Golden Classics: If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody

James Ray

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 30, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B0000008LD
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,594 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Soul before the term was invented, July 29, 2005

By	Arrow - See all my reviews

I first heard this music in 1963 when I bought the LP. Never heard of James Ray before or since, but this is wonderful. i was so pleasantly surprised to find it on CD. It's a very emotional collection with a rendition of Teach Me Tonight that is the best I've ever heard. The upbeat songs will be running through your head for days after listening. And his voice and phrasing are unique. This is one you'll listen to again and again.

4.0 out of 5 stars James Who?, August 5, 2007

By	A Customer - See all my reviews

That's the reaction your apt to get if you bring up Ray's name in any discussion about recording artists of the early Sixties. And, given that he had exactly two charted hits, I suppose that's to be expected.

Born James Ray Raymond in Washington, D.C. in 1941, he began recording in 1959 for the small Gallant label without success, and was allegedly living on the street when discovered by Gerry Granahan's label, Caprice.

In 1962 he took a song penned by Rudy Clark, If You Gotta Make a Fool Of Somebody, to # 10 R&B and # 22 Billboard Hot 100 in January, with magnificent support from Hutch Davies & His Orchestra [Maxine Brown would later take it back to the Hot 100 charts (# 63] in 1966). The flipside was It's Been A Drag.

The Davies band was also present on his next, and only other hit, Itty Bitty Pieces which just missed the Hot 100 Top 40 by leveling out at # 41 in May b/w You Remember The Face, although it made no impact at all on the R&B charts,

Further success then evaded him completely in stints with Congress, Dynamic Sound, and Barr.

As with a lot of one- or two-hit wonders you can probably find the two hits on multi-artist compilations. But even so, this is a nice package delivered by a man who, had he come along at an earlier date, might have endured. Unfortunately, like many others, he too ran into the early phases of the British Invasion and was consequently brushed from the charts.

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars for The Man's Best, December 15, 2004

By	Eclectic Revisited "Charlie" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

If you have a knowledge of music, you'll recognize "I've Gor My Mind Set on You" as a cover of James Ray's song by George Harrison and JR was the first but not the last to do "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" (1961). There is the standard "St. James Infirmary" and a good but less successful hit, "Itty Bitty Pieces". This is all good listening and if you don't know James Ray, it's time you met.