My respect and admiration for him seems to grow with every passing year.
"If you don’t have some Ray Charles in your collection, I suggest that you might want to rethink that decision and drop a few dollars on some brother Ray."
November 8th, Welcome to “Throw Down Thursday” on Live Vinyl Love Fest. Well, it just feels like a Ray Charles day … doesn’t it? As his master of ceremonies Joe Adams proclaims in the opening of the show “The genius! The genius of Ray Charles!!” Man, Ray Charles is just so “next level” as a live performer. I love this record because there is just simply so much joy in Ray’s — and his band’s — playing. And the audience is just soaked in it. They are FULLY engaged on this recording. Tom always thought and spoke so highly of Ray. “Authentic” “The real deal” I don’t know if they ever actually met, but Tom regularly pulled out their version of “I Gotta Woman” for the set list and it was always an audience favorite. I often used to scan the crowd while they were playing it and think, “I wonder how many of these people know this is actually a Ray Charles song” In the end, it simply didn’t matter. Ray’s joy through song --- being distributed by Tom and The Heartbreakers --- was as infectious as ever. This particular recording was captured in 1964 by the legendary Wally Heider at the Shrine Civic Auditorium in Los Angelss and it simply sounds fantastic. I recently found a copy of this in positively mint, pristine condition. Not a mark, pop or crackle on it to be heard. I couldn’t get to the cash register fast enough. Clearly the owner before me LOVED this record. You can tell by how much tender loving care they put into protecting the vinyl even though the cover is heavily worn. If you don’t have some Ray Charles in your collection, I suggest that you might want to rethink that decision and drop a few dollars on some brother Ray. It’ll brighten your morning. I promise.