Ray Charles, sitting in the dark.

Interestingly enough, I myself once compared the sound on my Sony Discman against my friends' Phillips and Panasonic Discmans in the dark trying to find out what was the best one sound-wise. It took me a while to find the buttons but I concluded that my Sony had the best overall sound.

 

Steve: I remember reading an interview with you where you talked about working with Ray and you said some of the tapes were mislabeled. Ray would read the Braille label and say "This says its the so-and so master" and you'd correct him. Was his tape archive such a mess? I hope not!

Steve

 

"Do The Twist With Ray Charles"

Thanks for the reminder!

This was my first RC LP, more than 40 years ago now. It was the foundation of what was to be a long relationship with my musical hero.

It was a compilation released to take advantage of the 'twist' craze. But it opened my mind as well as my ears. Oh, man. For a small town white kid, this stuff was a real revelation!

I am trying to remember the playlist, though it is lost with the many brain cells I have killed over the years, but, out of order, it was something like:

What'd I Say (yep, the long version)

I'm Movin' On (the Man's early entry in the C&W space)

I Got a Woman (the live take from the Newport LP)

Tell The Truth (a truly inspiring, deeply soulful track)

You Better Leave My Woman Alone ("If I see you messing 'round with my little girl, I'm gonna do some work on you!")

and one or two others . . . .

any help out there?

Wish I had it back! Thanks again for the memory!

Mike

 

WOW! How in the heck did I miss this thread? Cool story, Steve. I really can't imagine being so star-struck by anyone that they can't even walk over to speak to the man.

Although he's not anywhere on the scale of Brother Ray, I once helped Snuff Garrett when he and a lady companion wandered in my store several years ago.

 

What'd I Say

Very informative! This was before my time on the Forum. I did not realize there were (5) different mixes of this track. I thought there were only (4). I have (3) of them. The full-length Mono mix is a delight. I have long sought the special DJ 45 edit but I suspect I shall never hear it on CD. Of course, sonically, your mastering of the Stereo mix sounds wonderful but the Mono mix still gives me the "hit" thrill. I like them all.

Thanks!

Bob

 

I don't know if you've ever heard this story, but it's always meant a lot to me. In the Jim Kweskin Jug band there was a guy named Mel Lymon. After gigs most of the band would go out and party and hang out, etc. Not Mel, he'd just stayed in his room and play Ray Charles records. One day they asked him, "Hey Mel, how come all you ever do is stay in your room and play Ray Charles records?" He replied, "All music is in Ray Charles." He's right, of course.

 

With all due respect to Tom Dowd---no doubt he was responsible for many innovative and worthwhile recording techniques---there's those ARETHA records. I'm an Aretha Franklin nutcase, have "I Never Loved A Man..." on original issue mono, original issue stereo and the "Beards" vinyl reissue. Have all but the discofied later Atlantic recordings on Vinyl. But on all of her Atlantic stuff except "Amazing Grace" you can hear the compressor on her vocal track pumping and breathing away merrily. How I wish that in her heyday she had her records produced and engineered the like Ray Charles ABC/Tangerine LPs.

 

What I like about the Tom Dowd stuff is the mood, the groove on each track. Also, on vinyl, the stereo stuff sooundstages pretty well, despite some serious hiss and the occasional missing top end.

I listen to the MoFi 'Layla' cd all the time, and wore out two copies of 'Blind Faith' on vinyl when I was a kid.

We play the Atlantic 3-cd Ray Charles set all the time around here.