Cry [Import]

Johnnie Ray | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 13, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bear Family
• ASIN: B0000282ZC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,820 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Yes Tonight, Josephine

2. Just Walking in the Rain

3. I've Got So Many Million Years

4. Johnnie's Comin' Home

5. Look Homeward Angel

6. Up Above My Head

7. Good Evening Friends

8. Up Until Now [Fast Version][#]

9. How Long Blues

10. You Don't Owe Me a Thing

11. No Wedding Today

12. Build Your Love (On a Strong Foundation)

13. Street of Memories

14. Miss Me Just a Little

15. Texas Tambourine

16. Pink Sweater Angel

17. Soliloquy of a Fool

18. Endlessly

19. Plant a Little Seed

20. Up Until Now

See all 31 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

An incredible 'Best Of' collection of Johnnie's classic 1950s Columbia recordings. A great value package that includes all the original versions of his big hits as well collector favorites and rarities, like his duets with Doris Day and Frankie Laine, all in great sound. A generously full 30 track CD designed by and for Johnnie Ray fans!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extensive Cross- section of Johnnie Ray's Career Hits, February 10, 2000

By 

patricia m dryburgh - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cry (Audio CD)

Although this collection has since been eclypsed by the two boxed sets chronicling Johnnie Ray's extensive range, this is an impressive offering. It has examples of the many sides of Mr. Ray although it is heavy on the novelty tunes with not enough of what I think made his style so memorable. I would have liked to have seen a little more blues and jazz numbers. Nobody could deliver a soulful lyric like Johnnie Ray. However, as a collection it is still worth while if the collector does not cheat themselves out of witnessing what made this performer so great, his passionate delivery of heartfelt blues and jazz. Don't let this be the only Ray Cd in your collection, but search out the others that are more representative of his unique style. Dispite the reservations due to the subsequent boxed sets available, this is an excellent CD and well worth having.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE FORGOTTEN JOHNNIE RAY, July 7, 2010

By 

Franz Douskey "franz douskey" (Nesbit, Mississippi) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cry (Audio CD)

A PROPER INTRODUCTION TO JOHNNIE RAY is just that: a solid collection of early recordings and best selling hits by one of the remarkable innovators of what later was called Blue-Eyed Soul. Recordings like "Whiskey and Gin," She Didn't Say Nothing At All,"and "Tell The Lady I Said Goodbye" feature The Wolverines, the house band at THE FLAME CLUB, a Detroit nightclub where Johnnie Ray was the only white performer. Johnnie Ray's stage presence was powerful, at times standing while playing piano and wailing songs like "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried." A few live takes are on You Tube.

Johnnie Ray's reign as a best-selling artist lasted only a few years. He got stuck with Mitch Miller at Columbia who wanted Ray to record "novelty songs." Mr. Miller was a very successful arranger, who forced Frank Sinatra to record the dreadful "Mama Will Bark, and brought us "Mule Train," "Come On A My House." Miller teamed up Johnnie Ray with Doris Day. Imagine the move from working in a funky Black nightclub, in Detroit, to singing with the very talented but different-styled Doris Day. From that point Johnnie Ray's USA career spiraled downward; however he remained hugely popular in Europe, and in particular, in England.

Johnnie Ray put full emotions into his performances, often falling to his knees and crying on stage while his audience screamed approval. He was the creative bridge between the post-war crooners and the rhythm and blues singers who were about to take over the recording world with a "new" sound from the small independent labels,like Atlantic, Duke-Peacock, Chess-Checker, Apollo, Savoy and Imperial.

This recording represents some of Johnnie Ray's best takes. A good place to start.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ray-son to spend $125--It's All Here & It's All Good, May 23, 2011

By 

David Federman (Narberth, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cry (Audio CD)

Amazon reviews are frustrating because multiple collections are often lumped together under one heading and the reader has no idea of what to make of comments from discouraged listeners who are disappointed at omissions or criteria used for selection. So let me start out by saying this is a review of "Cry," Bear Family's comprehensive, completist collection of Johnny Ray's recordings for Columbia between 1950 and 1955. Let me also add it is a gem and a joy to own because Ray is one of those singers who makes 2nd and 3rd rate material his own. With an artist of Ray's stature, I want to listen to his entire output rather than have someone pre-screen it for me and decide what is worthy for me to hear. I don't see songs like "If You Believe," "My Love for You," "A Heart Comes in Handy," "How long How Long Blues,"or "Weaker Than Wise," to cite a random selection of obscurities that caught my ear, on a lot of anthologies. But I'm sure glad I heard them. If you feel the same way, then there is no other choice but to buy this album--even though it will cost you a minimum of $125 if bought new. As far as I'm concerned, the re-mastering justifies the $25-per-cd price. Yes, perhaps I could have done without the live album, but I don't mind its presence. And maybe Mitch Miller didn't, as Ray complained, know how to record him, but I think these records do that unclassifiable style of his justice by allowing it a wide array of settings. Certainly, singers like Elvis learned more than one or two things from him in terms of delivery and projection. Just listen to "Such A Night." In any case, Ray earned the mania of fans. I, for one, take him seriously now and consider his versions of standards like Alec Wilder's "Give Me Time" as good as any ever made. Indeed, I hoped I'd find other Wilder treasures here other than those three I already knew or had heard about. If immersion is your thing, dive into this set.