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The ongoing series of budget-priced 3-CD Gold compilations from Demon Music Group’s Crimson Productions continues with a pair of releases from artists for whom “legendary” is no understatement: Johnny Mathis and the late George Jones.

Curating a representative sampling of Johnny Mathis’ singular career in under 50 tracks is no small task, and this set is indeed decades-spanning from his first commercially released single (1956’s pairing of “Wonderful! Wonderful!” and “When Sunny Gets Blue”) right up through his last studio album to date (2017’s Sings the Great New American Songbook) encompassing both Columbia and Mercury/Global recordings. But rather than equally address all of the artist’s different eras and styles – including jazz, pop, soul, R&B, Latin music, gospel, country, and even disco – Gold is primarily composed of early material from The Voice of Romance’s first decade.

The first disc of Gold concentrates on that early period of Johnny’s discography (1956-1964) including expected highlights such as “Wonderful! Wonderful!,” the chart-topping “Chances Are,” “Misty,” “It’s Not for Me to Say,” “Teacher, Teacher,” and “A Certain Smile.” Some deeper cuts are also here, like chart entries “No Love (But Your Love),” “Let’s Love,” “My Love for You,” and “Every Step of the Way.” The non-chronological approach yields a handful of familiar, later favorites on this disc, too: Philly soul maestro Thom Bell, Anthony Bell, and Linda Creed’s “I’m Stone in Love with You,” The Bee Gees’ “Run to Me,” and Albert Hammond and Hal David’s “99 Miles from L.A.”

This collection is light on the many fine pop covers which featured on Mathis’ albums from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, though it happily finds room for some of the original material which the singer introduced in that timeframe.  Listeners will find tracks from both of his sublime collaborations with Thom Bell, I’m Coming Home (the title song plus “I’m Stone in Love with You,” the latter first sung by The Stylistics and beautifully rearranged by Bell for Mathis) and Mathis Is (the sweet “Heaven Must Have Made You Just for Me”). The second disc also has his floor-filling “Gone, Gone, Gone,” the catchy Michael Jackson/Paul Anka composition “Love Never Felt So Good,” and two of his duets with Deniece Williams, the Number One smash “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” and their follow-up rendition of the Motown classic “You’re All I Need to Get By.”

By nature, a non-chronological assembly of Mathis magic would feature a range of styles and sounds placed next to one another, and this set is no exception, as when the contemporary-flavored CD 2 has the 1961 recording of “Stairway to the Stars” sandwiched between Diane Warren’s power ballad “Because You Loved Me” (1998) and the sweeping Romeo & Juliet film theme “A Time for Us” (1969).

The third disc then returns to focus on the early days (1956-1961) with the timeless “The Twelfth of Never” and a number of romantic Broadway standards from Gypsy (“Small World”), West Side Story (“Maria”), Camelot (“How to Handle a Woman”), Flower Drum Song (“You are Beautiful”), Babes in Arms (“My Funny Valentine”), and more. Of a more recent vintage, this disc features 1979’s shimmering ballad “The Best Days of My Life,” a subtly affecting 2010 cover of “Love Me Tender,” and the showstopping closer, Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford’s touching and dramatic “Once Before I Go” (2017).

Johnny Mathis’ Gold serves as an introduction to his deep and varied catalogue, and samples some of the most exquisite sounds from seven decades of his remarkable vocal artistry. As such, it’s recommended.  (To dig deeper, we recommend checking out the many deluxe Mathis reissues released in recent years on Real Gone Music and our own Second Disc Records imprint.)

Seven years after his death in 2013, George Jones remains one of the most beloved artists in the realm of country music. The Possum, as he was affectionately known, scored thirteen U.S. Country chart-toppers and three Hot 100 crossover hits in a career spanning over 60 years. Like the Mathis set, Jones’ volume of Gold is arranged non-chronologically. Though the settings change around him with each track from traditional honky-tonk through the smoother countrypolitan sound, his voice – a pure, authentic instrument of heartbreak – remains consistently powerful and resonant.

The 48 selections on Gold are drawn from his tenures at Mercury (1957-1961), Musicor (1965-1971), Epic (1972-1990), and MCA Records (1991-1998). (His 1962-1965 period at United Artists and his post-1998 recordings are not covered here.) All nine of Jones’ solo chart-toppers – the remaining four were duets – are included: “White Lightning,” “Walk Through This World with Me,” “The Grand Tour,” “The Door,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “Still Doin’ Time,” and “I Always Get Lucky with You” plus “She Thinks I Still Care” and “Tender Years” in their 1970s Epic re-recordings.

