Ray Charles - Ultimate Hits Collection (2CD)
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Ray CharlesEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-03-16
Music Label: Rhino / Wea
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Mess Around
- I Got a Woman
- A Fool for You
- Greenbacks
- Drown in My Own Tears
- Hallelujah, I Love Her So
- Lonely Avenue
- Ain't That Love
- Night Time Is the Right Time
- What'd I Say, Pts. 1 & 2
- Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
- Them That Got
- Sticks and Stones
- Georgia on My Mind
- Ruby
- One Mint Julep
- I've Got News for You
- Hit the Road Jack
- Unchain My Heart
- But on the Other Hand Baby
- Hide nor Hair
- At the Club
- I Can't Stop Loving You
- You Don't Know Me
- You Are My Sunshine
- Don't Set Me Free
- Take These Chains from My Heart
- No One
- Busted
- Crying Time
- Together Again
- Let's Go Get Stoned
- Yesterday
- America the Beautiful
- Seven Spanish Angels
- I'll Be Good to You
Free Music Notes for Ultimate Hits Collection (2CD)
Free Music Review: From the fifties to the eighties - it's all here
Hit: 5 Stars
There are plenty of Ray Charles compilations to choose from - some focusing on a particular era or a particular aspect of Ray's career. This particular compilation combines his fifties music (recorded for Atlantic) and his sixties music (recorded for ABC-Paramount) on one collection - it also includes a few tracks from more recent times.
The most famous of his early songs is probably the often-covered Hallelujah I love her so. What'd I say and I've got a woman are among the other great songs from Ray's fifties music that are included here. Ray wrote all three of those songs, although he also recorded songs written by others even then.
It is the sixties with which Ray will be forever associated and which is most strongly represented here. Despite Ray's ability to write his own songs, the two songs for which he is best remembered are both covers. Georgia on my mind is a Hoagy Carmichael song from 1931, while I can't stop loving you is a country song written by Don Gibson. In both cases, Ray did them his own way, broadening their appeal considerably.
I can't stop loving you was one of many country songs that Ray adapted to the R+B style. Some of his fans deserted him, but these recordings gained him more fans than he lost. What Ray showed was the main difference between different styles of music was the presentation - not the songs themselves. Among other country songs adapted to R+B are You don't know me, You are my sunshine, Take these chains from my heart, Busted, Crying time and Together again.
Among his other great recordings of the sixties are Hit the road Jack (with Margie Hendrix), Unchain my heart, Let's go get stoned, Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby.
After the sixties, Ray's success was limited, but he still had the talent. In 1984, he recorded a country album of duets with various country singers - it really was a country album, unlike his sixties covers. That album is represented here by Seven Spanish angels - a duet with Willie Nelson. Another (non-country) duets from the eighties, I'll be good to you (with Chaka Khan), rounds off the collection superbly.
This collection is one of the best compilations of Ray's music I've come across. It is worth noting that Rhino released a similar but not identical UK double CD (Definitive). Many of the songs are the same but I particularly like Baby it's cold outside (a duet with Betty Carter) and That lucky old sun, both of which only appear on the UK set. However, there are other great songs here that are missing from the UK set. Only dedicated Ray Charles fans will worry about the differences as all the essentials appear on both.
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