The Genius of Ray Charles

Pre Listen:
Ray Charles, cool. I've listened to a song of his here and there, and I like it well enough. Higher expectations than usual, let's see what we got here.

Notable Tracks:
Am I Blue - Least favorite track on here. It starts well enough with the violins and soft flute, and the instruments maintain quality throughout, I just get bored of the lyrical whingeing.

Post Listen:
I like Ray Charles, but I liked the big band backing him a bit more than the things he did himself. Still, that was a good album.

Every section of the band played their roles well, great harmonies. The bass and violins stuck out to me as particularly notable. Ray Charles' piano work is superb, though I'm not a huge fan of his voice. It's not bad, just not amazing I think.

Another classic artist with a sweet little album. 4/5

Ray Charles showing off his vocal skills here. Still a little overproduced, over-orchestrated. Let the man cook!!! He is at his most comfortable on the straight 12-bar blues. More of that, more R & B.

Surprising to see how high the rating is for this on here. Like a cold glass of water on a hot day, really refreshing.

Well...this is obvioulsy good. However, I find it hard to rate this very high. It is good, but I"m not a big fan. Overall, I tend to prefer the more stripped down songs rather than the ones with a big band.

Ray Charles has some absolutely fantastic music and Come Rain or Come Shine is a perfect example of just how good he can be. The rest of the album is solid but doesn’t really reach the same heights

I don’t think I’m going to suddenly explore the entire Ray Charles discography, but he has been one of the most pleasant surprises in this whole endeavor. I’m a little sad—which is ridiculous, nothing is stopping me from listening to him—to be done with his entries now.

The front half is fun, even if the recording quality isn’t great. The second half kind of lost me with one ballad after another.

Cozy

would pair well with a glass of whiskey

Some big band songs followed by ballads. Ray Charles has a really great voice but I didn't like the strings it was a bit too much for my taste.

Favorite Songs: Let the Good Time Roll

Completely justified album name

Ой важко мені сприймати музику Рея Чарльза більш ніж щось фоново-архаічне. Втім пару пісень додав собі у плейлист.

I honestly had higher expectations! Somehow even with all its big horn sections, the album fell a bit flat for me.

Standout: Alexander's Ragtime Band

This one kinda flipped back and forth between being some great, Falloutcore-esque music, and more bluesy stuff that I'm not crazy for. So overall, just kinda middling for me, but still a good album.

Aujourd'hui, on va parler d'un disque qui porte bien son nom, The Genius of Ray Charles. Rien que le titre, ça pose le bonhomme, car il faut quand même avoir une sacrée paire de baloches pour sortir un album en s'autoproclamant « Le Génie ». Imagine un type aujourd'hui qui fait ça, il se fait dézinguer sur les réseaux en deux minutes. Mais là, on parle de Ray, et Ray, il ne demande pas la permission. Il pose son cul sur le tabouret, il plaque trois accords, et il te ferme ta gueule.

Cet album, c'est le moment où Ray Charles décide qu'il est trop grand pour une seule étiquette. Il veut tout, le jazz, la soul, le blues, et même les violons qui font chialer les ménagères. Et le pire, c'est qu'il y arrive. C'est énervant, non ?

L'album est divisé en deux, comme un cerveau bien équilibré. La face A, c'est le côté « Big Band » qui te rentre dedans avec Quincy Jones aux arrangements. A ce moment, le mec n'était pas encore le producteur de Michael Jackson, il était juste un génie en devenir qui savait faire sonner une section de cuivres comme un peloton d'exécution. Ça swingue, ça transpire, c'est d'une puissance absolue. Quand les trompettes démarrent sur « Let The Good Times Roll », tu as juste envie de renverser ton café et de danser sur la table. C'est précis, c'est sec, c'est du travail d'orfèvre.

