View Larger
Rate it!
Avg: 3.5 (93 ratings)
- Date Released: August 13, 2002
- Genre: Blues
- Style: Soul/R&B, Soul, Oldies
- Label: Cleopatra Records / The Orchard
The genius, in a crooning mood.
-
We Say...
Talk about your daunting tasks: how would you like to try distilling the essential Ray Charles into one disk? This one, while credible, is undercut by the inclusion of too many of Ray's 1949-52 Swingtime/Downbeat sides. He started there as the singer-pianist in a trio slavishly patterned on Nat King Cole's cocktail jazz, with a little more of Charles Brown's velvety vocal sheen ("This Love of Mine"), and ended it fronting a crack eight-piece R&B band ("Kissa Me Baby"). That phase — which could easily be covered in three or four sides — consumes half the 20 tracks here, while still ignoring his minor R&B hits. The watershed Atlantic years are aptly represented with Ray's churning version of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" (his first country song), his invention of soul music out of gospel and blues with the cataclysmic "I Got a Woman" (his first R&B chart-topper) and his initial Top Ten crossover with the Latin-inflected, call-and-response carnality of "What'd I Say." His longing "Georgia on My Mind" speaks for the rest of his career, when he became the definitive American songmaster; if musicians were allowed on Mount Rushmore, Brother Ray would be the first to go up there.
-
They Say...
Released by Cleopatra, The Essential Collection offers a serviceable anthology of some of Ray Charles' best work, including "Georgia on My Mind," "What'd I Say," "Can't You See Darlin'," "Don't Put All Your Dreams in One Basket," "A Sentimental Blues," "Baby Won't You Please Come Home," "I Got a Woman," "Late in the Evening Blues," and "You Be My Baby." A decent but certainly not top-shelf summation of the legend's career, this particular anthology features remastered sound. It should also be noted that this particular Essential Collection is not a part of a similarly titled series distributed through Universal.
“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”
Rolling Stone
Sorry but one or more tracks from this album are unavailable for download at this time.
eMusic Tip
Paid downloads are counted towards an album discount but free downloads are not.
COMPLETE FOR FREE!
You can download the rest of the tracks from this album for free! Just click the Complete Album button.
We’re sorry this album can only be downloaded using paid subscription download credits.
We recommend you Save it for Later by clicking the Save for Later button shown just above this message. For a list of related albums you can download right now, check out these recommendations.
We'll give you 19 additional free credits to download this album and start your paid subscription.
Get 19 bonus credits on us if you download this album. Sweet!
| 01. |  |
Don't Put All Your Dreams In One Basket |
2:50 |
|
| 02. | |
Late In The Evening Blues |
3:06 |
|
| 03. | |
She's On The Ball |
2:31 |
|
| 04. | |
Sittin' On Top Of The World |
2:18 |
|
| 05. | |
Can't You See Darlin |
2:39 |
|
| 06. | |
A Sentimental Blues |
2:26 |
|
| 07. | |
Kiss Me Baby |
3:07 |
|
| 08. | |
Heartbreaker |
2:53 |
|
| 09. | |
I'm Movin' On |
2:14 |
|
| 10. |
Talkin' About You |
4:20 |
|
|
| 11. | |
Tell Me How You Feel |
2:44 |
|
| 12. | |
You Be My Baby |
2:28 |
|
| 13. | |
I Got A Woman |
6:17 |
|
| 14. | |
What'd I Say |
6:27 |
|
| 15. | |
Georgia On My Mind |
6:50 |
|
| 16. | |
Some Day (Blues Is My Middle Name) |
3:09 |
|
| 17. | |
Baby Won't You Please Come Home |
2:54 |
|
| 18. | |
Ain't That Fine |
2:17 |
|
| 19. | |
This Love Of Mine |
3:03 |
|
| 20. | |
I'm Going Down To The River |
3:03 |
|
20 Total Tracks, 67:36 Total Length
Loading...
Playlists If you like Ray Charles, check out these member playlists
Credits
- Ray Charles - Main Performer // Ray Charles - Main Performer // Athan Maroulis - Compilation // Athan Maroulis - Annotation // Jon Masciana - Pre-Mastering
Choose from over 7 million
music downloadseMusic features legendary and emerging artists in every genre: classic rock to classical,indie to international, soundtracks to spiritual, jazz to country and many more.
MP3 downloads work on any digital media player
With eMusic, you OWN your music without any restrictions. Burn music to a CD, play it on your computer, mobile phone or any digital media player - including iPod®, Zune® and Walkman®.
Songs available for 50¢ or less
eMusic subscriptions start at just $11.99 a month for 24 downloads - that's just 50¢ per song! And it gets better from there - our plans go as low as 42¢ per song!
Music Discovery
eMusic is about discovery. We make finding new music fun again with music recommendations from our award-winning team of music experts, member playlists and new music features.
Cancel anytime
With all the great music and site features we're pretty sure you will love eMusic. If not, no problem. You can cancel at any time and keep the music you have downloaded.
© 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC