Hello, rider of the day at the Tour was Steve Kruiswijk who lead solo for 70km but 3 km before the top of Alp D'Huez he got passed by Chris Froome being chased down by Tom Dumoulin, later rolls got reversed and Tom got away with Thomas in his wheel then he made a big mistake as did Thomas, they stopped cycling and Froome, Bardet and Landa caught up and joined the sur place, others further back caught up and came in shortly after the finish of Thomas who won back to back mountain stages this one in the yellow, still he might regret not making a deal with Tom because together they might have seen Froome 30/40 seconds back, which would enhance his position in the Sky team and chances of winning this tour.
Today's artist is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray". He was often referred to as "The Genius". Charles was blind from the age of seven. He pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records.In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".... 'N Joy
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By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a full-scale big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to cross over into mainstream pop with such a level of creative control. This success, however, came to a momentary halt during a concert tour in November 1961, when a police search of Charles's hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, led to the discovery of heroin in the medicine cabinet. The case was eventually dropped, as the search lacked a proper warrant by the police, and Charles soon returned to music.
In the early 1960s, whilst on the way from Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Charles faced a near-death experience when the pilot of his plane lost visibility, as snow and his failure to use the defroster caused the windshield of the plane to become completely covered in ice. The pilot made a few circles in the air before he was finally able to see through a small part of the windshield and land the plane. Charles placed a spiritual interpretation on the event, claiming that "something or someone which instruments cannot detect" was responsible for creating the small opening in the ice on the windshield which enabled the pilot to land the plane safely.
The 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and its sequel, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped to bring country music into the musical mainstream. Charles's version of the Don Gibson song I Can't Stop Loving You topped the Pop chart for five weeks, stayed at number 1 on the R&B chart for ten weeks, and gave him his only number-one record in the UK. In 1962, he founded his own record label, Tangerine Records, which ABC-Paramount promoted and distributed. He had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US number 4) and Take These Chains from My Heart (US number 8).
In 1965, Charles's career was halted once more after he was arrested for a third time for possession of heroin. He agreed to go to rehab to avoid jail time and eventually kicked his habit at a clinic in Los Angeles. After spending a year on parole, Charles reappeared in the charts in 1966 with a series of hits composed with the fledgling team of Ashford & Simpson, including the dance number "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first number-one R&B hit in several years. His cover version of "Crying Time", originally recorded by the country artist Buck Owens, reached number 6 on the pop chart and helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top-twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go Again"
Charles's renewed chart success, however, proved to be short lived, and by the 1970s his music was rarely played on radio stations. The rise of psychedelic rock and harder forms of rock and R&B music had reduced Charles' radio appeal, as did his choosing to record pop standards and covers of contemporary rock and soul hits, since his earnings from owning his masters had taken away the motivation to write new material. Charles nonetheless continued to have an active recording career. Most of his recordings between 1968 and 1973 evoked strong reactions: people either liked them a lot or strongly disliked them. His 1972 album A Message from the People included his unique gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful" and a number of protest songs about poverty and civil rights. Charles was often criticized for his version of "America the Beautiful" because it was very drastically changed from the song's original version.
In 1974, Charles left ABC Records and recorded several albums on his own label, Crossover Records. A 1975 recording of Stevie Wonder's hit "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy. In 1977, he reunited with Ahmet Ertegün and re-signed to Atlantic Records, for which he recorded the album True to Life, remaining with his old label until 1980. However, the label had now begun to focus on rock acts, and some of their prominent soul artists, such as Aretha Franklin, were starting to be neglected. In November 1977 he appeared as the host of the NBC television show Saturday Night Live.
In April 1979, his version of "Georgia on My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the floor of the state legislature. Although he had notably supported the American Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s, Charles was criticized for performing at the Sun City resort in South Africa in 1981, during an international boycott protesting that country's apartheid policy.
In 1983, Charles signed a contract with Columbia Records. He recorded a string of country albums and had hit singles in duets with singers such as George Jones, Chet Atkins, B. J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams, Jr., Dee Dee Bridgewater ("Precious Thing") and his longtime friend Willie Nelson, with whom he recorded the number 1 country duet "Seven Spanish Angels".
