OCEAN FRONT PROP(LP)

Personnel: George Strait (vocals, guitar); Richard Bennett, David Anthony (acoustic guitar); Larry Byrom, Reggie Young, Billy Joe Walker, Jr., Rick McRae, Bennie McArthur (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar, dobro); Mike Daily (steel guitar); Johnny Gimble (fiddle, mandolin); Gene Elders (fiddle); John Jarvis, Ronnie Huckaby (piano); Lee Sklar, Terry Hale (bass); Owen Hale, Phillip Fajardo (drums).One of the biggest country albums of the 1980s and a virtual greatest-hits record in and of itself, 1987's OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY is perhaps George Strait's career pinnacle. It features two of Strait's most beloved hits, the rueful title track and the sly "All My Ex's Live in Texas," as well as the jaunty Western swing of "Am I Blue" and seven other slices of what critics were quick to call "new traditionalist" country. Strait was, in many ways, the Ray Price of the '80s, a singer whose ties to country music's bedrock sound were strong enough to allow him to court pop success without losing sight of what initially made his music special. A start-to-finish solid album, OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY is a landmark '80s country record and one of Strait's finest outings.