Jones’ original Musicor reading of Jerry Chesnut’s “A Good Year for the Roses” appears here; Elvis Costello famously covered the song with Jones’ Epic producer Billy Sherill for his 1981 LP Almost Blue. Jones took “A Good Year” to No. 2 Country in the U.S.; Costello’s interpretation went to No. 6 on the U.K. Singles Chart. Gold also has Jones’ renditions of classics from the pens of Roger Miller (“Big Harlan Taylor”), Dallas Frazier (“Say It’s Not You,” “Tell Me My Lyin’ Eyes Are Wrong”), Bob McDill (“I’ll Just Take It Out in Love”), Bobby Braddock (“Her Name Is”) and Freddy Weller (“Writing on the Wall”). Jones’ own co-compositions are featured, too, such as “Accidentally on Purpose,” “Out of Control,” “She’s Mine,” “These Days (I Barely Get By),” and “What My Woman Can’t Do.”

One curiosity here is “The Telephone Call.” Credited to “Tina and Daddy,” this duet between George and his adopted daughter with Tammy Wynette, Tina, became a moderate hit (No. 25 U.S.). None of George’s many duets with Wynette are included; perhaps they could form the basis of another Gold volume. Wynette’s own entry in the series is due in July.

George Jones’ Gold features a fine cross-section of the music that made him such a cherished country superstar. Although he duetted with such famed pop-rock personages as Elvis Costello, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor, he never deviated from the country music that he loved. That dedication to the form shines through on this volume.

As per the norm for the Gold series, the packaging for both the Mathis and Jones titles is a six-panel digipak with no liner notes or comprehensive credits, and there is no remastering credit. Both titles are available now from Demon Music Group’s Crimson Productions at the links below!

Johnny Mathis, Gold (Crimson Productions CRIMCD666, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. A Certain Smile
2. Wonderful! Wonderful! (Single Version)
3. Teacher, Teacher (Single Version)
4. It’s Not for Me to Say
5. Misty
6. Gina
7. 99 Miles from L.A.
8. Chances Are
9. Bye Bye Barbara
10. Come to Me
11. No Love (But Your Love)
12. My Love for You
13. Let’s Love
14. I’m Stone in Love with You
15. Listen Lonely Girl
16. Every Step of the Way
17. Run to Me
18. What Will My Mary Say (Album Version)

CD 2

1. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late (with Deniece Williams)
2. Love Never Felt So Good
3. Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)
4. Begin the Beguine (Single Remix)
5. I’m Coming Home (Album Version)
6. You’re All I Need to Get By (with Deniece Williams)
7. Gone, Gone, Gone
8. Because You Loved Me
9. Stairway to the Stars
10. A Time for Us
11. Heaven Must Have Made You Just for Me
12. Unbreak My Heart
13. What I Did for Love
14. When a Child Is Born (Soleado)

CD 3

1. Wild Is the Wind
2. The Twelfth of Never (Single Version)
3. You are Beautiful
4. How to Handle a Woman
5. All the Time
6. Maria
7. Small World (Single Version)
8. The Best Days of My Life
9. My Funny Valentine
10. Starbright
11. Dancing on the Ceiling
12. When Sunny Gets Blue (Album Version)
13. Call Me (Single Version)
14. Should I Wait (Or Should I Run to Her?)
15. Someone
16. Love Me Tender
17. Once Before I Go

George Jones, Gold (Crimson Productions CRIMCD663, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. White Lightning
2. She Thinks I Still Care
3. Tender Years
4. Walk Through This World with Me
5. Accidentally on Purpose
6. You’re Still on My Mind
7. Sometimes You Just Can’t Win
8. Things Have Gone to Pieces
9. Old Brush Arbors
10. Family Bible
11. Big Harlan Taylor
12. Money to Burn
13. The Last Town I Painted
14. Sparkling Brown Eyes
15. Out of Control
16. Say It’s Not You

CD 2

1. A Good Year for the Roses
2. The Grand Tour
3. The Door
4. Her Name Is…
5. Where Grass Won’t Grow
6. Small Time Laboring Man
7. The Battle
8. If I Could Put Them All Together (I’d Have You)
9. Tell Me My Lyin’ Eyes Are Wrong
10. She’s Mine
11. Someday My Day Will Come
12. I’ll Follow You (Up to Our Cloud)
13. These Days (I Barely Get By)
14. Memories of Us
15. I’ll Just Take It Out in Love
16. Old King Kong

CD 3

1. He Stopped Loving Her Today
2. The King Is Gone (So Are You)
3. A Picture of Me Without You
4. The Telephone Call – Tina & Daddy
5. You Always Look Your Best (Here in My Arms)
6. Somebody Wants Me Out of the Way
7. The Bird
8. Writing on the Wall
9. I Always Get Lucky with You
10. Wine Colored Roses
11. I Turn to You
12. I’m a Survivor
13. Still Doin’ Time
14. What My Woman Can’t Do
15. High-Tech Redneck
16. You Couldn’t Get the Picture