Prior to the release of his first album for Warner, Would You Believe, Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of the Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy Jones and the singer Chaka Khan, which hit number one on the R&B chart in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their duet. Prior to this, Charles returned to the pop charts with "Baby Grand", a duet with the singer Billy Joel. In 1989, he recorded a cover of the Southern All Stars' "Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advertisement for the Suntory brand, releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love", where it reached number 3 on its Oricon chart.[37] In the same year he was a special guest at the Arena di Verona during the tour promoting Oro Incenso & Birra of the Italian singer Zucchero Fornaciari.
Charles's 1993 album, My World, became his first album in some time to reach the Billboard 200, whilst his cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" gave him a hit on the adult contemporary chart and his twelfth and final Grammy. By the beginning of the 1980s, Charles was reaching younger audiences in films and TV shows. In 1980, he appeared in The Blues Brothers. His version of "Night Time Is the Right Time" was played during The Cosby Show episode "Happy Anniversary", but he did not appear on the show.
In 1985, he appeared among a group of other musicians in the USA for Africa charity recording "We Are the World". His popularity increased among younger audiences in 1991 after he appeared in a series of Diet Pepsi television commercials, which featured him singing the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby". Two more slickly produced adult contemporary albums followed, Strong Love Affair (1996) and Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again (2002); both failed to chart and were soon forgotten.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made appearances on the television show Super Dave Osbourne in a series of vignettes in which he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. During the sixth season of Designing Women, Charles sang "Georgia on My Mind" in place of the instrumental cover version which had been used in the previous five seasons. He also appeared in four episodes of the popular TV comedy The Nanny, playing Sammy in seasons 4 and 5 in 1997–98.
Charles performed at two US Presidential inaugurations: Ronald Reagan's second inauguration, in 1985, and Bill Clinton's first inauguration, in 1993. On October 28, 2001, several weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Charles appeared during game 2 of the World Series, between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees, and performed "America the Beautiful". In 2003, he headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., attended by President George W. Bush. In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia on My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual banquet of electronic media journalists held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance was on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.
In 2003, Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was planning to go back on tour, until he began suffering from other ailments. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, California of complications resulting from acute liver disease, on June 10, 2004, aged 73, surrounded by family and friends. His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First AME Church in Los Angeles with numerous musical figures in attendance. B. B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at the funeral.
Charles was married twice and had 12 children with ten different women. His first child, Evelyn, was born in 1949 to his companion, Louise Flowers, his youngest child, a son, Ryan, was born in 1987 to Mary Anne den Bok.
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Down-home, anguished laments and moody ballads were turned into triumphs by Ray Charles. He sang these songs with the same conviction, passion, and energy that made his country and soul vocals so majestic. This has not turned up in the reissue bins.
Ray Charles - Genius Sings the Blues (flac 98mb)
01 Early In The Mornin' 2:46
02 Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) 2:53
03 The Midnight Hour 2:57
04 The Right Time 3:25
05 Feelin' Sad 2:47
06 Ray's Blues 2:50
07 I'm Moving On 2:11
08 I Believe To My Soul 3:00
09 Nobody Cares 2:37
10 Mr. Charles Blues 2:44
11 Some Day Baby 2:58
12 I Wonder Who 2:46
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Taken from the same three sessions as The Great Ray Charles but not duplicating any of the performances, this set casts Charles as a jazz-oriented pianist in an instrumental setting. Brother Charles has five numbers with a trio (three songs have Oscar Pettiford on bass) and jams on three other tunes ("Hornful Soul," "Ain't Misbehavin'," and "Joy Ride") with a septet arranged by Quincy Jones; solo space is given to David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and alto and trumpeter Joseph Bridgewater. Fine music -- definitely a change of pace for Ray Charles.
