The music of the genius
Ray Charles
The latest
Ray Charles was commissioned to perform the theme song for the 1967 movie In The Heat Of The Night. The result was the first song on the soundtrack LP, and a single was released on ABC Records as well. But fans will need both discs, for they are two completely different versions of “In The Heat Of The Night”. The Movie In The Heat Of The Night The movie starred Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. The film, a pissed-off and in-your-face exploration of race in America, won five... [read all]
Ray Charles and Ginie Line duet on the French-language "Ensemble" from 2002. It was released in France as a CD single and the duo performed it live on TV.
"A Bit Of Soul" is a Ray Charles tune recorded in 1955 and released in 1961. Split into two halves, it shows Ray's versatility with a unique arrangement.
"The Sun's Gonna Shine Again" finds Ray Charles in an unconvincingly hopeful mood. It was the A-side of an Atlantic single in 1953, his second-ever.
"Mississippi Mud" is a fun, jaunty singalong that Ray Charles covered on his first album for ABC Records, The Genius Hits The Road, in 1960.
Album of the day
Ray Charles released the album Come Live With Me in January 1974, his first non-jazz album in almost a year and a half. It featured one side of slow, orchestrated ballads, and one side of faster R&B numbers. Sid Feller arranged the songs on Side 1. The album was preceded by a teaser single, “Come Live With Me”, in October 1973. [1] Come Live With Me opens with the ballad “Till There Was You” from Meredith Wilson’s play The Music Man, and... [read all]
Song of the day
“Over The Top” is a lovely song pulled gently along by a laid-back beat and oozing synthesizers that swirl in slo-mo like honey. In anyone else’s hands the song might calcify into dull soft rock irrelevancy but in Ray Charles’s hands it becomes an absorbing thing of beauty. It’s Ray’s scintillating electric piano that really dominates this performance from his wonderful 1988 album Just Between Us. That keyboard sits high in the mix and provides a conspicuous... [read all]