Lucia Micarelli – Music From a Farther Room

Ray Charles: The Definitive Ray Charles

“The only true genius in the business”  Frank Sinatra.

What do the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Willie Nelson and Frank Sinatra all have in common?  They’ve all paid tribute, in word or song, to the influence of the man who was been dubbed the Genius – Ray Charles.

Ray Charles will be remembered for his strikingly versatile voice, which could move effortlessly from a powerful, soulful quality, to the heartrending. His stage presence – his bobbing head at the piano, a wide crocodile smile of teeth and huge dark glasses – has ensured that he will remain a memorable music icon as not only the father of modern soul music but also as a performer.

His achievements beggar belief.  In a career spanning over five decades he assembled the finest R&B band of the 1950’s; effectively invented soul music, single-handed; became the first performer to combine the essences of R&B, country and pop on the same record; wrote many of the most covered songs in rock history, from “I’ve Got A Woman” to “What I’d Say”; and has thrilled concert audiences around the world for years.

Ray Charles was a magnificent keyboard player, a master arranger, a bandleader par excellence.  But what has lead people back to his music, decade after decade, and is again leading people back to it after his death, is his voice, which is a definition of soul in its own right. When Ray sung, he could conjure up any emotion experienced by mankind, from utter desolation to joy.  As this album proves, in the world of Ray Charles, there were no boundaries between blues, pop, country, jazz and soul: there was only music.  And Ray Charles is still its master.

Tracklisting:

CD1:

MESS AROUND
IT SHOULD’VE BEEN ME
I’VE GOT A WOMAN
THIS LITTLE GIRL OF MINE
A FOOL FOR
DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS
LEAVE MY WOMAN ALONE YOU
HALLELUJAH I LOVE HER SO
LONELY AVENUE
(NIGHT TIME IS) THE RIGHT TIME
WHAT’D I SAY (PARTS 1 AND 2)
I BELIEVE TO MY SOUL
I’M MOVIN’ ON
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
DON’T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING
STICKS AND STONES
GEORGIA ON MY MIND
RUBY
ONE MINT JULEP
I’M GONNA MOVE TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN
HIT THE ROAD JACK
UNCHAIN MY HEART
BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
AT THE CURB

CD2:

I CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU
BORN TO LOOSE
YOU DON’T KNOW ME
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE
YOUR CHEATIN’ HEART
TAKE THESE CHAINS FROM MY HEART
BUSTED
THAT LUCKY OLD SUN
CRYING TIME
CINCINNATI KID
LET’S GO GET STONED
I DON’T NEED NO DOCTOR
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
YESTERDAY
ELEANOR RIGBY
I CAN MAKE IT THRU’ THE DAYS
RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA
THE JEALOUS KIND
SHAKE YOUR TAILFEATHER (WITH THE BLUES BROTHERS)
SEVEN SPANISH ANGELS
I’LL BE GOOD TO YOU
IMAGINE