#210 Ray Charles, 'The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings' (1991)
Previously #54
‘The Birth Of Soul’ is a definitive collection including singles and B-Sides released on Atlantic Records between 1952 and 1959. I’m a massive fan of Ray Charles, but one again, a two and a half hour boxset is too much. There’s just so much to pack in, though. As the title suggests, Ray Charles was responsible for the birth of Soul music. Fusing Blues, Jazz, RnB and Gospel, he managed to create a sound so unique and so groundbreaking. It was filled with the essence of life, something so otherworldly, there was nothing else to call it but Soul.
‘Mess Around’ was the first hit that charted for Charles (#3 US R&B), followed by ‘It Should Have Been Me,’ a song that always makes me smirk thanks to Charles’s, a blind man, frequent references to seeing “real fine chick[s].” His first #1 hit, however, was ‘I’ve Got A Woman,’ a song that was heavily based on the 1954 Gospel song, ‘It Must Be Jesus’ by The Southern Tones. Charles would up the tempo and give it a bit more of a Jazz/RnB feel and in doing so, would invent the first Soul Music song. The song was later covered, amongst others, Elvis, The Beatles, Bobby Darin, Roy Orbison, John Mayer and many others. Following this song, we get hit after hit; ‘A Fool For You,’ ‘This Little Girl Of Mine,’ ‘Drown In My Own Tears,’ ‘Hallelujah, I Love Her So,’ eventually cuminating in ‘What’d I Say (Parts 1 & 2).’ That song earned Charles his first ever Gold record and went on to be banned across both Black and White radio stations due to the sexual innuendo moaning in the middle of the song. That only helped the popularity of the song catapulting Ray Charles into the history books as one of the most influential musicians of all time across genres. There’s a more succinct version of this collection, which I actually bought years ago, while not as definitive, gives a pretty good insight into Charles’s incredible career (and also stretches further than his Atlantic Years).
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