Ray Charles - The Genius After Hours (flac 203mb)
01 The Genius After Hours 5:22
02 Ain't Misbehavin' 5:37
03 Dawn Ray 5:00
04 Joy Ride 4:30
05 Hornful Soul 5:25
06 The Man I Love 4:24
07 Charlesville 4:53
08 Music, Music, Music 2:52
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Less modern for its country-R&B blend (Elvis Presley and company did it in 1955) and lushly produced C&W tone (the Nashville sound cropped up in the late '50s) than for its place as a high-profile crossover hit, Modern Sounds in Country and Western fit right in with Ray Charles' expansive musical ways while on the Atlantic label in the '50s. In need of even more room to explore, Charles signed with ABC Paramount and eventually took full advantage of his contract's "full artistic freedom clause" with this collection of revamped country classics. Covering a period from 1939 to the early '60s, the 12 tracks here touch on old-timey fare (Floyd Tillman's "It Makes No Difference to Me Now"), honky tonk (three Hank Williams songs), and early countrypolitan (Don Gibson's "I Can't Stop Loving You"). Along with a Top Ten go at Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me," the Gibson cover helped the album remain at the top of the pop charts for nearly three months and brought Charles international fame. Above a mix of swinging big band charts by Gerald Wilson and strings and choir backdrops from Marty Paich, Charles' intones the sleepy-blue nuances of country crooners while still giving the songs a needed kick with his gospel outbursts. No pedal steel or fiddles here, just a fine store of inimitable interpretations.
Having struck the mother lode with Vol. 1 of this genre-busting concept, "Brother Ray," producer Sid Feller, and ABC-Paramount went for another helping and put it out immediately. The idea was basically the same -- raid the then-plentiful coffers of Nashville for songs and turn them into Ray Charles material with either a big band or a carpet of strings and choir. This time, though, instead of a random mix of backgrounds, the big band tracks -- again arranged by Gerald Wilson in New York -- went on side one, and the strings/choir numbers -- again arranged by Marty Paich in Hollywood -- were placed on side two. Saleswise, it couldn't miss, but, more importantly, Vol. 2 defied the curse of the sequel and was just as much of an artistic triumph as its predecessor, if not as immediately startling. Charles' transfiguration of "You Are My Sunshine" sets the tone, and, as before, there's a good quota of Don Gibson material; "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" becomes a fast gospel rouser and "Oh Lonesome Me" a frantic big band number. Paich lays on the '50s and early-'60s Muzak with an almost gleeful, over-the-top commercial slickness that with an ordinary artist would have been embarrassing. But the miracle is that Charles' hurt, tortured, soulfully twisting voice transforms the backgrounds as well as the material; you believe what he's singing. It appealed across the board, from the teenage singles-buying crowd to adult consumers of easy listening albums and Charles' core black audience -- and even those who cried "sellout" probably took some secret guilty pleasures from these recordings. While Charles didn't get a number one chartbuster à la "I Can't Stop Loving You" out of this package, "Sunshine" got up to number seven, and "Take These Chains From My Heart," with its Shearing-like piano solo and big string chart, made it to number eight -- which wasn't shabby at all.
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music Vol. 1 & 2 (flac 430mb)
01 Bye Bye Love
02 You Don't Know Me
03 Half As Much
04 I Love You So Much It Hurts
05 Just A Little Lovin'
06 Born To Lose
07 Worried Mind
08 It Makes No Difference Now
09 You Win Again
10 Careless Love
11 I Can't Stop Loving You
12 Hey, Good Lookin'
Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music Vol. 2
13 You Are My Sunshine
14 No Letter Today
15 Someday
16 Don't Tell Me Your Troubles
17 Midnight
18 Oh, Lonesome Me
19 Take These Chains From My Heart
20 Your Cheating Heart
21 I'll Never Stand In Your Way
22 Making Believe
23 Teardrops In My Heart
24 Hang Your Head In Shame
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music Vol. 1 & 2 (ogg 175mb )
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It was back to R&B for this album. Producer Sid Feller and Ray laid the songs out in a dramatic sequence, with Ray playing a character going through a sequence of emotions in each song. Although it was a big commercial success, reaching number two on the LP charts, this record would typify the erratic nature of much of Charles' '60s output. It's too eclectic for its own good, really, encompassing pop standards, lowdown blues, Mel Tormé songs, and after-hours ballads. The high points are very high -- "Busted," his hit reworking of a composition by country songwriter Harlan Howard, is jazzy and tough, and one of his best early-'60s singles, and the low points are pretty low, especially when he adds the backup vocals of the Jack Halloran Singers to "Over the Rainbow" and "Ol' Man River." A number of the remaining cuts are pretty respectable, like the tight big band arrangement of "Ol' Man Time" and the ominously urbane "Where Can I Go?
