Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

1962

ABC/Paramount Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Bye Bye Love  2. You Don't Know Me  3. Half as Much  4. I Love You So Much It Hurts  5. Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long Way)  6. Born to Lose  7. Worried Mind  8. It Makes No Difference Now  9. You Win Again  10. Careless Love  11. I Can't Stop Loving You   12. Hey, Good Lookin'           

Again, I'm a bit out of my element here...I'm not really knowledgeable about Ray Charles, so I decided to look up a little bit of backstory on this album...Maybe give myself a bit of context before I discussed it...See, I bought this album for two reasons: 1. I wondered what Ray Charles playing country music would sound like... 2. The cover was so red that I had to own it...It was the only album I had ever seen that was redder than Weezer's red album... It turns out this is one of those situations where context completely changed my perception of an album....Here's my context-free opinion...This is me coming home after a trip to the record store, a 30-pack of Bud Light in one hand, an armful of Damned albums, Discharge singles and a copy of "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" in the other...I crack a beer, toss the Ray Charles on the turntable and think, "This is country music?!"    Where were the songs about Skoal imprints in yer tight-fittin' jeans? Where were the red solo cups?  ...or the mud on the tires? Where was the "Love it or Leave It" jingoism?! The sister fuckin'?!? The high illiteracy rates?  And isn't "Bye Bye Love" a rock n' roll song?! All I heard was big band/ dinner club music and Disney Soundtrack ballads...I did enjoy it in a dry martini/Sunday hor d'oeuvres  kind of way...Big, fat pillow music with pristine production...But there was no way around it. I considered this Grandpa music...It had never crossed my mind that this would have been a radical, controversial, downright groundbreaking album at the time... Cos guess what? Our Grandparents were in the middle of some shit! Apparently as recently as the 1960's the fact that a black man would cover an album of "white" music was a shocking proposition. "Oh, my! Ray Charles is singing a syrupy version of " I Love You So Much It Hurts "! What's this world coming to?! I think I'm going to faint?!" This seemingly benign collection of fluffy orchestral pop suddenly became an unwitting political statement and in this light "Worried Mind" is suddenly took on a whole new meaning.... But it turns out this was something that both black and white ears could both agree on. Folks of all colors united and sent this record to the top of the charts, helping to break down some of the racial barriers built into the heavily segregated music biz of the 1960's...And guess what? Ray didn't end up destroying the C&W genre...He ended up re popularizing it...So stick them corn-squeezin's in yer jug and drank 'em... So yea...There's a couple different ways to hear this...If you want to view it as an important historical document, that works...If you want to listen to this as a relaxing album of cool, chilled out music, that works too..Although my guess is that the only people who might not get this would be country fans, since it doesn't especially resemble any country music I've ever heard...No steel guitars, no banjos, no twang... But if you're interested in hearing Ray Charles in a more plush, sophisticated surroundings you'll probably dig this... Here's "Worried Mind" by Ray Charles...Have a great Friday Night everyone!

Ray Charles: What'd I Say?

Ray Charles: What'd I Say?

1959

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. What'd I Say? (Parts 1 & 2)  2. Jumpin' in the Mornin  3. You Be My Baby  4. Tell Me How Do You Feel  5. What Kind of Man Are You  6. Rockhouse (Parts 1 & 2)  7. Roll with My Baby  8. Tell All the World About You  9. My Bonnie  10. That's Enough


I probably have no business even talking about a Ray Charles album since I know next to nothing about him,but I figured it would be something different to talk about than the usual punk, heavy metal and Captain Beefheart albums...I actually bought this for my wife who was with at me at the record store that day and said she wanted it...I thought the cover was cool as hell, so we threw it on the pile...

Now here's everything I know about Ray Charles:



1. I know he did those "Diet Pepsi Uh Huh, Uh Huh" commercials that were always on TV when I was growing up...

 2. I know he drove a bus in the cinematic masterpiece "Spy Hard"...

3. I know there's nothing wrong with the action on the piano...

 4. I know about the thick, rich Jamocha shake..."Oh, it looks good! At least, I think it looks good (Hardy har har)"....

5. I know I heard the following exchange between my two bosses (who were an elderly married couple) at the pizza place I used to work at circa 1999-2001:

 Carol (to her daughter) I got Lee and I tickets to go see Ray Charles in concert next week...

 Lee: (sticks his toungue out) Bleh! There's something about that guy that just doesn't turn me on...

Boss' Daughter: It doesn't sound like Dad wants to go...

Carol: Oh, yes he does...

Boss' Daughter: He just said he doesn't like Ray Charles...

Carol: Oh, he doesn't know what he likes! That's why I always have to tell him!

 6. I know about that old SNL Beethoven sketch...

7. I know my Mom has a copy of the Ray Charles Christmas album...And that one of the songs is in the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie...


...aaaannnnd that's it...Maybe I should watch more Jamie Foxx movies...What special place (if any) does this "What'd I Say?" album hold in the vast Ray Charles discography? I dunno...What was its cultural importance? Was it considered a hit? A flop? I dunno...Never met a single other person who's ever heard it...All I know is what's in the grooves...

Hey! The title track is the same song that's in the Beethoven sketch! Ray's voice, electric piano and some fairly amazing drums are the big stars here...This is some seriously funky shit considering it predates funk and very likely predates Soul music as I know it...That growly electric piano is one of the greatest sounds in music history...So alive and leering and charming...

Nothing else on the album really comes close to the title track, but how could it? The next track, "Jumpin' in the Mornin'" seems to derail the momentum a bit...A meeting of boogie woogie R&B and big band-ish swing, with the band mixed so far in the background that they come off as a bit of a soft thump, despite Ray's spirited vocal performance.  It isn't until "You Be My Baby"  that I was able to get a proper handle on the album: Lively, rocking R&B with nice clear instrumentation...Sure, that guttural electric piano sound I loved so much is MIA for the remainder of the album and one can't help but wonder how much ballsier some of these songs would sound if they were graced by that deep, gritty sound...But oh well...

Outside of the title track, the only other song  I would consider out-and-out great would be the instrumental "Rockhouse." I guess it's no coincidence that the two album highlights are the only places where the band gets to stretch itself a bit with looser structures which encourages lots of neat-o jamming...Something about Ray's slightly off-time piano playing on this track is so damn tasty that it makes me want to take a big bite out of the record...CRUNCH! (Come to think of it, he also fits in a pretty good piano solo on " Roll with My Baby)...

I'm always kind of surprised at how much I enjoy this record when it's playing...I'm not normally a big fan of this type of thing, but the band keeps things loose and rockin' most of the time, only bogging down briefly on  "What Kind of Man Are You."  But even that one's not terrible...I'd call this a good Saturday Night record...When you're a little buzzed but not on the same debauched level as a raging Friday Night...On Friday night you want loud guitars...Raucous singalongs...But on Saturday Night you're a little cooler...Laid back, head swimming,  but having a good time nonetheless...

Here's "What'd I Say (Parts 1 &2)...Enjoy...