Raven [Australia]
2005
Dispatches 1990-1999
About This Album
George Jones recorded steadily throughout the '90s, sometimes racking up some minor hits, sometimes having one of his records -- such as 1999's The Cold Hard Truth -- being hailed as a return to form. Most of the time, he made tasteful, unremarkable records that had a couple of highlights but rarely distinguished themselves from his other latter-day records, so it was hard even for dedicated fans to separated 1991's And Along Came Jones from 1992's Walls Can Fall. Raven's 2005 compilation Dispatches: 1990-99 does those fans a favor by culling the highlights from those records, ignoring singles for gems buried deep on those albums. Since this was assembled with a subjective eye, it shouldn't be a surprise that the compilers favor ballads and ignore novelties and while that might be both a smart and accurate move, about a third of the way through, the compilation begins to suffer from the flaw common to Jones' '90s albums: they're a little samey. True, these are by and large the best songs he recorded during the decade -- and it's certainly the best way for fans of his classic work to sample his latter-day work -- but after a while, it's hard not to wish that "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair" or something like it was thrown in just for a change of pace, since 22 slick ballads from the '90s is an awful lot to take in one sitting. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 4,7,10,15 and 22)

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