Ray Charles - Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (flac 313mb)
01 Over The Rainbow 4:08
02 Ol' Man Time 2:27
03 In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down) 5:49
04 Busted 2:12
05 A Stranger In Town 2:25
06 That Lucky Old Sun 4:20
07 Born To Be Blue 2:53
08 Where Can I Go? 3:29
09 Ol' Man River 5:28
10 You'll Never Walk Alone 3:56
Bonus
11 Something's Wrong 2:49
12 The Brightest Smile In Town 2:47
13 Worried Life Blues 3:06
14 My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do) 3:04
Ray Charles - Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (ogg 117mb)
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Perfect album, Ray Charles at his best as arranger. This is the magic of the album precise and beautiful arrangements. Living for the city is far better than Stevie Wonder's own, Ray met Stevie Wonder at a young age, before he was even signed to Motown. Though they had been longtime friends, “Living For The City” was the first song written by Stevie Wonder that Ray felt was right for him to record. “I do it a lot differently than Stevie; I cut out a lot of the musical flourishes and I put that long rap in the middle, talkin’ ‘bout the rats and roaches.” The song earned Ray a Grammy Award in 1975 for “Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male”.
Ray Charles - Renaissance (flac 205mb)
01 Living For The City 6:00
02 Then We'll Be Home 4:04
03 My God And I 3:56
04 We're Gonna Make It 3:44
05 For Mama "La Mamma" 4:38
06 Sunshine 3:47
07 It Ain't Easy Being Green 4:10
08 Sail Away 3:57
Ray Charles - Renaissance (ogg 89mb)
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Today's artist is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray". He was often referred to as "The Genius". Charles was blind from the age of seven. He pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records.In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and number two on their November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".... 'N Joy
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continued from last week
By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a full-scale big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to cross over into mainstream pop with such a level of creative control. This success, however, came to a momentary halt during a concert tour in November 1961, when a police search of Charles's hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, led to the discovery of heroin in the medicine cabinet. The case was eventually dropped, as the search lacked a proper warrant by the police, and Charles soon returned to music.
In the early 1960s, whilst on the way from Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Charles faced a near-death experience when the pilot of his plane lost visibility, as snow and his failure to use the defroster caused the windshield of the plane to become completely covered in ice. The pilot made a few circles in the air before he was finally able to see through a small part of the windshield and land the plane. Charles placed a spiritual interpretation on the event, claiming that "something or someone which instruments cannot detect" was responsible for creating the small opening in the ice on the windshield which enabled the pilot to land the plane safely.
The 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and its sequel, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2, helped to bring country music into the musical mainstream. Charles's version of the Don Gibson song I Can't Stop Loving You topped the Pop chart for five weeks, stayed at number 1 on the R&B chart for ten weeks, and gave him his only number-one record in the UK. In 1962, he founded his own record label, Tangerine Records, which ABC-Paramount promoted and distributed. He had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US number 4) and Take These Chains from My Heart (US number 8).