Et puis, il y a la face B et là, on change d'ambiance. On éteint les projecteurs, on allume une clope (virtuelle, hein), et on sort les cordes. C'est Ralph Burns qui gère cette partie, et on est dans le pur style « crooner ». « Trop sucré », « trop hollywoodien », diront les pisse-froid. Mais écoutez bien la voix de Ray, elle ne triche jamais. Même au milieu d'une forêt de violons, sa voix reste ancrée dans la boue du blues. C'est ça, la magie du type. Il peut chanter n'importe quoi, ça sonne comme une confession.

Cet album, c'est le disque parfait pour comprendre l'ADN de la musique américaine moderne. Ray a pris le sacré (le gospel) et le profane (le blues) et il les a fait baiser dans une ruelle sombre. Le résultat, c'est la soul. Et sur cet album, il pousse le concept encore plus loin en y ajoutant le prestige du jazz orchestral. C'est une démonstration de force.

Je vais pas vous faire le détail morceau par morceau, on n'est pas là pour faire un inventaire à la Prévert. Mais prenez « Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin' ». Si vous ne ressentez rien à l'écoute de ce truc, allez consulter. Sérieusement, c'est d'une tristesse magnifique, porté par une interprétation qui frise l'indécence. Ray ne chante pas la chanson, il la vit. On sent chaque goutte de pluie, chaque regret.

Alors oui, c'est écrit « The Genius » sur la pochette. Et c'est pas du marketing de bas étage, c'est juste un constat clinique. Ray Charles est capable de passer de l'euphorie la plus totale à la mélancolie la plus crasse en l'espace d'un changement de face. Il maîtrise les cuivres comme un général d'armée et les cordes comme un poète maudit. Et son piano... bordel, son piano. C'est l'extension de ses doigts. Il n'a pas besoin de faire des démonstrations techniques de dix minutes. Chaque note est à sa place. C'est l'économie au service de l'émotion.

Alors pourquoi "seulement" 4 et pas 5 ? Peut-être parce que la face B est parfois un peu trop « sage » pour mon côté irrévérencieux. J'aime quand ça gratte, quand ça bouscule et ici, c'est tellement parfait que ça en devient presque intimidant. Ce n'est pas un disque de révolte, c'est un disque d'affirmation. Ray dit au monde : « Voilà qui je suis, et je vous emmerde si vous trouvez ça trop ambitieux ».

Dans la liste des 1001 albums, celui-ci est une pierre angulaire. Sans lui, pas de soul moderne, pas de pop orchestrale telle qu'on la connaît. Ray a ouvert des portes que personne n'avait même osé regarder. Il a abattu les cloisons entre les genres avec une élégance rare. Et il l'a fait avec un sourire en coin, derrière ses lunettes noires. C'est ça, la classe.

Alors, si vous voulez vous faire une culture, posez-vous sur cet album de 1959. Écoutez la dynamique, écoutez les silences, écoutez la voix de ce mec qui a tout compris avant tout le monde. C'est brillant, c'est parfois un peu pompeux, mais c'est toujours sincère. Et la sincérité, dans ce milieu de requins, c'est ce qu'il y a de plus rare.

Pour résumer : La face A vous botte le cul. La face B vous caresse la joue. Et au milieu, il y a Ray, le génie absolu, qui rigole. C'est un disque qui impose le respect. C'est de la musique, de la vraie, faite par un mec qui n'avait rien à prouver mais qui a tout donné.

Note : 4 / 5. Parce que le génie, ça ne se discute pas, ça s'écoute. Et cet album est la preuve irréfutable que le titre n'était pas usurpé.

Love the movie, “Ray” but I’ve never heard his music frfr. This was an extremely beautiful album that seamlessly transitioned from one song to the next. His beautiful voice paired with the medley of instruments made this something special. 10/10

