Customer Reviews
this really is definative - By: Peter Ward, 04 Sep 2010 
This really is a great collection of the songs of the late, great Ray Charles.It spans most of his career from "mess around" onwards, including classics like "in the heat of the night" & "hit the road jack", & some quality cover versions. This is a great introduction to Ray Charles, great for an overview if you're already a fan & great to playin the car. Allin all well worth buying.
Genius At Many Genres - By: D. Elliott, 11 Mar 2010 In advance &in addition to his pop music appeal Ray Charles fused the genres of R&B, soul, gospel, jazz, blues & country. As well as his immediately recognizable rasping soulful voice he was a brilliant arranger & his recordings are full of heartfelt atmosphere. During the second half of the 20th century Ray Charles made some 80 albums & many more singles, & this double CD `The Definitive Ray Charles' presents an inspired collection of 46 numbers. All my stirring favourites are here including 'Hit The Road Jack', `I Can't Stop Loving You', `Born To Lose', `Your Cheatin' Heart' & `Take These Chains From My Heart' plus many more - starting CD1 with an early jump blues success as `Mess Around' & ending over 2½ hours later on CD2 with John Lennon's haunting `Imagine'. The Amazon product page lists all numbers but I direct attention to the various genres & treatments by the genius Ray Charles.
There is plenty of R&B & a representative example is `I've Got A Woman'; a spiritually orientated track is `This Little Girl Of Mine'; a blues flavour is `A Fool For You'; & an overlap with pop is `Hallelujah I Love Her So' - all 4 being Ray Charles' own compositions. There is also a hint of rock & roll with his famously significant `What'd I Say' which was originally spread across both sides of a hit single, & Ray Charles as talented instrumentalist on electric organ for a jazzy `One Mint Julep'. But Ray Charles also stamped his unique approach on standards as `Georgia On My Mind, `You Are My Sunshine' & `That Lucky Old Sun'. He performed his own versions of hits by others as Johnny Cash's bewailing `Busted', or Buck Owen's folksy style `Crying Time' or Quincy Jones' expressive `In The Heat Of The Night'. Before `Imagine' there are more transformations of Beatles compositions with `Yesterday' & `Eleanor Rigby' & rearrangements from further famous musicians such as The Blues Brothers for a bouncy twister `Shake Your Tailfeather' or Willie Nelson's country gospel style `Seven Spanish Angels'. And there is much more - these CDs are definitely definitive Ray Charles.
the unforgetable ray charles - By: Mr. K. Newmarch, 01 Feb 2010 The Definitive Ray CharlesThis is a must for all ray charles fans all his great songs & worth every penny, just sit back & enjoy this legend
A true career retrospective...the best 'best of' - By: Musicfan, 27 Jan 2010 He is a great artist with a long career recording for many different labels. The fact that he has recorded for so many labels has meant that the compilations available before this one miss out on his work on other labels. Therefore they are not really a best of but a best of on that label. This compliation is 2 Cds & has the best of his recordings whatever the label, & as I udnerstand it this is the first time this has happened. Therefere this really is a best of from his early days to the more recent. Covering rock, pop, country, blues, soul & jazz but allin his own style unmistakenly Ray Charles. He has been called a Genius & he is. I am not going to mention songs because you can see the list. The sound quality is excellent. The content really is a 'definitive' best of his work. If you have some interestin Ray Charles, this is definately the place to start. Superb collection. Value for money. Very highly recommended.
Ray " the "man" - By: Mojo, 03 Nov 2009 Great choice of material some really early stuff as well as the classics.A must for any Ray Charles collection.
