much of a country music lover, but if I had to listen to it, this is the kind I'd go for. I'd give it 2.5 if I could.

More country nonsense

of væmið til að vera kántrí mér að skapi. 2,5.

You could call this album a warm comfy slice of apple pie, a sad beautiful slow dance of heartbreak. You could also call it eleven uninteresting takes on the exact same emotion.

Two full on country records in a row. I sure hope I get something better next.

country is my least favorite genre of music. if I had to listen to country this would be it. although it doesn't sound timeless it's not as awful as modern country.

G J is boring

Monotonous old-school country that certainly didn’t take me on any tour. It’s not bad music but it’s all just a bit too “meh”

Slide guitars coupled with country music are kinda what my nightmares are made of

Country... sigh. I'll give everything here a shot, but idk. All kinda same-y, just ok. I just haven't found country I didn't find boring and uninteresting. 2*

A grandiose voice Bare bones instrumentation Sad man croons lost love

It was much better than expected. An incredibly strong 2.

A million times better than what I expected but I expected misery and tears. It's actually just okay. Nice in parts but nothing particularly special to my ears. Fav songs: - The Grand Tour

Well performed. But it’s still country, so……no thanks.

If you've seen the skits on Family Guy about Conway Twitty, then you know exactly how this album sounds. I can't help but laugh at the twangy, trying-to-be romantic country that this is. This era of Country is great, but this style is not what I care for. Often times, the vocals sound like a prepubescent child with a squeaky voice. And other times, I get a Ballad of Buster Scruggs feel. It's not all bad! But it's far from great.

Not very exciting country crooning. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: The Grand Tour Date listened: 04/04/24

Never trust albums with the track listing on the front cover.

Le genre d'album country dont je me demande l'importance d'apparaître sur ce genre de palmarès. C'était très "paint by numbers" et ne se démarquait pas tellement en comparaison à d'autres que j'ai eu ici. L'album était très monotone ; toutes les pièces sonnaient pareil à l'exception de la dernière qui était un peu plus entraînante. 4/10

George Jones, after a brief read of his Wikipedia page, has some crazy, awesome stories. Sadly, none of the album carries any of that energy.

I think I like this type of music, but when it’s done by Johnny Cash et al. From Mr Jones it just sounded moany.

Old country...not so much a fan.

Nice voice. Dull unimaginative songs though I'm probably in an Irritated mood. Randomizer. Stop giving me country albums. Yesterday Dwight Yoakum today this. YOU ARE PUSHING ME OVER THE EDGE......STOP NOW!!!!!

C'était chill.

2.5/5

it's for a couple good songs

Songs I like: The Grand Tour, Pass Me By, Once You’ve Had the Best, Borrowed Angel

This sort of country, and indeed, sounds about love have been done to death. Even 50 years ago when this came out, it was played out. Every year in the 70s, game changing albums were coming out. This isn't one of them.

Mikään kappale ei kyllä jäänyt mieleen (paitsi Mary don’t go ’round sanoituksiltaan), mutta ihan eheä kokonaisuus, hyvä tutustuminen tähän tyyppiin eli perustellusti listalla. Paljon parempaa eli tunteikkaampaa ja hauskempaa countrya on, genre vaatii muutakin kuin tyylipuhdasta taitoa.

Tämä on esteettinen nautinto, mutta paria vakuuttavasti esitettyä sinkkua lukuun ottamatta sisällöllinen pettymys.

I can smell cheap beer, cigarettes and depression listening to this.

Is this the dude who wrote "Who gets the family Bible"?

Not really my favourite genre. Sorry!

Not as good as Top Gear

Did not enjoy, kinda annoying 4/10

- Ich bin ja in den letzten Jahren zum Country Fan geworden - das gilt aber eher für den entweder sehr roots-/ blueslastigen Americana oder aber zeitgenössischeren Country mit modernen Einflüssen aus Soul, Pop oder auch Hip-Hop und sogar manchmal Indie. In den seltensten Fällen gilt das für den ganz klassischen Country. - Habe klassischen Country meistens als relativ langweilig empfunden. Zwar in sich sehr charakteristisch, aber durchaus wenig abwechslungsreich. - So ging es mir auch bei The Grand Tour - Das Album ist mit unter 30 min. definitiv kurzweilig aber trotzdem auch größtenteils irgendwie nicht so interessant. - Der Titelsong ist nicht verkehrt, auch sonst sind das keine schlecht gemachten Songs, aber berührt mich einfach nicht so. Rating: 2/5

Country lässt einen immer etwas wippen, wie ich finde, aber ansonsten lässt es mich das Album mal wieder eher kalt. Vieles klingt für mich einfach zu gleich, mit zu wenig wirklich catchy Passagen.

Just country. I can't tell apart one song from the next

Feels like the soundtrack for Yellowstone

Enjoyed some of the lyrics, the only song I found particularly interesting was “Our Private Life”. This style of slow ballad country just doesn’t appeal to me. 2/5

Boring

Just slow country music, not sure what’s special about it

2 stars.