1001 Albums Vol. 0036: The Genius Of Ray Charles
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Introduction: ...Woah...it felt like I kinda wasn't in my own body for a second there. I don't know...it was like I could see through my eyes, hear through my ears, but not talk through my mouth. It was kinda like some...unknown wise being took control of me for a second there when I first saw Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden on that album cover....Yeah, I felt a lot wiser too. Almost as if I had knowledge of the whole universe on the brink of my mind that was just a flick away from truly focusing into my brain....yeah...all of that sounds about right...maybe it's a sign of some kind. It was just so extraterrestrial yet human at the same time a-and...I feel as if I'm getting a message from...the beyond that's telling me that...I was high...Yeah, most likely explanation for that. AND NO, DEA! I already said I don't have any illegal substances and never have. It was probably second-hand from my neighbors since they think that doing it is "the coolest shit in the world man." Yeah, so like I said before DEA, don't even try it!...Yeah...that's probably what happened. No God would want to possess my body...but maybe...no! Alright, enough, focus! Where are we now? Well...holy shit...is Elvis skinny again...and is that woman wearing a pillbox hat? And do I hear the Louvin Brothers infamously annoying voices??? Are we...seriously back here again??? Aren't there only supposed to be like twenty albums from this decade or something??? Why is the generator bringing us back here so often?...Oh well...I mean, I generally expect most of these from the 50s era to be pretty weak anyway so let's just see what we got here this time I guess...hopefully something other than Folk or Country-based Folk...Oh well...this is interesting. Ray Charles huh? Can't say I've heard of him before. Let's just get a few facts about him and his album here.......OH...well this is certainly going to be an interesting one. I'm pretty sure this is the first artist that we have come across on this list that I can confidently say...or at least confidently restate from what I see online...actually invented a whole new genre of music. Not "helped make it mainstream" or "shifted the entire scene of it." No. Like, Ray Charles is the FATHER of an entire genre of music. And it's one of the bigger genres of music too....I'll give your brain like...however long it takes to process these words and dots to guess............................................Or you processed the words and then took like a whole minute to decide because you're a cheater who's no fun. But I mean like...fair though. What the hell am I going to do to stop you through indirect text on a screen that I don't even know anyone is ever going to read? Though oddly enough quite a few people have read my At Fillmore East of all that I've written and 17 different people have decided to give it a like. I mean like...out of all the albums I've written about so far...that's the one that I'm most known for on this site???? Some of my others have gotten like one or two likes but...At Fillmore East, Seriously?...Okay, seriously though, I do genuinely appreciate all the random people who actually read even a little bit of what I write on this site. I do genuinely love the discovery of music and writing these in a way that I am both proud of and a way that I would consider to be...well...myself and my personality through text can get genuinely kinda exhausting at times. Like, seriously, thank you, thank literally anyone who stops by to read just a second of these. It does mean something to me..............Alright. Anyway, now, with that said...Soul music was invented by Ray Charles!!! Yay! Did you get it right??? Well...I'll never know because there's no way for you to tell me! Yay to that too! Alright, but anyway, yeah. Ray Charles invented Soul music, a genre of music that really kinda is one of the bigger and more recognized genres today. I'm not going to get into the specifics of what Soul music is here as I'm sure we all have at least a basic idea of how it sounds. Just know that Ray Charles is the father of Soul, alright? Good. Now, before THIS specific album, The Genius Of Ray Charles, Mr. Charles was...well...a pretty big name...but his name wasn't anywhere near as big as it was after he released this album. Yeah, so basically, Ray Charles pioneered the most basic form of Soul music in the mid-50s and then this album essentially served as the breakthrough of both his name and of Soul music into the mainstream. Why? Well, this was Charles's first album to mix the genre he had already established with many of the huge mainstream genres of the time. Basically, this album is considered important because it is what essentially brought Soul to the mainstream via combining the genre with already mainstream genres. Yeah...so...we're not going to be listening to the first Soul album ever made...but rather the one that brought the genre to mainstream. Which...really is kinda weird because I would consider an album that invented an entirely new genre of music to be more important than one that gave it mainstream attention but...I digress I guess. But...now comes the question. As stated above, Ray Charles made a distinct shift in his sound with this album from the more obscure and "pure" form of Soul into one that intentionally was made to sound much more appealing to a wider audience. Was this change any good? Or is this album going to seem like more of a desperate attempt to introduce a genre of music an artist established to a wider audience? Was this change really deserved at all, or should Ray Charles either have stuck with his original sound or evolved it in a different direction? Well...as I almost always say, let's just go ahead and see.
