Ray Charles: "Country and Western" recordings

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Yakov · #1 Post by **Yakov** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:55 am

Don't be fooled by the title: this is SOUL music! I'm pretty sure it's stuff that most swing DJs haven't touched. But not with good reason! I'm listening to the first disc, and this shit is nothing if not groovy, funky, swinging SOUL music that any fan of Ray's earlier stuff should love! There are also plenty of ballads and more country-sounding tunes but they're great too, for listening... but the gems are a-plenty! "Bye Bye Love" and "You Are My Sunshine" send me! Wow

Maybe the pages are just missing from the library's copy... but could it be that this box set omits a sessionography with recording dates and original appearance information? That's an inexcusable oversight... sloppy and horrible. You can sort of piece together the info from the essay, which is very well-written, but there should also be a list!

Budget-minded sDJs should notice the orig. LP with a few songs from Volume 2:

caab · #2 Post by **caab** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:27 am

I'm glad you brought this up, with all the recent interest in Ray Charles I found the country recordings irrisistable...my faves are "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Hey Good Lookin'."

Jerry_Jelinek · #3 Post by **Jerry_Jelinek** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:49 am

Thanks for mentioning this Yakov.

This is my all time favorite Ray Charles LP (CD).

The Gerald Wilson arrangements are dynamite. I seem to recall Marty Paich did some of the arranging also.

Some top notch dance stuff on the disc along with some beautiful ballads.

A true winner for both listening and dancing.

#4 Post by **JesseMiner** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:29 pm

Definitely great stuff. I play "Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long Way)" more than any other Ray Charles tune. When asked, people are always surprised about what album it comes from.

Jesse

Yakov · #5 Post by **Yakov** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:24 pm

it's funny, i've had the LP for years, inherited from my grandparents, but I never put it on. I figured it would be really bad. (Just like his producers!)

julius · #6 Post by **julius** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:08 pm

you really like exclamation points. :)

Yakov · #7 Post by **Yakov** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 6:40 pm

hey, some artists just call for them!

another exclamation point-worthy comment:
I read in the liner notes to this box set that by the time of these recordings Ray Charles was basically doing ALL the work. He would play and sing the entire arrangement onto a tape for the "arranger" to transcribe for the musicians. He recorded the orchestras and mixed everything himself. And of course, he picked his own material and programmed his own records. There's an anecdote in the notes that one time, the band sat down to record a number and found out the arranger had used his own ideas instead of the ones that Ray had sent him. So with the studio clock running, Ray dictated the entire arrangement to each instrument from the piano, rehearsed it, and recorded it without running into overtime!

He was a genius!!!!!