The Genius of Ray Charles

A great blues album, but not my favourite from Ray Charles

Now that’s what I call jazz

It's Ray Charles, you know what you're getting. Fantastic voice. But as with the other album of his on this list, the record just doesn't blow me away. I mean I liked it but it just kind of washes over you. 3/5

This one displays Ray’s great talent and vocal ability. He really could do it all.

But what he did here was a little boring. I hope we get some of his rockers on this list.

Of course, it's Ray Charles, so undoutedly a decent set o'pipes. Didn't give me the feelz though.

What an amazing, amazing voice. Crazy to think he was just 29 when this was released. He already sounded like an old jazz and blues legend. Plus, his piano playing is as smooth as his voice. Every track is good, but I particularly loved the mellow mood of side two. I thought about pulling a point away for repetition - every song on side one has high trumpet shakes and every song on side two has schmaltzy strings (and sometimes cheesy backing vocals). But I'm giving that point back, because Brother Ray is a joy to listen to, and this is his only album on the 1001. Favorite tracks: Let the Good Times Roll (no, not the Cars song, but this one's great too!), It Had to Be You (sure it's a standard, but he owns it), Just for a Thrill, Tell Me You'll Wait for Me, Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'.

Rimelig arrogant titel.. ved godt at det er over 70 år gammelt og det er måske hjulpet lidt på vej af at jeg lige har set Fallout, men det er lidt for old-timey for mig. Svært at vurdere om det burde være på listen, men man kender jo navnet Ray Charles...

I feel like Ray Charles has better albums from this time.

The kind of music that is fine, but just difficult to listen to after two songs

3.5

Not bad. Seemed to start slowly for me, but maybe I just got distracted while working. Probably wouldn't return to it, but not off-putting at all. 3/5

Ray Charles was a gift to us all, and I almost wanted to give this album a five just for being him. That said, it’s big band Ray, not blues-y Ray, which I think is a shame. There were several ballads on here that I feel didn’t show him off at his best, so I’m downgrading it by one star and praying that there is a five star Ray album on this list.

Not quite what I expected from one of the progenitors of rock and roll. Besides “Let The Good Times Roll” this is mostly Charles as a crooner, which isn’t a bad thing. I especially enjoyed the string-accompanied second half of the record.

The first half is big and bold but sometimes woozy and swoony brass band full of glorious horns just bubbling up. RC delivers a hot vocal performance that brings it to a boil. It's big band jazz arrangments of classic blues. The second half is piano ballads with string adornment that cool it all the way down. This verges more into schmaltz, but the depth and range of the vocals overcomes the corny studio treatment its subjected to.

That is very good

An amazing voice. Some fun big band backing to go along with it.

I had the misfortune of listening to Ray's "Modern Western" album before this and disliked it immensely. This album has much more character, talent and personality. The songs do all suffer from similar themes, but they are distinct enough. The first and last song are great openers and closers. 3/5

Really soild album from one of the early pioneers of popular music. Charles showcases a unique blend of blues, jazz soul and gospel. But in comparison to modern music this does feel a bit dated now. One that’s worth a listen but won’t be making my frequent rotation list.

The first couple tracks didn't do much for me, but the more the album went on the more I really liked the somber and string-filled tracks. He's got a great voice, and the choir enhances the songs rather than feeling unnecessary, something that happens too often in this era of music. Piano is great too, jazzy without being overwhelmingly nonsensical. Sure, it's mostly dinner party music, but it's pretty, I could see myself liking this a lot more as time passes, but I already like this quite a bit.

Más o menos entretenido, pero no le he prestado atención. Supongo que darle 2 estrellas es justo por el interés que me ha producido. Buena calidad en el sonido. En este disco solo había una de las canciones más escuchadas de él así que tendré que buscar si hay algo que le haga más justicia.