In 1965, Charles's career was halted once more after he was arrested for a third time for possession of heroin. He agreed to go to rehab to avoid jail time and eventually kicked his habit at a clinic in Los Angeles. After spending a year on parole, Charles reappeared in the charts in 1966 with a series of hits composed with the fledgling team of Ashford & Simpson, including the dance number "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first number-one R&B hit in several years. His cover version of "Crying Time", originally recorded by the country artist Buck Owens, reached number 6 on the pop chart and helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top-twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go Again"
Charles's renewed chart success, however, proved to be short lived, and by the 1970s his music was rarely played on radio stations. The rise of psychedelic rock and harder forms of rock and R&B music had reduced Charles' radio appeal, as did his choosing to record pop standards and covers of contemporary rock and soul hits, since his earnings from owning his masters had taken away the motivation to write new material. Charles nonetheless continued to have an active recording career. Most of his recordings between 1968 and 1973 evoked strong reactions: people either liked them a lot or strongly disliked them. His 1972 album A Message from the People included his unique gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful" and a number of protest songs about poverty and civil rights. Charles was often criticized for his version of "America the Beautiful" because it was very drastically changed from the song's original version.
In 1974, Charles left ABC Records and recorded several albums on his own label, Crossover Records. A 1975 recording of Stevie Wonder's hit "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy. In 1977, he reunited with Ahmet Ertegün and re-signed to Atlantic Records, for which he recorded the album True to Life, remaining with his old label until 1980. However, the label had now begun to focus on rock acts, and some of their prominent soul artists, such as Aretha Franklin, were starting to be neglected. In November 1977 he appeared as the host of the NBC television show Saturday Night Live.
In April 1979, his version of "Georgia on My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the floor of the state legislature. Although he had notably supported the American Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s, Charles was criticized for performing at the Sun City resort in South Africa in 1981, during an international boycott protesting that country's apartheid policy.
In 1983, Charles signed a contract with Columbia Records. He recorded a string of country albums and had hit singles in duets with singers such as George Jones, Chet Atkins, B. J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams, Jr., Dee Dee Bridgewater ("Precious Thing") and his longtime friend Willie Nelson, with whom he recorded the number 1 country duet "Seven Spanish Angels".
Prior to the release of his first album for Warner, Would You Believe, Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of the Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy Jones and the singer Chaka Khan, which hit number one on the R&B chart in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their duet. Prior to this, Charles returned to the pop charts with "Baby Grand", a duet with the singer Billy Joel. In 1989, he recorded a cover of the Southern All Stars' "Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advertisement for the Suntory brand, releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love", where it reached number 3 on its Oricon chart.[37] In the same year he was a special guest at the Arena di Verona during the tour promoting Oro Incenso & Birra of the Italian singer Zucchero Fornaciari.
Charles's 1993 album, My World, became his first album in some time to reach the Billboard 200, whilst his cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" gave him a hit on the adult contemporary chart and his twelfth and final Grammy. By the beginning of the 1980s, Charles was reaching younger audiences in films and TV shows. In 1980, he appeared in The Blues Brothers. His version of "Night Time Is the Right Time" was played during The Cosby Show episode "Happy Anniversary", but he did not appear on the show.
In 1985, he appeared among a group of other musicians in the USA for Africa charity recording "We Are the World". His popularity increased among younger audiences in 1991 after he appeared in a series of Diet Pepsi television commercials, which featured him singing the catchphrase "You Got the Right One, Baby". Two more slickly produced adult contemporary albums followed, Strong Love Affair (1996) and Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again (2002); both failed to chart and were soon forgotten.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made appearances on the television show Super Dave Osbourne in a series of vignettes in which he was somehow driving a car, often as Super Dave's chauffeur. During the sixth season of Designing Women, Charles sang "Georgia on My Mind" in place of the instrumental cover version which had been used in the previous five seasons. He also appeared in four episodes of the popular TV comedy The Nanny, playing Sammy in seasons 4 and 5 in 1997–98.
Charles performed at two US Presidential inaugurations: Ronald Reagan's second inauguration, in 1985, and Bill Clinton's first inauguration, in 1993. On October 28, 2001, several weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Charles appeared during game 2 of the World Series, between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees, and performed "America the Beautiful". In 2003, he headlined the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., attended by President George W. Bush. In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia on My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual banquet of electronic media journalists held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance was on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.
