Tight As You Can
Rhino's Ray Charles collection brings together 18 tracks of classic Charles. From "I've Got A Woman" to the exuberant "Hallelujah I Love Her So" to "Georgia on My Mind" and "Unchain My Heart," Charles' music doesn't stop grabbing you. Ray had a distinctive vocal sound that made his records unlike anyone else's. "Hit the Road Jack" is such a great breakup song that it still puts a smile on my face. "I Can't Stop Loving You" is such a great classic. The sassy blues-flavored "(Night Time Is) The Right Time" bowls me over with Ray's willingness to follow the music across genres, "I want you to hold my hand tight as you can." However, Rhino doesn't do much as far as remastering and sprucing up the technical quality of the recordings. For that reason, this collection is a budget-friendly but still limited collection of one of the master musicians of the United States. Enjoy!
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Very Best Of Ray Charles In A 16-track CD? Sorry, It Can't Be Done
I would think that, after putting this together and then releasing it in 2000, the folks at Rhino likely wished they had come up with a better title like, say, "16 Of His Very Best." Because, quite frankly, I don't believe it's possible to squeeze the "very best" of Ray Charles into one 16-track CD.
After all, the man put 76 selections into the Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 between 1957 and 1989, and from 1949 to 1993 added another 26 that scored only on the R&B Top 100 singles charts [most of the others charted on both]. And just for good measure, some 29 made the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts after their introduction in 1961, while 13 scored only on the Country charts, How's that for widespread appeal?
As another reviewer points out, there are far too many notable omissions which, by any definition, would have to be included in anything labeled his "very best." For example, while track 5 was a solid R&B hit in 1959 [# 5], but a low # 95 Hot 100, songs like You Don't Know Me [# 1 AC for 3 weeks/# 2 Hot 100/# 5 R&B in 1962], Take These Chains From My Heart [# 3 AC/# 7 R&B/# 8 Hot 100 in 1963, Crying Time [# 3 AC/# 5 R&B/# 6 Hot 100 in 1965], Here We Go Again [# 5 R&B/# 15 Hot 100/# 38 AC in 1967], and Yesterday [# 9 R&B/# 25 Hot 100 in 1967] were smash hits.
However, if you can get past the title and just accept these as 16 of his very best it is a welcome addition to any Ray Charles collection. Five pages of informative background notes written by Bill Dahl, and several more shots of Ray, are augmented by a complete discography of the contents showing label and chart details and the musicians involved on each track. The sound reproduction is flawless.
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