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Track 1: Let The Good Times Roll: 8/10
Track 2: It Had To Be You: 7/10
Track 3: Alexander's Ragtime Band: 7/10
Track 4: Two Years Of Torture: 6/10
Track 5: When Your Lover Has Gone: 6/10
Track 6: Deed I Do: 7/10
Track 7: Just For A Thrill: 7/10
Track 8: You Won't Let Me Go: 5/10
Track 9: Tell Me You'll Wait For Me: 6/10
Track 10: Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin': 7/10
Track 11: Am I Blue: 7/10
Track 12: Come Rain Or Come Shine: 8/10
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Conclusion: Yes, no, maybe to put it bluntly....What? What am I talking about? Oh. I was answering the three questions I proposed above in a very direct and blunt way. You're welcome. I probably cut down a very long and unnecessary tangent for you to read there by being blunt. I saved you some time and expect you to repay the price by getting this review to the number 1 spot for this particular album! Let's go guys, we got this! All you have to do is smash that like...no, thumbs up button! It helps out a ton and is completely free!...This album wasn't free back when it was released though. (Stupid way to transition, I know. Let me do what I want!) It apparently cost $3.98 for the mono version according to Rather Rare Records. Which...you know...is literally less than the price of some Thank You cards nowadays but....Anyway, yeah, the album. Um, well, I guess I'll go ahead and start with the first side of the album and only the first side for now seeing as the two sides of this album use completely different musical styles. I'll get into Side B later but I thought I might as well describe both sides separately seeing as they're very distinct from one another. Alright, so, Side A of the album. First we'll dive into its music....And...well...Mr. Charles decided to go Big Band here. You know, the kinda music that utilizes a lot of blaring Jazz instruments. The genre that I know more as a distorted mess since I love The Caretaker than what the genre actually is...yeah...that genre. It's a genre that I didn't have nearly any experience with before this album, yet I found it decently pleasant throughout. You have all of what I would imagine to be the essentials in terms of Big Band music here: huge horn crescendos, some sly and jazzy buildup, backdropped percusion that can take the foreground in crescendos, and purely ecstatic energy radiating from the various instrumentation. Yeah, I think that's a pretty accurate description of Big Band for ya. You also And...well...that honestly is kinda all there is to say about the music here. I mean, Ray Charles is playing a piano on some tracks too, but we'll get to that in a minute because I want to pair that with something else I have to say. Anyway, the album, while sounding musically pretty decent throughout, really doesn't do all too much to change up what I just described above across the entirety of the A Side. You can listen to Let The Good Time Roll and you'd have already listened to about what 80% of the other tracks on the A Side have to offer. I mean...uh...there's like...a different percussion instrument used in Alexander's Ragtime Band. It sounds kinda like wood is being hit. And uh...When Your Lover Has Gone sounds kinda soft compared to the other tracks? But yeah, that's about all the variety you're going to get in terms of music. And I know that this was Ray Charles's first time writing Big Ba-...or wait...no....Okay, I did not see this coming in a million years. Quincy Jones, a producer we've seen before on Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, wrote and conducted the Big Band segments across the A Side of this album...? Really? Look, I know the 50s were a completely different time for music and all, but I mean...you would really think that a legend like Quincy Jones of all people would be able to write something better than...this....Like I said, the Big Band is not bad at all across individual songs, but the exact same sound, exact same energetic tempos, and exact same sounding crescendos can pretty tiring pretty quickly. And Quincy Jones of all people? Wow. I would have expected better from him. I may have to move him down from legend to just...medium rare status after hearing his contribution to this album. So, yeah, basically to sum it up, the musical aspects of the A Side of this album are pretty alright across individual songs, but can get somewhat tiring to listen to on an album level. It's a problem that we've seen plenty of times on here before, and one I'm sure we'll see many, many times again. So, with the musical aspect of the A