In 2003, Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was planning to go back on tour, until he began suffering from other ailments. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, California of complications resulting from acute liver disease, on June 10, 2004, aged 73, surrounded by family and friends. His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First AME Church in Los Angeles with numerous musical figures in attendance. B. B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at the funeral.
Charles was married twice and had 12 children with ten different women. His first child, Evelyn, was born in 1949 to his companion, Louise Flowers, his youngest child, a son, Ryan, was born in 1987 to Mary Anne den Bok.
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Down-home, anguished laments and moody ballads were turned into triumphs by Ray Charles. He sang these songs with the same conviction, passion, and energy that made his country and soul vocals so majestic. This has not turned up in the reissue bins.
Ray Charles - Genius Sings the Blues (flac 98mb)
01 Early In The Mornin' 2:46
02 Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) 2:53
03 The Midnight Hour 2:57
04 The Right Time 3:25
05 Feelin' Sad 2:47
06 Ray's Blues 2:50
07 I'm Moving On 2:11
08 I Believe To My Soul 3:00
09 Nobody Cares 2:37
10 Mr. Charles Blues 2:44
11 Some Day Baby 2:58
12 I Wonder Who 2:46
(ogg mb)
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Taken from the same three sessions as The Great Ray Charles but not duplicating any of the performances, this set casts Charles as a jazz-oriented pianist in an instrumental setting. Brother Charles has five numbers with a trio (three songs have Oscar Pettiford on bass) and jams on three other tunes ("Hornful Soul," "Ain't Misbehavin'," and "Joy Ride") with a septet arranged by Quincy Jones; solo space is given to David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and alto and trumpeter Joseph Bridgewater. Fine music -- definitely a change of pace for Ray Charles.
Ray Charles - The Genius After Hours (flac 203mb)
01 The Genius After Hours 5:22
02 Ain't Misbehavin' 5:37
03 Dawn Ray 5:00
04 Joy Ride 4:30
05 Hornful Soul 5:25
06 The Man I Love 4:24
07 Charlesville 4:53
08 Music, Music, Music 2:52
(ogg mb)
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Less modern for its country-R&B blend (Elvis Presley and company did it in 1955) and lushly produced C&W tone (the Nashville sound cropped up in the late '50s) than for its place as a high-profile crossover hit, Modern Sounds in Country and Western fit right in with Ray Charles' expansive musical ways while on the Atlantic label in the '50s. In need of even more room to explore, Charles signed with ABC Paramount and eventually took full advantage of his contract's "full artistic freedom clause" with this collection of revamped country classics. Covering a period from 1939 to the early '60s, the 12 tracks here touch on old-timey fare (Floyd Tillman's "It Makes No Difference to Me Now"), honky tonk (three Hank Williams songs), and early countrypolitan (Don Gibson's "I Can't Stop Loving You"). Along with a Top Ten go at Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me," the Gibson cover helped the album remain at the top of the pop charts for nearly three months and brought Charles international fame. Above a mix of swinging big band charts by Gerald Wilson and strings and choir backdrops from Marty Paich, Charles' intones the sleepy-blue nuances of country crooners while still giving the songs a needed kick with his gospel outbursts. No pedal steel or fiddles here, just a fine store of inimitable interpretations.
Having struck the mother lode with Vol. 1 of this genre-busting concept, "Brother Ray," producer Sid Feller, and ABC-Paramount went for another helping and put it out immediately. The idea was basically the same -- raid the then-plentiful coffers of Nashville for songs and turn them into Ray Charles material with either a big band or a carpet of strings and choir. This time, though, instead of a random mix of backgrounds, the big band tracks -- again arranged by Gerald Wilson in New York -- went on side one, and the strings/choir numbers -- again arranged by Marty Paich in Hollywood -- were placed on side two. Saleswise, it couldn't miss, but, more importantly, Vol. 2 defied the curse of the sequel and was just as much of an artistic triumph as its predecessor, if not as immediately startling. Charles' transfiguration of "You Are My Sunshine" sets the tone, and, as before, there's a good quota of Don Gibson material; "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" becomes a fast gospel rouser and "Oh Lonesome Me" a frantic big band number. Paich lays on the '50s and early-'60s Muzak with an almost gleeful, over-the-top commercial slickness that with an ordinary artist would have been embarrassing. But the miracle is that Charles' hurt, tortured, soulfully twisting voice transforms the backgrounds as well as the material; you believe what he's singing. It appealed across the board, from the teenage singles-buying crowd to adult consumers of easy listening albums and Charles' core black audience -- and even those who cried "sellout" probably took some secret guilty pleasures from these recordings. While Charles didn't get a number one chartbuster à la "I Can't Stop Loving You" out of this package, "Sunshine" got up to number seven, and "Take These Chains From My Heart," with its Shearing-like piano solo and big string chart, made it to number eight -- which wasn't shabby at all.
