 Ray Charles Figured I'd give Ray Charles a shot. Wasn't impressed. This album is so overdone in terms of strings and choral background vocals that it makes it easy to dismiss Ray Charles as a pandering sellout, although I'm not sure what he was selling out exactly. The man is equipped with a fantastic voice, sure, but it's not always a good singing voice; it doesn't pay off for Ray to play it safe. The best tunes I've heard by Ray Charles have been ones where he's really belting it out – this album (another oft-heralded "classic") doesn't do Ray or the songs any justice. "Busted" and "Where Can I Go?," which open the CD, are both excellent songs, but things go straight to hell immediately thereafter. "Born to be Blue" is as sappy as it gets, then Ray offers a turgid interpretation of "That Lucky Old Sun" with what sounds like the Harry Simeone Chorale backing him up. There's some high notes here that Ray shouldn't have even attempted. He's a genius of inflection, but not great with the big sustained notes. Sounds almost like when my grampa fell out of the shower and we had to have his head sewn back on. "Ol' Man River," another bad choice. Half of this album sounds like it's from some MGM musical, which is fine when I want to listen to an MGM musical, but not when I've been promised a "recipe for soul." "Ol' Man Time" uses the same melody as "Mack the Knife" but isn't awful in and of itself, but then there's "Over the Rainbow" (back at MGM again) and a seriously bad "You'll Never Walk Alone" in which Ray actually blows the last note. I mean, were they pressed for time or something? You don't record "You'll Never Walk Alone" and miss the last note. Part of the problem is that these songs are so familiar that in every case there's a version I like better. Have a Smile With Me is a bit better, but still pretty over-arranged. The songs are more bluesy and in some cases, surprisingly fun ("The Man With the Weird Beard," "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane"). Some of the fun is kind of forced ("I Never See Maggie Alone") and self-consciously "charming." Other songs are legitimately enjoyable. "Two Ton Tessie" is a pretty hilarious song, and very catchy, but not worth the price of admission. Why is it no one really makes songs about fat people anymore? Big disappointment on this one. It is, to look on the bright side, well packaged and annotated; too bad the music is so dated and plastic. I have finally learned the lesson that not all reissues are as good as they look. Oh well. I won't write Ray Charles off yet, though; I'm sure he has a good album somewhere. But then, I don't expect to be seeking it out anytime soon.
Review by Joan Tarr Whimsée |