Had a country album just yesterday which eventually grew on me (John Prine). Well, this one won't. It's like service music for when you're very sad, but also very manly at all times and crush empty beer cans on your forehead. And you wish you could ride off into the sunset, "screw her!", but you don't have a horse, you don't even own a truck, Bob, you're an accountant, get your shit together! Very quintessential at that and it all sounds... nice, warm and cozy I guess, so I won't question its inclusion on this list (is it time yet to mention the Anglo-American centrism, tho?), but, man...

Couldn’t find the album on my streaming subscription and was directed to a Greatest Hits package. This is the kind of twangy country music for which I really don’t have any interest. Sorry George.

I've tried so hard but I just can't with this kind of country/honky tonk. Just grates me. He has a good voice if you stripped away the overly affected accent.

Música que no me ha llegado. Suena bastante bien, pero definitivamente no es lo mío.

Not for me. Glad it was only 28 minutes long.

This was a tough listen for me. Luckily they have a steel pedal save most of the songs but this kinda country ain’t it for me.

I thought it was okay even though I’m not really big on country so probably bias here. 2.5

Litt som dei kjedeligaste sangane til Marty Robbins

Not so into country but it was old school and interesting. I liked one song

Sad, slow, traditional country music

Wel leuk maar niet zo mijn ding Would not buy

Sad cowboy vibes.

Boring country music

Palettable but very mediocre

Hopefully, he's got better albums than this one. A little too slow for my liking

So country. Much slide guitar.

Just sounds like standard to me!

Hyuk, neehh

Ngl didn’t finish the album. Not a fan of country music and legit I just hear Take Me Home, Country Roads in every single one. Good vocals, and I often liked the melodies, but I find the guitar and percussion very repetitive and uninspiring.

Have to admit Our Private Life was a fun song. However the rest of it was typical country tropes. I love her she leaves me. Blah blah blah. It's not the worst country album but that's a low bar.

Fairly unremarkable oldschool country fare.

Okay.

legendaarinen kantrimuusikko. näyttä kuinka tyls'' kantri on parhaimmlillaan! The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar, ei pelikonsoleja tähän aikaan ollut...heHeeeeeeeeeeeeeehee. George = Yrjö... suomalaisittain, sitähän tämä musiiikkikin on, naseva nimi... grand tour

I know this music is beloved by many, and it has it's place in American music history, and hearing one or two of George's songs is nice, but a whole album is rough.

1.5 before even starting i can tell from the album cover that this will likely not be my thing, although i am often surprised so who knows how this will turn out. never mind oh my. i am so bored. i was tidying and this is sending me to sleep i need energy not whiny men. some of the lyrics are pretty narcissistic? i'm just not into it i'm sorry. all the reviews on here seem to be so positive and i tend to enjoy country but i just can't like this very much. i won't give it one star though because there are definitely worse.

This album feels much older than it really is

Meh

Reminds me of family car trips. Not a bad album per se, just not my thing

I didn't really like this album. Maybe since I don't listen to a lot of country music, but it feels like they only wrote 1 slow song and 1 fast song and then just played a slight variation of those songs 5 times each and called it an album. I don't hate country music, but I got bored listening to this album since the songs all sound so similar. George Jones's singing voice is good though. 2/5. Favorite song: The Grand Tour Worst song: Who Will I Be Loving Now

ZZZZZZZ: did I even listen to this bc lord it was boring. I seem to have completely erased this album from my memory just on how dull it was. Sounded just like blaring white noise you use to fill the silence. I've been more captivated by random youtube covers, god I could be more captivated by youtube covers of this album. Just dead ass country.

The Grand Tour

Country music for country music lovers. No more, no less.

Lentää matalalla.. silti lentää..

Hard for me to get excited by country music. I'm not offended but then nothing here enlightened or enthralled me

An interesting country album, could have been worse

Perfectly listenable pedestrian country music.

It could be worse. It's boring as shit and predictable. I couldn't find a single song I liked or even stood out to me. It's produced well, he has an emotional voice, his lyrics are well-written, it's pretty consistent, and it's short and to-the-point. And for those reasons, I'm giving it 2 stars. But let me be clear I don't like this at all. It sucks ass. But it could be worse. This is not 1-star territory country.

Real dull and repetitive

George strait is the superior country george

Classic, stereotypic 70s country as you can get. The Grand Tour was ok and Private Lives was a bit humorous but the rest was a cliche.

This album really didn't do much for me. There were 1 or 2 tracks that had some nice pedal steel playing, and some with some decent chicken pickin', but overall I wouldn't choose to listen to this again.

Sometimes, the instrumentals sounded like SpongeBob. So that's cool 2.1

Yeeehaaaaaw! Ik waan me in de Honky Tonk met dit album. lekker man. Of niet. Denk toch eerder niet, het is een prima album, lekker dat ie vrij kort is maar overall denk ik niet dat ik dit nog eens aan zal zetten. Ik denk dat zulke honky tonk country niet echt mijn ding is. Ik neig toch meer richting blues en soul.

