Product Description

Celebrate the life, career and music of Ray Charles! An extraordinary collection of 102 melodies from the undisputed maestro of rhythm and blues. Savor this brilliant showcase of Ray Charles including a unique blend of smash hits and soulful music, and complete with a full-color meticulously documented portfolio of his vivid career and music. Enjoy!

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Confession Blues - Ray Charles, Maxin Trio
2. Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand
3. Kissa Me Baby
4. It Should've Been Me
5. Don't You Know
6. Come Back Baby
7. I Got a Woman
8. Fool for You
9. This Little Girl of Mine
10. Blackjack
11. Greenbacks
12. Drown in My Own Tears
13. Hallelujah, I Love Her So
14. Lonely Avenue
15. Leave My Woman Alone
16. Ain't That Love
17. Swanee River Rock (Talkin' 'Bout That River)
18. My Bonnie
19. Rock House, Pts. 1-2
20. Night Time Is the Right Time
21. What'd I Say, Pts. 1 & 2
22. Tell the Truth
23. I Believe to My Soul
24. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying

Disc 2:

1. Let the Good Times Roll
2. Come Rain or Come Shine
3. Tell the Truth [Live]
4. Drown in My Own Tears [Live]
5. I'm Movin' On
6. My Baby! (I Love Her, Yes I Do)
7. Sticks and Stones
8. I Wonder
9. Georgia on My Mind
10. Them That Got
11. Ruby
12. Hard Hearted Hannah
13. I've Got News for You
14. One Mint Julep
15. I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
16. Hit the Road Jack
17. Danger Zone
18. Unchain My Heart
19. But on the Other Hand Baby
20. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Betty Carter, Ray Charles
21. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Betty Carter, Ray Charles
22. At the Club

Disc 3:

1. Hide nor Hair
2. I Can't Stop Loving You
3. Bye Bye Love
4. Born to Lose
5. You Don't Know Me
6. You Are My Sunshine
7. Your Cheatin' Heart
8. Take These Chains from My Heart
9. Brightest Smile in Town
10. Without Love (There Is Nothing)
11. Busted
12. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)
13. Ol' Man River
14. Smack Dab in the Middle
15. Makin' Whoopee
16. Without a Song, Pts. 1 & 2
17. Cincinnati Kid
18. Crying Time
19. Let's Go Get Stoned
20. I Chose to Sing the Blues
21. Together Again
22. I Don't Need No Doctor

Disc 4:

1. Eleanor Rigby
2. Yesterday
3. Understanding
4. Driftin' Blues
5. Here We Go Again
6. In the Heat of the Night
7. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You
8. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
9. If It Wasn't for Bad Luck - Ray Charles, Jimmy Lewis
10. We Can Make It
11. Don't Change on Me
12. Feel So Bad
13. Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma
14. Spirit in the Dark (Reprise) - Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin
15. Booty-Butt
16. I Can Make It Thru the Day (But Oh Those Lonely Nights)
17. Rainy Night in Georgia
18. America the Beautiful

Disc 5:

1. Living for the City
2. Till There Was You
3. Am I Blue
4. How Long Has This Been Going On?
5. Jealous Kind
6. Is There Anyone Out There?
7. Don't You Love Me Anymore
8. One of These Days
9. Seven Spanish Angels - Ray Charles, Willie Nelson
10. We Didn't See a Thing - Chet Atkins, Ray Charles, George Jones
11. Two Old Cats Like Us - Ray Charles, Hank Williams, Jr.
12. Shake a Tail Feather - The Blues Brothers, Ray Charles
13. I'll Be Good to You - Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan
14. That's Where It's At - Ray Charles, Lou Rawls
15. Song for You
16. Still Crazy After All These Years

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75001 in Music
• Published on: 1997
• Released on: 1997-09-16
• Number of discs: 5
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered

Features

• Savor this brilliant showcase of Ray Charles including a unique blend of smash hits and soulful music, and complete with a full-color meticulously documented portfolio of his vivid career and music.

