Ray Charles – “Genius Loves Company”
General Description
Artist/Band: Ray Charles
Album Title: Genius Loves Company
Year: 2004
Mister Ray Charles died earlier this year and if you got some news coverage of the funeral, you’d realise that one of the greatest artists has left this mortal coil. You don’t necessarily have to enjoy all his work, but nobody can deny the quality of the body of work Mister Charles has produced. Many an artist has “borrowed“ from this man or has admitted his influence in their own work. As a kid I used to really, really flip my lid when I heard “What’d I Say“ – nobody, I mean, nobody can listen to that song and keep their body still. Even corpses would start twitching their body and snap their fingers. And that, my friends, is true Genius.
How I Got Into This Music
Well.. Ray Charles was always somewhere in the back of my mind. From his guest appearances in “The Blues Brothers“ and “Histroy Of The World, Part 1“, to the classic, now almost cheesy “Here We Go Again“ that you get to hear on Golden Oldies radio stations. I saw on TV that this duets album was being released, so I had to check it out.
Tracks that got my attention:
Here We Go Again
With Norah Jones: surprisingly uninspiring – no chemistry, no nothing, nada. Too bad
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
With Elton John: Again, I expected quite a lot from this duet, but there’s not enough ZingZapKapow in it
Fever
With Natalie Cole: Perfect (nuff said)
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
With Bonnie Raitt: Didn’t like the tempo, but I kept getting goose bumps of the beautiful voices
It Was A Very Good Year
With Willie Nelson: A great all-time classic, finely orchestrated with a great string section. These old dudes show a lot of the younger generations what the frag it’s all about!
Sinner’s Prayer
With BB King and Lucille: now that’s what I call the Blues:“Lord, have Mercy if you please..” Wow!
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
With Johnny Mathis: I gotta admit: my mom like Mathis a lot and it kinda rubbed off. This song keeps balancingbetween cheesy and brilliant orchestration.
Crazy Love
With Van Morrison: the meeting b’tween the Master and one of his Followers (maybe some fans of the Man’ll be insulted, too bad, coz that that’s the way the ball bounces in my courtyard) – great song, both Vocalists showing us some Crazy Love
Conclusion
This duets setup is a tricky game, like Sinatra’s Duets, you sometimes get the feeling that quite some opportunities have been squandered. Don’t get me wrong: Ray Charles was and still remains one of the greatest artists and entertainers. On this album he’s almost at the end of his life and sometimes you can hear it. I think this album shows us the Genius taking his final Bow. Any of those R&B wannebees thinking they can really make an audience feel real Rhythm and Blues, they better think again, bow down and get their butts back to the School of Life and follow some classes from Professor Charles
Rating: 