Oke country vandaag, toch net iets anders dan de 90% Rock die we voorgeschoteld krijgen. De karakteristieke snik in de stem komt direct voorbij. Ik dacht even dat het eerste nummer Step Right Up van Jamai in de countryversie was, maar helaas. Ik vind het muzikaal behoorlijk saai, en tekstueel een beetje te zoetsappig. De man was ook niet bepaald een genie: "There's nothing better once you've had the best" No shit Sherlock, daarom is het toch het beste? Open deur alert hier hoor! Volgens mij is de man ook zeer zielig, iets waarvan ik steeds vaker zeg dat ik er niet warm of koud van wordt. Al met al gewoon een beetje saai, niet mijn ding Favorieten: Mary Don't Go Round

The Grand Tour // 1.5-2/5

Imagine any old school country song you've ever heard in your life and you'll know exactly what this entire album sounds like.

He's not a happy man. I'm not surprised with a haircut like that. It's a little too twee for my tastes. Great musicianship, but bloody depressing. Selling for silly, silly money on eBay.

Ummm this was kind of comical. A half hour of what sounds like a guy just playing a little banjo singing his little old songs. I mean the one thing that makes me happy is it was only 30 minutes, love it. This honestly wasn’t terrible but being real, my life did not change remotely after listening to this.

Hey ChatGPT: "invent the name of a fictional 1970 clean-cut Texas-born American slow country singer playing acoustic guitar and wearing a huge collar" GhatGPT: "George Jones" I know George is a legend and absolute respect given, but after giving it a full shot I'm gonna have to chalk this up to laconic pedal-steel country songs not being my preference. 4/10 2 stars

interesting but not really my taste

It just sounds the same as all country music. I don’t mind the sound of country but I’m not naïve enough to believe that this was ‘groundbreaking’ or important, just a representation of good country music. And I’ve heard enough of that after two songs.

Proper Americana country bumpkin line dancing vibes. Not for me despite George Jones having a great voice

This album didn't do it for me. Jones can really sing, but I wasn't interested in the stories he was telling, and found the overall album to just be *too* country/western/whatever. Not a genre I really like and this album did nothing to change my mind about that.

Not a big country fan but this wasn't terrible. And it was a short album. Impressed, but wouldn't listen again.

country

Goddamn. Just the EXACT same song, tempo, instrumentation, over and over and over. Predictable, sterile and corny as FUCK. Gross.

Great voice, top musicians but the saccharine sweet, schmaltzy, over produced, bland country sound get tiring after a while. I didn’t hate it but am unlikely to listen to it ever again.

Songs were quick.

My favorite aspect of this album was how short it was.

Not really my thing but it didn’t get the attention it should have perhaps. 2*

Not a country fan

Meh.

Very Country

Cliché country zoals het is, cheesy, melig, simpele melodieën... Klinkt erg massaproductie

I was passively listening to this and it made me noticeably cranky so I’ll go ahead and take that to mean this one was a bwomp for me

No thanks

So slow. So twangy. So boring. The two songs that weren't mega slow were kind of ok. I don't know if I'll every be able to give an album with steel guitar more than two stars though.

The length was a nice change of pace, but I'm not crazy about country music. This is definitely more standable than more modern country music, though. It kind of reminds me of what I've heard by Conway Twitty, at least in some of the songs. Inoffensive, but kind of boring for me. My favourite song was The Weatherman.

Why does George Jones look like Jim Carrey playing Kaufman in "Man on the Moon" I'd say the majority of the 28 minute runtime isn't for me. It's top-heavy, with a strong intro but not too much that grabbed my attention after that. For now I'm fine with knowing George Jones from the hits, though I don't mind this slightly deeper dive into his music. P.S. My go-to tearjerker Roy Orbison doesn't even have one album on this list, by the looks of things. HL: title track, "Darlin", "Our Private Life" April 21 2023

Booooooo country

It's country

only made it through this album because of how short it was. it sounds exactly the same as all other country music

Not my style

This is the exact kind of country music I don’t like.

Country profundo. No sé si me gustará. Demasiada "slide guitar" o lo que sea, que casi suena a "theremin". No es malo pero no es algo imprescindible.

Best Song: Our Private Life. Slightly upbeat. In the right mood, this could honk my tonk. Worst Song: She'll Love the One She's With. Painfully slow song with lyrics that get more uncomfortable the more you think about them. Overall: I'm not attending a high school prom in the deep American south in the 1970s, so I don't think this is for me.

Very pleasant old school country.

Not really my thing, but he does seem to have a great voice. Like 95% of country music sounds exactly the same to me, it's never interested me enough to get more familiar with it. "Who Will I Be Loving" was the only song that stuck out to me here, I like the melody.

Another country album that I’ll be overlay harsh on due to not enjoying the genre. Can appreciate these albums need to be included on the list, but wont be listening to this one again.

Oh yeh that’s country, I don’t really like country. Pleasant enough if not pretty pedestrian. A couple more upbeat tracks could maybe have pushed it to a 3.

Run of the mill country music fare, but it has a certain charm.

Country is one of my least favorite genres of music. While this is classic country and a much better standard of music that today's iteration of Country, I still didn't enjoy it all that much.