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music Vol. 1 & 2 (flac 430mb)
01 Bye Bye Love
02 You Don't Know Me
03 Half As Much
04 I Love You So Much It Hurts
05 Just A Little Lovin'
06 Born To Lose
07 Worried Mind
08 It Makes No Difference Now
09 You Win Again
10 Careless Love
11 I Can't Stop Loving You
12 Hey, Good Lookin'
13 You Are My Sunshine
14 No Letter Today
15 Someday
16 Don't Tell Me Your Troubles
17 Midnight
18 Oh, Lonesome Me
19 Take These Chains From My Heart
20 Your Cheating Heart
21 I'll Never Stand In Your Way
22 Making Believe
23 Teardrops In My Heart
24 Hang Your Head In Shame
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music Vol. 1 & 2 (ogg 175mb )
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It was back to R&B for this album. Producer Sid Feller and Ray laid the songs out in a dramatic sequence, with Ray playing a character going through a sequence of emotions in each song. Although it was a big commercial success, reaching number two on the LP charts, this record would typify the erratic nature of much of Charles' '60s output. It's too eclectic for its own good, really, encompassing pop standards, lowdown blues, Mel Tormé songs, and after-hours ballads. The high points are very high -- "Busted," his hit reworking of a composition by country songwriter Harlan Howard, is jazzy and tough, and one of his best early-'60s singles, and the low points are pretty low, especially when he adds the backup vocals of the Jack Halloran Singers to "Over the Rainbow" and "Ol' Man River." A number of the remaining cuts are pretty respectable, like the tight big band arrangement of "Ol' Man Time" and the ominously urbane "Where Can I Go?
Ray Charles - Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (flac 313mb)
01 Over The Rainbow 4:08
02 Ol' Man Time 2:27
03 In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down) 5:49
04 Busted 2:12
05 A Stranger In Town 2:25
06 That Lucky Old Sun 4:20
07 Born To Be Blue 2:53
08 Where Can I Go? 3:29
09 Ol' Man River 5:28
10 You'll Never Walk Alone 3:56
Bonus
11 Something's Wrong 2:49
12 The Brightest Smile In Town 2:47
13 Worried Life Blues 3:06
14 My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do) 3:04
Ray Charles - Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (ogg 117mb)
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Perfect album, Ray Charles at his best as arranger. This is the magic of the album precise and beautiful arrangements. Living for the city is far better than Stevie Wonder's own, Ray met Stevie Wonder at a young age, before he was even signed to Motown. Though they had been longtime friends, “Living For The City” was the first song written by Stevie Wonder that Ray felt was right for him to record. “I do it a lot differently than Stevie; I cut out a lot of the musical flourishes and I put that long rap in the middle, talkin’ ‘bout the rats and roaches.” The song earned Ray a Grammy Award in 1975 for “Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male”.
Ray Charles - Renaissance (flac 205mb)
01 Living For The City 6:00
02 Then We'll Be Home 4:04
03 My God And I 3:56
04 We're Gonna Make It 3:44
05 For Mama "La Mamma" 4:38
06 Sunshine 3:47
07 It Ain't Easy Being Green 4:10
08 Sail Away 3:57
Ray Charles - Renaissance (ogg 89mb)
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would you please re-up renaissance, thank you
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