Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music

A vinyl reissue of the soul icon's 1962 classic career-defining album newly remastered from the original session tapes. Features such classics as You Don't Know Me, (#1 BILLBOARD HIT), Born To Lose, and I Can't Stop Loving You, (#1 BILLBOARD HIT). The original release reached the top of the charts and achieved gold sales status, and took home Grammys for Best R&B Recording and Best R&B Performance. This LP reissue features completely restored original artwork.

For Ray Charles, this music represented the culmination of a lifelong love affair he shared for Country & Western music. It vastly expanded his pop demographic and made countless new country converts by giving these 12 songs a soul-steeped urban dimension. Musicians: Ray Charles - piano, vocals, producer; Hank Crawford - alto saxophone; Gil Fuller, Gerald Wilson - arrangements (big band); Marty Paich - arrangements (strings).

Ray Charles is the Genius of Soul, but he's always had a bit of country boy in him, too. Between playing hillbilly piano when he was a kid and landing several duets on the country charts in the '80s, Charles released this 1962 classic, taking 12 country standards and proving that great songs can remain great, no matter what the setting. Behind blaring brass and thrilling strings, Brother Ray transforms "Hey, Good Lookin'" and "Bye Bye Love" into big-band swing; "You Win Again" into the Nashville Sound; and "I Love You So Much It Hurts" into the most elegant of pop. "I Can't Stop Loving You" was the big hit, but everything else here is just as timeless and beautiful. --David Cantwell

Ray broke barriers. In the '50s he invented soul by mixing the sacred and profane of black music: R & B and gospel. In 1962 he went completely crazy, interpreting classic country. It was one of his finest moments. From the start the record is an oddity. A big band pumps, female background singers rip through a chorus of "Bye Bye Love," and Ray brings high energy to the Everly Bros. teeny-bop lyrics. Some songs suffer from syrupy choir and string arrangements, but Ray is always there to set things straight. He gives country some funk, and erases, for a day, all questions of black and white. --Steve Tignor