Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Mess around
2. It should've been me
3. I've got a woman
4. This little girl of mine
5. Fool for
6. Drown in my own tears
7. Leave my woman alone you
8. Hallelujah I love her so
9. Lonely avenue
10. Night time is the right time
11. What I say (parts 1 & 2)
12. I believe to my soul
13. I'm movin' on
14. Come rain or come shine
15. Don't let the sun catch you crying
16. Sticks and stones
17. Georgia on my mind
18. Ruby
19. One mint julep
20. I'm gonna move to the outskirts of town
21. Hit the road Jack
22. Unchain my heart
23. Baby it's cold outside
24. At the club

Disc 2:

1. I can't stop loving you
2. Born to lose
3. You don't know me
4. You are my sunshine
5. Your cheatin' heart
6. Take these chains from my heart
7. Busted
8. That lucky old sun
9. Crying time
10. Cincinnati kid
11. Let's go get stoned
12. I don't need no doctor
13. In the heat of the night
14. Yesterday
15. Eleanor Rigby
16. I can make it thru' the days
17. Rainy night in Georgia
18. Jealous kind
19. Shake your tailfeather - Charles, Ray & The Blues Brothers
20. Seven Spanish girls
21. I'll be good to you
22. Imagine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1546 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-26
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
All Ray Charles fans will want to check out The Definitive Ray Charles, because it's the first time a compiler has been able to combine the chart-topping hits from his Atlantic and ABC-Paramount years into one package. This means that we get the Genius's hits from 1953's "Mess Around" right through his golden R&B Atlantic era ("I've Got a Woman", "Drown in My Own Tears", "Hallelujah I Love Her So", "I Believe To My Soul", "What'd I Say" and so on) alongside tracks that were not only massive worldwide hits but helped redefine popular music. "Georgia on My Mind", "Hit The Road Jack", "Unchain My Heart", "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "You Don't Know Me" not only combined superior standards and country songs with Charles's patented soul-gospel vocal style, but they were couched in an orchestral or big band setting that had simply never been utilised in this way prior to Charles's arrival. Those who know of his thorough musical background will not be surprised by this development, one that kept him high in the charts until the mid-60s. This compilation thins out after the classic "In The Heat of the Night", as well it should, his latter-day duets with the Blues Brothers and Willie Nelson tidying thing up nicely. Genius plus compilation good taste: an unbeatable combination. --Keith Shadwick

CD Description
Bumper 2CD best-of from the late R&B singer, whose prime period in the late 50s and 60s - where he fused jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, country and pop - was massively influential in the creation as what is now thought of as soul music. This collection brings together the best songs from all the diversegenres he dabbled in over the years, including several now considered classics and a surprising selection of cover versions.

Customer Reviews

Genius at Work!
It seems that if anyone passes away these days, they are proclaimed a genius for the weeks following their death. With Ray Charles though, his sad loss was not what prompted the genius tag, but the real and tangible genius that he possessed.

I did not own any Ray Charles CD's before his untimely death, but always loved his music. I bought this, and gave myself the proverbial kick up the backside for not buying some of his work earlier. This is a great collection of all his best work, from his first hits up to some of his last material recorded. It doesn't cover his very early material, but then how can you produce a complete collection when someone has recorded so many great songs?

The early hits are very interesting in that they are so unlike the material that we have come to know him for, but as you listen to song after song on this CD, you can hear a man developing his style from the early trio of piano, bass and drums to the more complex arrangements that we all know so well. The earlier material then gets a country feel to it, but in his lifetime he rarely got any recognition from the snobbish Country and Western fans in the US. His rendition of songs like 'I Can't Stop Loving You' just blow away the original.

As he started getting wide recognition, the songs just grew in stature, and it seemed like there was no style of music that he couldn't utilise. Brilliant versions of other people's songs such as 'Rainy Night in Georgia' just make you marvel at his arranging skills.

I for one will be buying more Ray Charles, but this CD is the perfect place to start.

From the fifties to the eighties - it's all here
There are plenty of Ray Charles compilations to choose from - some focusing on a particular era or a particular aspect of Ray's career. This particular compilation is the first to combine his fifties music (recorded for Atlantic) and his sixties music (recorded for ABC-Paramount) on one collection - it also includes a few tracks from more recent times.

The most famous of his early songs is probably the often-covered Hallelujah I love her so. What'd I say and I've got a woman are among the other great songs from Ray's fifties music that are included here. All those three were written by Ray, although he also recorded songs written vy others even then. Fans of Ray's fifties music will need to buy a compilation devoted to those recordings - on this set, there are just 15 tracks from this era (about right for this compilation).

It is the sixties with which Ray will be forever associated and which is most strongly represented here. Despite Ray's ability to write his own songs, the two songs for which he is best remembered are both covers. Georgia on my mind is a Hoagy Carmichael song from 1931, while I can't stop loving you is a country song written by Don Gibson. In both cases, Ray did them his own way, broadening their appeal considerably.

I can't stop loving you was one of many country songs that Ray adapted to the R+B style. Some of his fans deserted him, but these recordings gained him more fans than he lost. What Ray showed was the main difference between different styles of music was the presentation - not the songs themselves. His re-interpretations of country songs are represented here by tracks 1 to 7 and track 9 of CD 2. Actually, he'd dabbled withe idea in the fifties, as his cover of I'm movin' on (CD 1, track 13) shows.

Among his other great recordings of the sixties are Baby it's cold outside (a duet with Betty Carter), Hit the road Jack (with Margie Hendrix), That lucky old sun, Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby.

After the sixties, Ray's success was limited, but he still had the talent. In 1984, he recorded a country album of duets with various country singers - it really was a country album, unlike his sixties covers. That album is represented here by Seven Spanish angels - a duet with Willie Nelson. Other (non-country) duets from the eighties are also included - Shake your tailfeather (with the Blues brothers) and I'll be good to you (with Chaka Khan).

The collection closes with an outstanding cover of Imagine, recorded for a French TV commercial in the late nineties.

'Genius' of a compilation!
This is a brilliant compilation and an excellent introduction to the 'Genius'.All the well known classics are here such as Georgia on my mind,What i say,Unchain my heart,Hit the road jack,Mess around,as well as a version of Baby its cold outside.Check this out,this has jumped into my top 10 fav cds!