{"id":427,"date":"2011-01-20T05:47:28","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T10:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=427"},"modified":"2011-01-20T05:47:28","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T10:47:28","slug":"album-review-ray-charles-rare-genius-the-undiscovered-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/01\/20\/album-review-ray-charles-rare-genius-the-undiscovered-masters\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Ray Charles – Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"

During his lifetime, Ray Charles<\/strong> released something like sixty albums of original material; that doesn\u2019t begin to include hundreds of compilations, posthumous releases, guest spots, reissues and the like. With a recording career that spanned from 1949 until his death in 2004, Charles masterfully traded in a variety of styles, creating a few of his own in the process. With all that work, it was inevitable that some good studio material remained in the can and unreleased.<\/p>\n

Concord Music handles Charles\u2019 catalog these days, and has been responsible for a passel of fine (and thoughtfully annotated) expanded reissues in recent year. Concord\u2019s VP for A&R John Burk<\/strong> went through the archives at Charles\u2019 old studio, R.P.M., and discovered masters dating back as far as the 1970s. Twelve of these tracks have been compiled on Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove\u2019s Gonna Bite You Back\u201d dates from a 1980 session, and a disco shuffle vibe is evident in the drum accompaniment. But it\u2019s an upbeat song, and the listener may be left wondering why it wasn\u2019t deemed satisfactory for release thirty-odd years ago. \u201cIt Hurts to Be in Love\u201d is another good one, in a more jazz-soul vein, and according to the liners, Charles knew it was worth releasing: not long before his death he had compiled it onto a tape for possible release. The horn charts are particularly tasty.<\/p>\n

A 1972 session produced \u201cWheel of Fortune.\u201d A fully developed string section and some amazing piano work from Charles \u2013 and yet more punchy horns, judiciously applied \u2013 keep things moving. \u201cI\u2019m Gonna Keep Singing\u201d is less impressive, with an arrangement that feels too retro and too contemporary all at once; it\u2019s vaguely reminiscent of some of Donald Fagen\u2019s<\/strong> post-Steely Dan<\/strong> work, with a Charles vocal that comes off more as self-parody than anything else.<\/p>\n

The quality standard is reestablished with the blues \u201cThere\u2019ll Be Some Changes Made.\u201d Jazzy guitar and some expressive B-3 work are just some of the track\u2019s highlights. Even the dated synthesizer work is appealing in its own way. \u201cIsn\u2019t it Wonderful\u201d is a soulful pop tune; its chord structure fails to break any new ground, but it\u2019s a sturdy vehicle for typically fine vocal work from Ray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Don\u2019t Want No One But You\u201d has the feel of a late-night set closer. Its gospel-inflected arrangement fits the song well. The horn charts lean a bit towards Las Vegas \u2013 you\u2019ll possibly picture Ray in a tux on this one \u2013 but strong backing vocal parts make it a full-realized track.<\/p>\n

Among Ray Charles\u2019 myriad talents was his ability to synthesize different American musical forms into something uniquely, well, Ray Charles. He does it again Country-style on Hank Cochran\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cA Little Bitty Tear,\u201d recorded in 1983. Like Sinatra<\/strong> and only a handful of others, he makes the tune his own. \u201cShe\u2019s Gone\u201d is a more straightforward pop-country number; it\u2019s not bad by any measure, but it pales in comparison to the other tracks on Rare Genius<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The disc concludes with the track that has gotten the most press: a reading of Kris Kristofferson\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cWhy Me, Lord,\u201d a 1981 duet with Johnny Cash<\/strong>. The Billy Sherrill<\/strong> production means that to some extent the tune would sound as it does regardless of who plays on it, but Cash\u2019s lead vocal and Charles\u2019 piano add some character back\u00a0 <\/span>into this by-the-numbers Nashville production piece.<\/p>\n

A bit of sonic twiddling was applied to some of the tracks; the producers felt it necessary to \u201cfinish\u201d tracks that had the basics but weren\u2019t quite polished enough for as-is release. The list of sessioners included guitarist Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019<\/strong> and nine or so others. With the noted exceptions, their presence is subtle and they don\u2019t call attention to themselves, which is as it should be. If you didn\u2019t know, you\u2019d think these were all finished long ago. Thank goodness that Concord \u2013 thoughtful stewards of Ray Charles\u2019 recorded legacy \u2013 located these gems and brought them to release.<\/p>\n

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<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During his lifetime, Ray Charles released something like sixty albums of original material; that doesn\u2019t begin to include hundreds of compilations, posthumous releases, guest spots, reissues and the like. With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}