The Definitive Ray Charles

In advance and in addition to his pop music appeal Ray Charles fused the genres of R&B, soul, gospel, jazz, blues and country. As well as his immediately recognizable rasping soulful voice he was a brilliant arranger and his recordings are full of heartfelt atmosphere. During the second half of the 20th century Ray Charles made some 80 albums and many more singles, and this double CD `The Definitive Ray Charles' presents an inspired collection of 46 numbers. All my stirring favourites are here including 'Hit The Road Jack', `I Can't Stop Loving You', `Born To Lose', `Your Cheatin' Heart' and `Take These Chains From My Heart' plus many more - starting CD1 with an early jump blues success as `Mess Around' and ending over 2½ hours later on CD2 with John Lennon's haunting `Imagine'. The Amazon product page lists all numbers but I direct attention to the various genres and treatments by the genius Ray Charles.There is plenty of R&B and a representative example is `I've Got A Woman'; a spiritually orientated track is `This Little Girl Of Mine'; a blues flavour is `A Fool For You'; and an overlap with pop is `Hallelujah I Love Her So' - all 4 being Ray Charles' own compositions. There is also a hint of rock and roll with his famously significant `What'd I Say' which was originally spread across both sides of a hit single, and Ray Charles as talented instrumentalist on electric organ for a jazzy `One Mint Julep'. But Ray Charles also stamped his unique approach on standards as `Georgia On My Mind, `You Are My Sunshine' and `That Lucky Old Sun'. He performed his own versions of hits by others as Johnny Cash's bewailing `Busted', or Buck Owen's folksy style `Crying Time' or Quincy Jones' expressive `In The Heat Of The Night'. Before `Imagine' there are more transformations of Beatles compositions with `Yesterday' and `Eleanor Rigby' and rearrangements from further famous musicians such as The Blues Brothers for a bouncy twister `Shake Your Tailfeather' or Willie Nelson's country gospel style `Seven Spanish Angels'. And there is much more - these CDs are definitely definitive Ray Charles.

C D arrived early in excellent condition ..l was surprised that it was a double c d.& l cant stop playing it!!! Rays voice is just so heartfelt..every song is beautifully sung My heart melts on some of the songs.. I can't recommend it enough. So beautifull. Its a lovely trip down memory lane. A must for any fan of ray charles ( or otherwise)

The CD is in perfect and mint condition... I mean it's Ray you can never go wrong. The double CD is a must have of every Ray Charles fan.

Great seller and a smooth experience, product exactly as described and also dispatch was smooth. I will surely buy from seller and also recommend too as well

Had this CD before, but lost it. It is a great CD.However, CD1 was so badly scratched it was unplayable after track one. It looks like it was cleaned with sandpaper.

I am not a great fan of Ray's but I cannot fault his cover versions of the country hits included here, the are brilliant and it must have come a bit of a shock to all those country stars to hear Ray's personal versions, they simply blow me away. The album is a cert for his fans and really if you are a true Ray Charles fan how can you not buy it.........5stars all the way!!

It all arrived in very good condition. I was surprised that he recorded so much music.I have not been able to listen to all of it yet.Thanks again

Second CD was missing