Side mostly established, let's move onto the lyrics pretty quickly....The lyrics are pretty decent at best. They're pretty typical lyrics you would see from the 50's in which you can kinda grasp the entire premise of the song from like the first or second line and then the song just keeps building and expanding around that premise for the rest of its runtime. They're nothing really all that special either in terms of the topics they cover, something that I would probably dislike immensely nowadays but works perfectly fine with the 50s. Let The Good Times Roll is about...well...letting the good times roll, Alexander's Ragtime Band is about coming out to see...well...Alexander's Ragtime Band...same joke but I don't care, and Two Years Of Torture is about not getting over a breakup in two years time. They're simple, extremely dated, yet only get a pass since they were written in the 50s. Now, with that said, despite being written in the 50s, there is something that I still can't really give a pass to here. That being the fact that there are some tracks on the album, especially in the first half, where the lyrics and music actively clash with each other over what they want to accomplish. I've actually already described an instance of this above. Two Years Of Torture tells the tale of someone who has been heartbroken about a breakup for two whole years, yet the Big Band never stops to sympathize with this imaginary person and just keeps on rolling with the crescendos anyway...or more specifically Quincy Jones never stopped to sympathize since he wrote those segments for the album. Alright. Medium rare down to just well-done. You'll only earn your legend badge back after Thriller. Got it Quincy? Good. Now sit, you don't get to stand with the legends like David Byrne or Robert Smith as of right now. Good boy....alright, so Quincy Jones aside, yeah, there are some moments where the lyrics and music are at war with each other. This is more apparent on the first side of the album than on the second, but it is a recurring issue across the record nonetheless. Regardless, the lyrics still remain pretty consistently decent across the entire record. But holy shit, the same thing can absolutely not be said about the production. Quincy!!! Oh wait, nevermind, you didn't produce this album. Alright, side back down, you're not out of the doghouse yet and probably won't be for a very long time. So anyway, yeah, the production on this album is a complete mixed bag. It's pretty well-done and soulful on the B Side but the A Side is a completely different story. You remember all of those crescendos I described earlier? Yeah well, while they are pretty energetic and all, they also sound...well...abysmal at times. And this doesn't necessarily just apply to just the crescendos either, there are plenty of calmer moments too where the Big Band sound just terribly produced. You remember how I mentioned Ray Charles's piano playing earlier? Yeah, that's finally coming back into play here after like 1,000 words later. Well, while he doesn't play piano on every song on the A Side, it's actually kinda hard to tell Ray Charles is even playing piano on a few of the A Side tracks at all because of how loud the Big Band is. Like, it drowns pretty much everything else out at times and sounds very unbalanced compared to just about everything else in the studio. And yes, this was the 50s but like...that's not an excuse either. I know for a fact that Miles Davis was able to perfectly balance the sound of his trumpet with all the rest of his instrumentation in his 50s albums, so why couldn't Ray Charles do the same? Look, this record is going to get a ton of leniency from me just because of the time at which it was released, but this is something that absolutely does not get a pass in any universe. Hell, I'd say even the Louvin Brothers did a better job at producing Tragic Songs Of Life than Ray Charles did here. And that's really saying something because if you didn't know...well...Tragic Songs Of Life is...certainly something. It's just...the production could have been a lot better, okay? Alright, now with all of that out of the way, let's finally move onto the B Side and discuss a few things there. So first things first, music. What did Mr. Charles do differently here from the A Side? Well, this side of the album leans much more into the soulful melodies that Ray Charles was already known for while having a bit of a 50s pop edge to them. You have much more slow and melodic ballads, an entire backing chorus, and a greater focus on Ray Charles's piano which is great cause I know the piano was mad it wasn't getting any attention on the A Side. And honestly, this style works a lot better for the album than the Big Band style of the A Side did. The songs about tragedy and heartbreak continue here, so the more laid back and emotional style of music works really well here in unison with the lyrics. The production is also just way, way better as well. You can clearly tell that whoever produced this album was clearly more experienced with producing relaxed and slow melodies than huge ones. Also, I haven't mentioned it yet, but Ray Charles's style of singing works really well here as well. And I'm talking about on both