Track Listing

1. Mess Around
2. It Shouldve Been Me
3. Ive Got A Woman
4. This Little Girl Of Mine
5. A Fool For You
6. Drown In My Own Tears
7. Leave My Woman Alone
8. Hallelujah I Love Her So
9. Lonely Avenue
10. (Night Time Is) The Right Time
11. Whatd I Say (Part 1 And 2)
12. I Believe To My Soul
13. Im Movin On
14. Come Rain Or Come Shine
15. Dont Let The Sun Catch You Crying
16. Sticks And Stones
17. Georgia On My Mind
18. Ruby
19. One Mint Julep
20. Im Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
21. Hit The Road Jack
22. Unchain My Heart
23. Baby Its Cold Outside
24. At The Club
25. I Cant Stop Loving You
26. Born To Lose
27. You Dont Know Me
28. You Are My Sunshine
29. Your Cheatin Heart
30. Take These Chains From My Heart
31. Busted
32. That Lucky Old Sun
33. Crying Time
34. Cincinnati Kid
35. Lets Go Get Stoned
36. I Dont Need No Doctor
37. In The Heat Of The Night
38. Yesterday
39. Eleanor Rigby
40. I Can Make It Thru The Days
41. Rain Night In Georgia
42. The Jealous Kind
43. Shake Your Tailfeather (With The Blues Brothers)
44. Seven Spanish Angels (With Willie Nelson)
45. Ill Be Good To You
46. Imagine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173158 in Music
• Released on: 2001-11-01
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Import, Original recording remastered

Album Description
Import exclusive compilation featuring 46 tracks, 'Mess Around', 'It Should've Been Me', 'I've Got A Woman', 'This Little Girl Of Mine', 'A Fool For You', 'Drown In My Own Tears', 'Leave My Woman Alone', 'Hallelujah I Love Her So', 'Lonely Avenue', 'Night Time Is The Right Time', 'What I Say (Parts 1 & 2)', 'I Believe To My Soul', 'I'm Movin' On', 'Come Rain Or Come Shine', 'Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying', 'Sticks & Stones', 'Georgia On My Mind', 'Ruby', 'One Mint Julep', 'I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town', 'Hit The Road Jack', 'Unchain My Heart', 'Baby It's Cold Outside', 'At The Curb', 'I Can't Stop Loving You', 'Born To Lose', 'You Don't Know Me', 'You Are My Sunshine', 'Your Cheatin' Heart', 'Take These Chains From My Heart', 'Busted', 'That Lucky Old Sun', 'Crying Time', 'Cincinnati Kid', 'Let's Go Get Stoned', 'I Don't Need No Doctor', 'In The Heat Of The Night', 'Yesterday', 'Eleanor Rigby', 'I Can Make It Thru' The Days', 'Rainy Night In Georgia', 'Jealous Kind', 'Shake Your Tailfeather' feat. The Blues Brothers, 'Seven Spanish Girls', 'I'll Be Good To You' & 'Imagine'. Rhino/Warner.

From Amazon.co.uk
All Ray Charles fans will want to check out The Definitive Ray Charles, because it's the first time a compiler has been able to combine the chart-topping hits from his Atlantic and ABC-Paramount years into one package. This means that we get the Genius's hits from 1953's "Mess Around" right through his golden R&B Atlantic era ("I've Got a Woman," "Drown in My Own Tears," "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "I Believe To My Soul," "What'd I Say" and so on) alongside tracks that were not only massive worldwide hits but helped redefine popular music. "Georgia on My Mind," "Hit the Road Jack," "Unchain My Heart," "I Can't Stop Loving You," and "You Don't Know Me" not only combined superior standards and country songs with Charles's patented soul-gospel vocal style, but they were couched in an orchestral or big band setting that had simply never been utilized in this way prior to Charles's arrival. Those who know of his thorough musical background will not be surprised by this development, one that kept him high in the charts until the mid-'60s. This compilation thins out after the classic "In the Heat of the Night", as well it should, his latter-day duets with the Blues Brothers and Willie Nelson tidying things up nicely. Genius plus compilation good taste: an unbeatable combination. --Keith Shadwick

Customer Reviews

From the fifties to the eighties - it's all here
There are plenty of Ray Charles compilations to choose from - some focusing on a particular era or a particular aspect of Ray's career. This particular compilation is the first to combine his fifties music (recorded for Atlantic) and his sixties music (recorded for ABC-Paramount) on one collection - it also includes a few tracks from more recent times.

The most famous of his early songs is probably the often-covered Hallelujah I love her so. What'd I say and I've got a woman are among the other great songs from Ray's fifties music that are included here. All those three were written by Ray, although he also recorded songs written by others even then. Fans of Ray's fifties music will need to buy a compilation devoted to those recordings - on this set, there are just 15 tracks from this era (about right for this compilation).

It is the sixties with which Ray will be forever associated and which is most strongly represented here. Despite Ray's ability to write his own songs, the two songs for which he is best remembered are both covers. Georgia on my mind is a Hoagy Carmichael song from 1931, while I can't stop loving you is a country song written by Don Gibson. In both cases, Ray did them his own way, broadening their appeal considerably.

I can't stop loving you was one of many country songs that Ray adapted to the R+B style. Some of his fans deserted him, but these recordings gained him more fans than he lost. What Ray showed was the main difference between different styles of music was the presentation - not the songs themselves. His re-interpretations of country songs are represented here by tracks 1 to 7 and track 9 of CD 2. Actually, he'd dabbled with the idea in the fifties, as his cover of I'm movin' on (CD 1, track 13) shows.

Among his other great recordings of the sixties are Baby it's cold outside (a duet with Betty Carter), Hit the road Jack (with Margie Hendrix), That lucky old sun, Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby.

After the sixties, Ray's success was limited, but he still had the talent. In 1984, he recorded a country album of duets with various country singers - it really was a country album, unlike his sixties covers. That album is represented here by Seven Spanish angels - a duet with Willie Nelson. Other (non-country) duets from the eighties are also included - Shake your tailfeather (with the Blues brothers) and I'll be good to you (with Chaka Khan).

The collection closes with an outstanding cover of Imagine, recorded for a French TV commercial in the late nineties.