Strait Out Of The Box [4 CD/CS Box Set]

72 tracks compiled and annotated by George himself, including every one of his 30 #1 hits plus 11 more chart singles, 19 LP tracks and 11 rarities, plus some unreleased tracks, like his duet with Frank Sinatra on Fly Me to the Moon ! These songs ruled '80s and '90s country radio: George's #1 hit version of Bob Wills' Right or Wrong; Love Without End, Amen; I've Come to Expect It from You; All My Ex's Live in Texas; Am I Blue; Ace in the Hole; The Chair; If I Know Me , and more.

When the hits come as effortlessly as they do to Strait, it's easy for an artist to lose interest. The man who ushered in country's hat-act era has spent a career bouncing from lifeless and fluffy to hard and soulful. This four-CD box tells the story from 1976 (when he cut the first of three singles for Houston indie D Records) through 1995. At his best--"Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind," for example--he defines the modern heart song, but lightweight stuff such as "Hollywood Squares" won't win him new converts. --John Morthland