the A and B Sides. He manages to make his voice have a more energetic and raspy tone to it throughout the A Side to match the tone of the music all while retaining the distinctive soulful style of his voice he was already known for. And, of course, since the B Side is much more soulful, he sounds great on that side too. He tones his voice down a bit to a more relaxed and emotional state which works really well with the material on this side of the album. His voice is honestly one of the only consistently good things across the entire album, which while sounding like an insult, is an actual genuine compliment from me seeing as we've come across some pretty terrible singers on this list before....Microshift...what? Who said that? Ah, it was probably the wind. The wind really has been hating on that album a lot lately. I think it said something about it when I was listening to Bayou County too but I can't quite remember...Eh...it must be in the same boat as everyone else that Microshift really does not deserve to be on this website. Now that I'm thinking about it though, I really do need to go back sometime and edit some of my track ratings for the albums I've already reviewed. Because looking back, Negative Space absolutely does not deserve a 10/10 at all. Like holy shit I seriously do not know what I was thinking then or where I was at mentally to praise that song that much...But uh...where were we? Oh right, Ray Charles is still in the room with us. Uh, he's giving me what kinda looks like an angry glare now....Oh...okay, I'm sorry Mr. Charles. This review is about you and not about an album 50 years in the future...I'm sorry. So um...right, the B Side. Well, the B Side does kinda suffer from the same problem that the A Side does in terms of consistency. You remember what that problem is? I know this has been a pretty long review so you may not. Well, if you don't, the B Side, while featuring enjoyable tracks, suffers from its music feeling a bit TOO consistent across its entire runtime. Like with the A Side, pretty much everything I described above regarding the music is really all that the B Side has to offer. So like with the A Side, I found myself feeling kinda ready for the album to be over when I was getting close to being done with the B Side. Again, no song is really bad here by any means, but it does get to a point where the simplicity of it: lyrics, melodies, predictability, really starts to test your endurance rather than be an enjoyable experience to listen to. Really, one of the best moments in the entire album is when you reach the shift from the Big Band sound to the more soulful sound. I mean, it really shouldn't be, but the shift in style really just feels like a breath of fresh air...though the walls start closing in and the air becomes filled with fumes again by the end of the B Side anyway. Eh, maybe I'm just being a bit too critical here since this album is pushing the 75 year mark...Jesus fucking Christ...but I don't know. I'm not and never have been huge into the 1950s, so I really have no idea how anyone would "properly" rate an album from an age when the album was so much simpler. Are all of my criticisms here actually considered good things by everyone on the face of the Earth? Maybe. I don't know, but I'm probably going to get to know quicker than I want to since the generator seems to love to keep hauling me back to this era. But...um...yeah, that's about all I have to say about this album. It's certainly an album, that's for sure. Oh...Ray Charles is glaring at me from the corner of the room again. Um...well...let me rephrase. It's a "good" album. You did more right than you did wrong on here, Ray Charles. You brought your soulful voice and Soul as a whole to a wider audience as well, so who couldn't love you for that?...Okay...he seems to have calmed down. Well...you're dismissed now, Ray Charles. You have permission to hang out with uh...well...you can hang out with uh...I don't know. You can hang out backstage with Anthony Kiedis or maybe...Jack White if you wanted to. You certainly aren't going in the doghouse like Quincy Jones is, b

An enjoyable record, though one that never fully settles into a clear identity. The first half leans into vocal jazz and big band arrangements, while the second shifts toward a lusher, more string-driven take on the R&B and soul style Ray Charles is better known for, giving the album a somewhat split personality. Both styles work well enough on their own, but the contrast can make the overall experience feel a little uneven. One pleasant surprise, though, is the production — despite being an early stereo release, it avoids the exaggerated channel separation that dates so many recordings from the era.

Love Ray Charles but didn't find this anything more than "nice." The arrangements are good, but not great, the songs good, not great. I think Ray's a compilation guy, unfortunately. Still a good listening experience, but I'm looking for his great stuff.

It’s good but won’t ever revisit.

Really nice to listen to.

Some of the recordings of the beass were a bit too loud and you could hear this in the production.

Also glad to hear that there wasn't much of the annoying backing vocals but there was some...