This compilation claims to be an audiophile pressing and offers 20 well-known tracks by Charles. As a musician and entertainer, Charles was certainly an all-rounder, offering a variety of pop, blues, jazz, R&B and gospel. Often it sounded as if he was using all those categories in one record.
Hit The Road Jack, heard here, was number one in the R&B and pop charts. In fact, most of the selections here were well placed in R&B and pop charts in their day. Georgia On My Mind is given the full rhythm and blues treatment, as is What’d I Say, parts one and two no less.
For jazz enthusiasts, tracks 3, 4 and 5 are ideal, with Charles in full vocal flow and that charging big band of his swinging away merrily. I Wonder is another jazz-based piece with Ray duetting with singer Betty Carter. The usual suspects, such as Hank Crawford, Fathead Newman and Marcus Belgrave, are featured on some tracks although there is no full listing of personnel and dates.
The music covers Charles’ output from roughly 1954 to 1962, in New York and Los Angeles and has a very good running time for vinyl. Modern vinyl seems to manage up to an hour for a single record quite easily, so the album is good value if you are heavily into Ray Charles. No less a contemporary than Frank Sinatra claimed that Charles was the only true genius in show business.
Discography
I Can’t Stop Loving You; Hit The Road, Jack; Unchain My Heart; But On The Other Hand, Baby; Hide Nor Hair; At The Club; Who You Gonna Love; Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying; Night Time Is The Right Time; Hallelujah I Love Her So (21.57) – Georgia On My Mind; Carry Me Back To Old Virginny; California Here I Come; Basin Street Blues; Alabamy Bound; Together; I Wonder; Drown In My Own Tears; What’d I Say Parts 1 & 2; I’ve Got A Woman (28.12)
Number One Essentials 291002
