Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Classics from one of the all time greats, you can't go wrong

The strings and chorus are a bit much, but it’s still a pretty good album. Ray Charles was a very charismatic singer.

Dit is vast invloedrijk en klinkt prima uitgevoerd, maar het is alles behalve tijdloos. Klinkt -enorm- oud en daarnaast ook een tikkeltje saai.

To be able to enjoy c&w classic songs by Mr. Charles is a surprise for me

This is #day646 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… time to close out another artist, as this is my second and final record by Ray Charles. Those big-band numbers, especially those upbeat ones, always remind me of Leland Palmer singing during the creepiest moments of Twin Peaks. Nothing personal, just a vivid association. Otherwise, a fine one-off late-night listen. Let it be a 3 out of 5. Looking forward to #day647.

It’s so… polite. His voice is great but the songs aren’t really there and it’s not interesting whatsoever. I only listened to the first installment because believe me, I’m not fixin to spin 74 straight minutes of the most nothing music ever. Also, is this even country? I really want to know. I don’t hear any country sounds here, other than the occasional choir that sounds vaguely country-ish. It’s also like the same song over and over again. I like some of them but it’s all so samey that I can’t really pick out any songs without knowing deep down that they’re all the exact FUCKING same.
5.7/10

I saw a review that said this album was a reverse Elvis. And that's spot on. He took music and made it his own. It's such a wonderful listen.

It’s a very cool album. Just lovely to sit and listen to. Not really Country at all tbh.

The backing singing style is very 50s easy listening and is jarring with Rays vocals. Other than that I can’t fault it.

4

I clearly wasn't mature enough when I listened to it for the first time, it's actually really classy, really good, even the length doesn't bother me.

Good takes on classsics. Not sure I would call them country and western at this point, but it was a great list of standards and Ray does them justice. Not groundbreaking, but solid.

This is country? It sounds like a melding of jazz and R&B, but with Charles' country drawl. I can somewhat hear it; a lot of the slow songs remind me of Patsy Cline (i.e. Crazy). I guess country back then was more orchestral-flavoured than it is now. (3.5-4)

It was alright at first but then something clicked and it got so good. Imagine walking around a city, like the idealised version of Paris or somewhere else you see in old films, down a path in the park with lantern-like streetlights and black metal benches whilst this plays.

This sounds strangely old and comforting.
Like something from a grandparent’s collection which now would be great-grandparent’s collection.
Nobody makes albums like this anymore.
I wonder why?
Perhaps this kind of music has finally aged out to be relegated to the past and brought out only for nostalgia’s sake because I don’t think I will ever want to listen to this like baroque music or dixieland jazz.
I wonder if young people could ever be impressed by the fact that this album is made by real musicians, probably in one take?!

There is a lot in here that reminds me of my grandfather. I'm probably not going to listen to it again, but it does make me happy

Favorite track(s): You Don't Know Me, I Love You So Much It Hurts, Hey, Good Lookin'

I absolutely hated this one, literally every last thing about it lol.

Potentially part of the problem, and this is definitely a me problem, is that all I know of Ray Charles is his appearance in The Blues Brothers. I love that performance of Shake A Tail Feather and I was expecting something more like that.

Jake Blues: So, what kind of music do you guys normally have here?
Bartender: Oh, we have both kinds - Country and Western.

Listening to this reworking of country standards into the big band and soul genres is really not the point of this one. This album had a tangible influence on making country music more mainstream and making black music more palatable to white audiences in the early 1960s. It was an important album in those respects and should be celebrated as such.
But musically, it’s very dated and feels repetitive, partly because of the material and partly because of the sheer number of songs and the similarity of the orchestration on them. Much respect to this album, just not going to be listening again.

ou, é fortissimo hein
até mei country, mas gostosim demais de ouvir. o home era bom.

I'm not sure about modern - his cover of Bye Bye Love sounds more old-fashioned than the Everly Brothers version. The backing vocals in particular really date this, but Charles' own voice is timeless.

Ray Charles! I liked the tracks like "It Makes No Difference Now" that were mainly him singing with a horn section, and the others with him on piano. As we all already know from other stuff he recorded, he was an incredibly gifted musician.

However, I just couldn't deal with the strings and backup singers on a number of the songs. If I had a higher tolerance for the droopy music of the 50s and early 60s I'd give it 4 stars for the songs and its importance in the context of the period, but what can I say.

So, 3 stars. Looking forward to other records by him.