Customer Reviews

Hallelujah I Love Her So

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The other reviewer must have typed his review in a padded room in your local mental institution. What we have here is Ray's first actual album re released on cd. Anything he put out before this was a single. It is a great purchase for someone looking to collect original Ray albums. All the songs are outstanding and in my personal opinion Ray's Atlantic years were among his best. To say that he hadn't come into his voice at this time in his career is like sayin that nacho's don't taste good. Every song on this album is outstanding, it's a win win for the buyer so slide your mouse to the right and add it to your shopping cart before I buy them all!

I remember having this album in my house as a child. My father was a huge fan of jazz, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles. Once I heard this album I was hooked. From that point on I wanted to play piano and I became a Ray Charles fan. Yeah me a 5 year old interested in piano and Ray Charles. I do agree Atlantic was the label for his best material vocally and instrumentally showing his jazz/blues licks on keys. Also as a child I had albums before he went to Atlantic (on the SwingTime label) which I thought was also fascinating material. So if you are a Ray Charles fan I would suggest you pick up "The Birh of A Legend 1948-1952" if you can find it. That will give you a pre-requisite of his musical virtuosity (chops if you will) and vocal genius to imitate Nat King Cole and Charles Brown (hence the song "Funny But I Still Love You" giving his Charles Brown imitation on this album, now CD).

This is a great album and actually is a compilation of his singles between 1952-1957 (I'm only in my early 40's but I know my music, yes). His voice really didn't shape until 1957 and anything before that I guess he was just experimenting and having fun. I would suppose from '57 up to this point he finally found his voice. In any case, this is and was Ray Charles. I would suggest picking this one up, for all you Ray Charles fans.

Brother Ray was just about to enter an era of nearly unparalleled greatness when these tracks were recorded in the early-to-mid '50s. Unfortunately, "just about" in this case means Hallelujah, I Love Her So is hardly essential. Don't misunderstand me, none of these songs are bad ... in fact, the title track, I Got A Woman, and Greenbacks are solid precursors to the rootsy soul music that was to come ... but it's clear that Ray hasn't yet found his voice. I suppose an appropriate comparison might be to the early Stones albums, like 12x5 and Rolling Stones Now. These albums are entertaining and certainly have their moments, but by and large they're noteworthy as foundation pieces.

If you're a Ray Charles newbie, I suggest starting with Ray Charles Live, The Genius Of Ray Charles, or Genius + Soul = Jazz and then work your way through his late '50s/early '60s catalog.

There is only one review so far that is what Amazon.com is actually going to send you. This is not the album you will find as the re-release of 'Ray Charles' as 'Hallelujah I Love Her So!' if you look it up on Wikipedia. This is not the singles compilation that had the early singles such as 'I Got A Woman', 'Drown in My Own Tears' or even 'Hallelujah I Love Her So!'!! I actually can't find this album anywhere online - the only mention of this actual release is the review below that claims it to be Ray's first real album.

I'm not sure though - I just read Ray's discography on HIS website and Wikipedia and these songs seem to be a compilation from other albums.

That being said all the music is good, I mean its Ray Charles, I just don't know what this is...there are no liner notes.