Tracks: Bye Bye Love//You Don't Know Me//Half As Much//I Love You So Much It Hurts//Just A Little Lovin'//Born to Lose//Worries Mind//It Makes No Difference Now//You Win Again//Careless Love//I Can't Stop Loving You//Hey, Good Lookin'
Hooray! He's back! A storming, jazzy groove complete with thundering drums and big, joyous sax, and out burst just about the happiest backing vocalists you've ever heard to declare at the top of their voices
Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I'm going to die!
This is one of the swingingest, most upbeat songs we've had yet, and Ray Charles is clearly insane.
One of the best things about this whole venture is that it's introduced me to The Genius of Ray Charles, and now the Genius is here again with another very fine album. Granted, it's also a very different sort of album (something the title has probably clued you in to). Ray Charles had by this point moved over from Atlantic to ABC, securing in the process an astonishing contract that guaranteed him complete artistic freedom. In a wonderful and truly cracked gesture, Charles decided to release an album of pumped-up, swinging covers of country & western standards. The image of a black guy in a dinner jacket belting it out from beside the title "Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music" was probably a bit confusing to some country fans, way back in 1962. Of course in these enlightened days we know far better, what with the vast profusion of black country & western singers pouring out of America and topping charts around the world. But, back then, it may have been something of an oddity.
Of course, the shock value is reduced somewhat by Ray's straight-laced interpretations of the songs. I can just imagine the chagrin of the label execs - "Oh, so you've added a soul groove and funky snare drum to 'You Are My Sunshine', Ray? A bit old hat, isn't it?" That song wasn't actually on the original album, having been added as a bonus track, but that's a pity since it's really an amazing tune. I won't review it though, since I'm like that.
Anyway, putting all that aside Ray Charles does a great job here. The production is much cleaner and more evenly balanced than it was on The Genius of..., which is great since the arrangements here are even bigger and fancier than they were on that album. Swooping backing vocals, massive beds of lush strings, heavenly choirs, funky bass, funky brass, and Ray's excellent piano work all wrap around one another like wicker work, and Ray sits in the middle and spills out all these sad little tales of woe. It's such a strange album, and pulls-off my favourite trick of being suicidally depressing in its lyrical content while for the most part just being so much damned fun. Did Ray Charles invent the Cure? Let's ask Siouxsie Sioux!
Oh, but then there are the sad parts too... The big wooshing strings-and-choir opening on "Worried Mind", for example. And then along comes Ray's piano (you can actually hear the piano on this album!) and, ah, it's just lovely. But god those strings sound beautiful, drenched in reverb and such. And Ray sounds great, too, his voice far lower and more... woody? on this album and providing a lovely contrast with the music.
Look, I can't really thing of much else to say about this except that it's brilliant and you should buy it now if you don't already own it. It's a glimpse into a strange and beautiful world where people can mix Sinatra, Marty Robins and Count Basie . It's such a clever way to blend genres and it deserved the massive commercial success it received. Hell, I downloaded this from the internet but I am going to order a copy on eBay right away!
I don't have a credit card and so I cannot use Amazon.
Ah damn it no-one is selling it.
I'm going to JB Hi-Fi.
9/10
Download: Ray Charles - Makes No Difference Now Mp3
No comments:
Post a Comment