20. Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)

1. Let the Good Times Roll

2. It Had to Be You

3. Alexander's Ragtime Band

4. Two Years of Torture

5. When Your Lover Has Gone

6. Deed I Do

7. Just for a Thrill

8. You Won't Let Me Go

9. Tell Me You'll Wait for Me

10. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'*

11. Am I Blue *

12. Come Rain or Come Shine *

A-

I know a lot of strange purists will get annoyed with me, but I generally prefer CDs to vinyl. The sound is clearer, and you don't have to get up and turn the damn thing over, wipe the needle, and suffer through a bunch of hisses and pops. Although I suppose records are less likely to skip. Anyway, one thing I do like about vinyl is that the LP format lets artists release, in effect, two twenty minute mini-albums that can be listened to independently. This is what Ray Charles did with The Genius of Ray Charles (a slightly hubristic title, though mostly warranted). The first half is all brassy big band arrangements, while the second half brings things down a notch with a string section and backing choir (amusingly described in the Book as "sexy mermaids", which is pretty apt).

Apparently this is soul music. I'm not really sure what that means. To my ears, the album has one foot in the past and another in the future. Rather than the sort of Nelson Riddle arrangements we've heard so far, the first half of the album is all raucous, jazz-inspired trumpets and thunderous rhythm sections that owe as much to R&B as they do to swing. The arrangements are all danceable, even on the softer numbers, and it's clearly a party album . "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" are absolute monsters, widescreen technicolour songs that leap out of the stereo, grab you by the shoulders , and force you to dance. It's pretty great.

Side two, however, is where the really good stuff is. Ray Charles doesn't have the world's greatest voice, but what he does have is a truly extraordinary ability to communicate the emotion of a song. The whole second half of the album is world-weary and poignant, full of ruminations on the highs and lows of love. And the last three tracks are some of the most beautiful ever recorded. Charles' vocal on "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'" perfectly captures the resignation and bitterness of someone cutting someone loose. On "Am I Blue", his voice quakes and quavers through the lines "There was a time I was your only one/Now I am the sad and lonely one", transforming a fairly unremarkable lyric into a heart-wrenching declaration of loss. And then there's "Come Rain or Come Shine", which is just a beautiful song, although I can't listen to it these days without thinking of its use in The King of Comedy.

Anyway, all the songs on this album are good, but not all of them are particularly good, and that's why I'm only giving this an A- instead of an A+ (plus then what would I give Pet Sounds? An A++?). In addition, the album is kind of scratchy-sounding, and the arrangements occasionally overwhelm the songs. This is part of its charm, though - Charles and Co take some serious risks with this music, and while it doesn't always pay off the rewards are well worth it.