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He flees the city limits (rather too quickly to be believed given L.A. Opening with the host walking out of his London residence as reports of his dismissal from “Top Gear” play in the background, “The Grand Tour” quickly escorts Clarkson to Los Angeles, hopping off the plane and into a shiny blue muscle car (parked, unprotected, at LAX).
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READ MORE: Woody Allen, Mel Gibson & More Maligned Auteurs: How to Justify Watching Their Films (Or Not) Despite protests from fans (including a petition garnering over 1 million signatures), the BBC stood by their decision not to re-up Clarkson’s contract - perhaps because this wasn’t the first time he’d been accused of assault (he left Piers Morgan with a scar) - and here we are, watching a new version of “Top Gear” titled “ The Grand Tour,” but otherwise identical to Clarkson’s incredibly successful car show. You see, the former “Top Gear” host’s contract wasn’t renewed by the BBC because of not one, but many controversial incidents involving the volatile “car journalist” (self-described), including accusations ranging from jokes about murdering prostitutes and imitating a Nazi salute to tossing around so many ethnic slurs it seems as though he’s offended every race and gender imaginable.īut what put him over the line across the pond was a March 2015 altercation with Oisin Tymon in which he allegedly punched the “Top Gear” producer for serving him soup and a meat platter instead of steak. Chet Atkins and all of his countrypolitan productions never had anything on Sherrill, and with the greatest singer in the music's history as part of the team, combined with a collection of absolutely staggering songs (only I Am What I Am rivals it), this is one of the finest country records of the '70s and perhaps in the top 100 of all time.In an age where Donald Trump can become President of the United States, it’s sadly fitting that English reality host Jeremy Clarkson had to flee to America to keep doing whatever the hell he wants. Ultimately, this is Jones' country, the kind of country music that is pure yet as sophisticated as Sherrill wanted it to be. And in a nod to both Bakersfield and Jones' "Thumper" period, "The Weatherman" is a honky tonk stomper also partially authored by Richey and it sounds as if it were written just for this session coming in the middle of a host of broken love songs, this is an optimistic, even giddy tune with a Mickey Raphael harmonica solo and a Don Rich sound-alike guitar break in the middle.
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Johnny Paycheck's classic ballad "Once You've Had the Best" is done poetic and musical justice by Jones and Sherrill in fact, this version blows away the author's. Shored up by a small string orchestra and a pedal steel cascading through the vocal lines, it's wrenching and poetic.
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As ballads go, "She'll Love the One She's With" by Hank Cochran and Grady Martin is one of those jealous country waltzes where obsession and love continually cross each other. "Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through)" with the Jordanaires is one of those haunting, mid-tempo honky tonk love songs that won't let go after the first chorus has been sung. Jones poured his heart into every syllable and its chilling quality after almost 30 years attests to this. Sherrill worked his most creative magic over it, with a string section that only revealed the size of itself when he wasn't singing and filled in between the guitars, piano, and pedal steel during the sung lines. If ever there were a song that cut too close to home for the singer it was this one.
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Ironically, one of the co-authors of the tune was none other than Jones' about-to-be-ex-wife Tammy Wynette's future husband George Richey. The Grand Tour was a watershed for Jones, boasting the title track as one of the most devastating country singles ever issued that came so close to crossing over it was being played on some adult pop stations along with Sinatra, Bennett, Dionne Warwick, and Herb Alpert. Jones' partnership with producer Billy Sherrill saw some of its finest fruit here. 1974 was a hell of a year for George Jones creatively, with one of his finest Epic records, The Grand Tour, being issued that year.