Amazon.com essential recording
If anyone deserves his own section in record stores, it's Ray Charles. Witness this Charles box set, a full five-disc career retrospective that follows smaller packages concentrating on his early R&B (The Birth of Soul) and Blues + Jazz work. In addition to those styles, we get Ray's stabs at Nat "King" Cole/Charles Brown urban blues ("Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand"), handfuls of country songs ("I Can't Stop Loving You"), definitive readings of the American songbook ("Georgia on My Mind," "Come Rain or Come Shine"), and personal claims on the '60s soul he made possible ("I Don't Need No Doctor"). Whether you're a newcomer or a veteran Charles fan, this impeccably selected box is for you. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Unparalled collection of music.
Just like Sinatra's Reprise Years box set, this is a massive massive set of work. I guess that the only way to get more great Ray Charles music would be to collect everything he ever did. Until then, this is the very next thing (and it sure is fine!).

Ray made musical history, and he did so over an incredible period of time. Few musicians do not credit his influence, be they country, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, or even rap. This collection spans much of that time -- more that forty years worth. It starts with some old classics, like "Nighttime is the Right Time" and the even funkier "Let the Good Times Roll", and then moves to the gentle hit "That Lucky Old Sun". The collection then takes us to several of his classics from the seminal work 'Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music', like "Take These Chains From My Heart", "I Can't Stop Loving You" and the tragic, magic "Born To Lose". Ray's more recent work is also well represented, like his version of "America The Beautiful", "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Stevie Wonder's classic "Livin for the City".

Perhaps my favorite cut of all the discs however, was his collaboration with Willie Nelson, "Seven Spanish Angels". I had never heard this song before, and together, they made one very special piece of music. Willie's plaintive wail was masterfully interwoven with Brother Ray's soulful depths and together they created something to positively revere.

If you have some Ray Charles, this is worth adding, because it will certainly have something new to try. If you have none of Ray's work, this is a wonderful way to get caught up in one single purchase. If you have never heard him, you are probably deaf, and that would be the only way this would not be a worthwhile purchase.

I started with this, and it remains the best!
Actually, I started with Ray Charles with Rhino's single disc called "Anthology". I've found it to be so good, that I decided to expand on his collection. So, I bought this box set, and then I even began to pick up more of Ray Charles albums on CD released by Rhino and/or Atlantic. At one time, I had about 14 Ray Charles CD's, and of course, many of his essential tracks were duplicated many times over. So, reality set in: I've got too many CD's of Ray Charles. Ray does have some dull moments. Even this box set tends to drift into some dull tunes on the fourth and fifth disc, but, it does pick up towards the end. He's got a few country duets that he released in the mid-eighties that are pretty good. And his version of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" is a pretty good comeback for Ray. Ray's got so many albums. I doubt they would ever, all, be released on CD. His best songs from his many albums are already available on this "Genius and Soul" box set. Rhino did a fabulous job at selecting key tracks. So, I started to just give away some of my Ray Charles CD's because the best thing I had, and probably, all I, or anyone else, ever needs, is just this one Box Set. His album, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western", is definately a keeper by itself. Even, "The Genius Hits the Road", has some pretty good non-hit selections. But, everything else that matters from Ray Charles is pretty much covered in this Box Set. I suggest you jump on it, who knows how long Rhino will be able to continue to release it.

A definite MUST 4 any Blues, Soul, even Jazz or Country fan
This 5-CD box set is more comprehensive than I would have hoped and is more than worth the investment. And even after getting the box set, I wasn't able to sell any of his individual albums that I already had, and I still had to go out and buy his album with Betty Carter. That's my testament to a truly great artist who does consistently high quality work.

This set gives a pretty comprehensive overview of Ray Charles' career; it has all the great recordings and touches on most of the great experiments. The only shortcoming is the lack of live work but that probably wouldn't be appropriate here and could easily be another couple CDs.

Ray Charles is a genius and the personification of Soul and he leaves an indelible stamp on every music genre he touches and his influence can be seen in countless others.

Thank you.