Customer Reviews

Definitive Ray Charles

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There are plenty of Ray Charles compilations to choose from - some focusing on a particular era or a particular aspect of Ray's career. This particular compilation is the first to combine his fifties music (recorded for Atlantic) and his sixties music (recorded for ABC-Paramount) on one collection - it also includes a few tracks from more recent times.

The most famous of his early songs is probably the often-covered Hallelujah I love her so. What'd I say and I've got a woman are among the other great songs from Ray's fifties music that are included here. All those three were written by Ray, although he also recorded songs written by others even then. Fans of Ray's fifties music will need to buy a compilation devoted to those recordings - on this set, there are just 15 tracks from this era (about right for this compilation).

It is the sixties with which Ray will be forever associated and which is most strongly represented here. Despite Ray's ability to write his own songs, the two songs for which he is best remembered are both covers. Georgia on my mind is a Hoagy Carmichael song from 1931, while I can't stop loving you is a country song written by Don Gibson. In both cases, Ray did them his own way, broadening their appeal considerably.

I can't stop loving you was one of many country songs that Ray adapted to the R+B style. Some of his fans deserted him, but these recordings gained him more fans than he lost. What Ray showed was the main difference between different styles of music was the presentation - not the songs themselves. His re-interpretations of country songs are represented here by tracks 1 to 7 and track 9 of CD 2. Actually, he'd dabbled with the idea in the fifties, as his cover of I'm movin' on (CD 1, track 13) shows.

Among his other great recordings of the sixties are Baby it's cold outside (a duet with Betty Carter), Hit the road Jack (with Margie Hendrix), That lucky old sun, Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby.

After the sixties, Ray's success was limited, but he still had the talent. In 1984, he recorded a country album of duets with various country singers - it really was a country album, unlike his sixties covers. That album is represented here by Seven Spanish angels - a duet with Willie Nelson. Other (non-country) duets from the eighties are also included - Shake your tailfeather (with the Blues brothers) and I'll be good to you (with Chaka Khan).

The collection closes with an outstanding cover of Imagine, recorded for a French TV commercial in the late nineties.

This truly is the definitive Ray Charles. You get a wide selection of his output from his early recordings to his eighties duets with the likes of Chaka Khan as featured on Quincy Jones' 'Back on the Block' album. Ray Charles' songwriting is superb, with the early stuff very clearly influenced by Gospel and church music of the time, but with his own twist. If you've seen the film 'Ray' you will know just what to expect and this doesn't disappoint. If you haven't seen the film, buy this anyway as it has some great blues and soul on here and should be in anyone's collection. I also recommend the film for those who like this album, as it provides a good insight into Ray and his music. This truly is the definitive collection and is a joy to listen to.

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I decided to keep the product even though, for the 2nd time, [disc one] will not read on any system. [Tried on Bose Wave, RCA, and auto car stereo].
There is clearly a manufacturing defect with the recording process for this CD.

The 2nd disc has some great music, but this batch should be reinpected before another customer gets defective merchandise.

As always, Amazon handled the return of the first order with speed, security, and accuracy.
I will continue to shop with them.