Ray Charles - The Greatest Hits Of The Great Ray Charles (Crossover - SQ-95647)

There are not many people who can combine the total opposites. There are not many people who can break down the barriers in people's minds and set new standards. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Ray Charles. Frankly he is one of those people who can fill both shoes.

Actually many people have already watched the movie and the academy award winning performance of Jamie Foxx. The movie was for entertainment, yet it also pointed slightly to the change in music and cultural standards of the general society.

As his style, Ray Charles combined Rock N Roll, Blues and Jazz with a touch of religion in it just for the heck of it. What a heck that turned out to be. He also sang all those genres individually, but his own musical voice was the combination of all. It has been later defined as Soul music, and Ray Charles the Godfather. Ray Charles made music which you could not relate to a single genre, therefore they named a new genre because of him. He was very much criticized for adding Gospel into that mix. He was even downplayed by saying that he was mocking with Christianity. What a dumbass belief that was. Years later the same people were dancing and cheering to his music all the way. Same thing happened to all barrier breaking people, Schoenberg, Cage, etc.

This box set which includes 5 records which one can listen during just a late night chilling. That's exactly what I've done. I sat down the day I received the box set, put all other records away and listened the box set on a roll. Some of the tracks are known almost to everyone, some are to many people. They are a selection of so-called Best Of Ray Charles songs, but they have done well to went on with 5 records since you absolutely cannot be fair to him. You cannot put his best known works to a single record. Then you leave out some less famous, yet excellent songs. In this sense, I am happy about the outcome from the set.

One more thing is that the box set does not hold only studio takes. Some tracks like "What I'd Say" are included as live takes and this really helped to liven up the mood as you are sitting there listening. Of course this is based on the assumption that you can sit down while listening. It's hard. Really hard. Ladies and gentlemen, the genious Ray Charles.