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| Memories of Us | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 7, 1975 | |||
| Recorded | April 1975 | |||
| Studio | Columbia, Nashville | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Billy Sherrill | |||
| George Jones chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Memories of Us | ||||
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Memories of Us is an album by American country music artist George Jones, released in 1975 on the Epic Records label. It peaked at #43 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
Memories of Us was Jones's first release after his divorce from Tammy Wynette. The years ahead would be an unpleasant time for Jones, to say the least, and the singer would soon begin his long, slow descent to the bottom. Jones scored two number-one hits in 1974 ("The Grand Tour" and "The Door"), but Memories of Us failed to produce any hits and the album stalled on the Billboard charts at number 43. In the liner notes to the 1983 Jones compilation Anniversary - 10 Years of Hits, producer Billy Sherrill writes that he was surprised that the song "Memories of Us", a personal favorite, failed as a single, and in his 1996 autobiography I Lived to Tell It All, Jones admitted that at the time he "constantly feared that my career, like my three marriages, was over. I had nothing left but my name, and my name was associated with missing personal appearances and not paying my debts."
Although Jones's life was in disarray, his singing remained as strong as ever, and the acrimony between him and Wynette in the aftermath of their bitter divorce made the songs he sang sound more authentic to his fans. Memories of Us actually features two songs written by the former couple: the up-tempo drinking song "Bring On the Clowns" and the eerily titled "She Should Belong to Me". Jones also had a hand in writing "A Touch of Wilderness" with Earl Montgomery, but it was his performance on the song "I Just Don't Give a Damn", which he wrote with Jimmy Peppers, that remains - at least in hindsight - one of the most riveting performances of his career. Thom Jurek of AllMusic calls the song "the bitterest cut Jones ever recorded. He claims he wrote it at 3 a.m. in the aftermath of the divorce, and it comes right from the Hank Williams tradition of catharsis songs. Jones condemns everyone and everything including himself. As he denies his shortcomings, he fires back simultaneously - with razor-sharp fineness - his anger. That fiddle floating in the background offers a portrait of loneliness and rage that is unbridled and self-destructive in the classic honky tonk style." In the liner notes to the 1999 Sony reissue of the album (which paired it with 1976's The Battle), Daniel Cooper writes that "I Just Don't Give a Damn" "hearkens back to the sort of material Jones's idol Hank Williams used to write when Hank was feeling his most embittered. In his prolific career, Jones has made dozens of bone-chilling recordings that languish as forgotten, seemingly throwaway album tracks and B-sides...Yet all these years later 'I Just Don't Give a Damn' rings harrowingly true and honest, like a sketched, 3 a.m. self-portrait by one of America's greatest artists." Remarkably, the song was ignored for years, with the singer commenting in his memoir, "'I Just Don't Give a Damn' was my eighty-sixth single record. It was on the Billboard survey for only two weeks and peaked at number ninety-two on the top 100. I had never released a record on a major label that did so poorly." The song was included on the 2006 Legacy compilation The Essential George Jones and a rare clip of the singer performing the song in 1975 at his Possum Holler club in Nashville is available on YouTube.
| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Roy Kasten of Amazon.com states "...Memories of Us is relentlessly dark, distinguished by the unbearably sad 'A Goodbye Joke' and 'What I Do Best,' in which pathos becomes great art. Surrounded by Sherrill's often-breathtaking production, Jones's voice never sounded so plangent, so aching." AllMusic describes the album as "one of those records that cannot be played all the time, but when in the proper space for a heartbreak record, none will fit the bill better."
Tammy Wynette was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a woman's perspective to the male-dominated country music field that helped other women find representation in the genre. Her characteristic vocal delivery has been acclaimed by critics, journalists and writers for conveying unique emotion. Twenty of her singles topped the Billboard country chart during her career. Her signature song "Stand by Your Man" received both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of women's loyalty towards their husbands.
George Glenn Jones was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", as well as his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bill Malone writes, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved." The shape of his nose and facial features earned Jones the nickname "The Possum". Jones has been called "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music" and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013.
Billy Norris Sherrill was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Glenn Sutton are regarded as the defining influences of the countrypolitan sound, a smooth amalgamation of pop and country music that was popular during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Sherrill also co-wrote many hit songs, including "Stand by Your Man" and "The Most Beautiful Girl".
I Am What I Am is an album by American country music artist George Jones released in 1980 on Epic Records label. On July 4, 2000, the CD version was reissued with four previously unreleased bonus tracks on the Legacy Recordings label.
My Very Special Guests is a duet album by American country music artist George Jones released in 1979 on the Epic Records label.
Baretender's Blues is an album by American country music artist George Jones released in 1978 on the Epic Records label. It was re-released on CD on the Razor & Tie label in 1996.
The Battle is an album by American country music artist George Jones released in 1976 on the Epic Records label.
The Grand Tour is an album by the American country music artist George Jones, released in 1974 as his fifth album for Epic Records. It peaked at #11 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and contained the hit title track, which reached a peak of #1 in August 1974.
We're Gonna Hold On is the fifth studio album by country music artists George Jones and Tammy Wynette. It was released in 1973 on the Epic Records label.
Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half as Bad as Losing You) is an album by country music artist George Jones released in 1973, on the Epic Records label. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
Let's Build a World Together is the fourth studio album by the country music artists George Jones and Tammy Wynette. The album was released in 1973 on the Epic Records label. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
Me and the First Lady is the second studio album by country music artists George Jones and Tammy Wynette, released on August 7, 1972, on the Epic Records label.
George Jones, also titled George Jones (We Can Make It) was the 1972 country music studio album released by George Jones in April 1972. The release was Jones' 46th studio album release since a debut from 16 years previous. Also as a highlight in his career, it was the first release made on Jones' new label, Epic Records.
A Picture of Me (Without You) is an album by American country music singer George Jones. It was released in 1972 on the Epic Records label.
We Go Together is the first studio album by American country music artists George Jones and Tammy Wynette. This album was released on October 18, 1971 on the Epic Records label. This is Jones' first album with Epic and his then wife Tammy Wynette. This is also Jones' first album with producer Billy Sherrill.
I'll Share My World with You is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released in 1969 on the Musicor Records label. Tammy Wynette, who married Jones that year, is pictured on the cover.
I Wanta Sing is an album by country singer George Jones. It was released in 1977 on the Epic record label.
"Take Me" is a song written by George Jones and Leon Payne. Jones originally released the song on the Musicor label in 1966 and scored a No. 8 hit. However, the song is best remembered for being the first single release by Jones and his third wife Tammy Wynette in 1971 on Epic Records. That version was also a top ten hit, peaking at No. 9.
"I Just Don't Give a Damn" is a song co-written by American country singer George Jones. It was released as the B-side to his 1975 single "Memories of Us."
The Best of George Jones is an album by American country music artist George Jones. It is notable for including two new songs, including "The Door," which became a #1 country hit. It was released in March 1975.
