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Ray Charles - Ray Charles Live Audio CD

A fair review of the Ray Charles "Ray Charles Live" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ray Charles reviews here, or go back to the Ray Charles tabs.

Ray Charles Band: Ray Charles
Title: Ray Charles Live
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Hot Rod 2: Blues Waltz 3: In a Little Spanish Town 4: Sherry 5: Night Time Is the Right Time 6: Fool for You 7: I Got a Woman 8: Talkin' 'Bout You 9: Swanee River Rock (Talkin' 'Bout That River) 10: Yes, Indeed! 11: Night Time Is the Right Time 12: Frenesi 13: Spirit-Feel 14: Tell the Truth 15: Drown in My Own Tears 16: What'd I Say

Scary good
This is a horn-centric CD. Um, er, buy it?

I don't dig horns. It is perfect. Ray is/was the man, it's very simple. Endorphin City.


The Greatest of the Genius
I first heard the "Live in Newport" half of this CD in 1959 in northern Sweden. The other reviewers are right, this IS the heart & soul of Ray Charles. A young Swedish girl played it for me. 100's of times. It shaped the way I hear music, set the standard, especially "The Right Time" and "Tell the Truth". Why did Ray stop making this kind of music? Only explanation I can think of is that he was following the market. To tell the truth, I don't know that many people even today who can really relate to it. The Beatles, yes, but these unbelievable songs, no. Seems they just ain't got soul. So it's to nice hear stories of people with whom this music STUCK. It IS music for a lifetime.


Original LIVE tracks you can't find anywhere else
Just those two songs are enough reason to buy the album. This album has the best live recordings of Ray's classics "A fool for you" and "Drown in my own Tears".


The LP/CD Issue
The first question I looked at was which order works. The LP begins with The Right Time 4:06 to open one concert; then picks it up again to start off the second concert which was recorded in mono. I have owned the LP for years, but I cannot say which order is accurate - maybe going back to the orginal 2 albums might give a hint.

Either way these live recording match the power of Ray Charles at the height of his powers. It also shows that he has sax skills to match his piano. I saw him do it here in Seattle a couple of times.

So the order is different. If it really irks you, then import them into iTunes and arrange them to match the LP. That's what I did to SGT. Pepper.

The CD is great, but Ray Charles continued to evolve as an artist. Check out The Best of Ray Charles. So I drop a star for dropping and adding and rearranging the CD version. Still, at this price and after seeing RAY, this is where the performances live.


The best CD ever
The Ray Charles set was one of many. As a junior in high school (Druid Hills), I and several of my classmates attended the radio station WAOK 25th anniversary show at Herndon Stadium in Atlanta (1959). The show was and remains the best I've ever seen, but the performance by Ray Charles, his band and the Raylettes was without equal. The energy of "What'd I Say", "tell The Truth" and "Night Time Is The Right Time" was incredible. The set was recorded on a WAOK monural tape recorder and later played over the air. The response of the radio audience was overwhelming, resulting in the ultimate release of the Atlantic album (which we bought at the Central Record Shop at 5 points, on the day it was released). We were white teenagers who loved the music played on WAOK (a predominately black station) and even then we realized it was never going to get any better than
Ray Charles on a May 1959 evening. I still can't believe he's gone, but then I crank up "What'd I Say" or "Tell The Truth" and the years melt away. . .
.


You can see a complete list of all Ray Charles discography, or go back to the Ray Charles tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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