| Review by Marc P October 1, 2004 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
Well what can I say about this one? Ray Charles surely is one of the greats. And so are many of his guests on this album. That should mean a great album, but does it?
As far I as am concerned I does not. This album always seems to be interesting but never gets to be great. Sound quality is good but never exciting and at times even very dull.
Sure I will play this album because it’s good background album and my girlfriend seems to like it. But it isn’t what I was hoping for.
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| Review by eesau January 16, 2005 (7 of 7 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics:  |
The material in this album is typical for this kind of multi-performer collections that have many times been done for marketing reasons only. I personally don't like this approch because the performers seldom are at their best on these records. The same happended with many late recordings of John Lee Hooker, too. This record is, however, a sort of a tribute to Ray Charles and not really so bad after all. And it is touching to hear him sing about death in "it was a very good year" together with Wille Nelson.
I'm a multi-channel freak. Two two channel mix is OK but the multichannel version is just terribly bad. I have about 75 multichannel records and this is the worst multi-channel SACD of them all. Typically only the DTS-multichannel records have achieved this level of poorness.
And why? Because they have mixed Ray to the left hand side so that his voice is in between the center channel and the left channel and there is some kind of an echo on the rear left channel, too. The partner in duet is in mixed between the right channel and center channel and an echo comes from the right rear channel only. The result is just weired. I cannot listen to the multichannel mix it at all.
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| Review by Khorn April 27, 2005 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
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With all the great talent assembled here this SACD is somewhat of a letdown specially after all the hype, promotion and awards. I really like a few of the cuts but if they are enough to justify the purchase is a good question.
IMHO the outstanding cuts are:
1. Here We Go Again (with Norah Jones)
5. Fever (with Natalie Cole)
9. Sinner's Prayer (with B.B. King)
10. Heaven Help Us All (with Gladys Knight)
I REALLY like the BB King cut and would love to see a new SACD release of him doing what he does best…The Blues.
This won some kind of Multi-Channel award but, as I only listen in 2 Channel I can’t really comment on that aspect.
I believe a lot of the hype has to do with the fact that it was Charles’s last recording and we come to expect that from the industry.
If you can find enough cuts you like and/or can score this disc at a good price it might well be worth picking up. Great it’s not and, just how often I’ll spin it remains to be seen.
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| Review by Tom August 16, 2005
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Well, I differ from the other reviews. Maybe its me. I think jazz is fine, but prefer rock. I also prefer easy listening or comtemporary jazz to classic jazz. That said, I really like this album. I have a stereo system, but both the CD layer and the stereo SA-CD rate high for me. Clean, good dynamics, defined, and musical. The CD sounds great in my car.
The selections are classics, but done is a very different way that is both pleasing and interesting to me. For me, Fever is the best cut. There are one or two selections that I sometimes skip, but they're not bad.
At times I would prefer more Ray Charles, but I realize that this is a selection of duets. It must have been difficult to assemble these stars.
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| Review by sacd1 January 7, 2006 (0 of 3 found this review helpful)
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| not much impress this sacd but not bad.
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| Review by K3nt November 23, 2006
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I love this record. A great tribute to a great artist. I mostly listen to it in SACD stereo and enjoy it very much. The sonics are clear, without being overly so, they have a nice softness to them. This is one of the records I use to demonstrate the difference between SACD and normal CD to the uninitiated.
I do agree that this isn't necessarily Ray's best, but it is only supposed to be a "cooperation" record, and in that sense this disc does its job very nicely. Thumbs up for this one!
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| Review by StyleAndEntertainmen January 16, 2009 (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
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Not sure how I ended up with album as I don't have any other Ray Charles CDs or LPs. Probably bought it 'cause of the star studded cast. What a mistake! The best description I can think of is "dreck." Sure, it sounds good. I mean the sonics are good. Heck, the sonics are very good. That is not the issue. The issue is the songs are sickening formulaic. There is very little you haven't heard before and heard done better. Some of the tracks I just have to skip to the next song it's so obviously contrived and poorly executed it makes my skin crawl.
Guess I'm pretty much alone as most people are giving it a thumbs up. I can't believe this won awards! OMG! As they sing near the end: "Heaven help us all" if this is award winning arrangement, singing, and execution of music. I can assure you it is not.
Well, shame on me for not seeing this for what it was: Ray's last hurrah. Probably my fault for starting at the end of his career rather than a compilation disk. But even so, I have to give it a thumbs down unless you're a die hard Ray fan.
Sonics - very nice indeed
Arrangements: cheesy and formulaic
instruments: musicians mailed it in
Vocals:
Guests: Some songs sound pretty good, most mailed it in
Ray: Some songs sound OK, none are engaging or inspiring
Not recommended for you or me
Recommended for those who like Lawrence Welk: this is the Ray Charles album you've been waiting for
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| Review by progboy March 27, 2012 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Usually these duet-type albums don't really work for me......and this one is kind of really in that league. I love the line up and the song selection and of course Ray but I think this one would have been way more magical had it been 10 years earlier......
Sadly this collection is really far away from the genius of lets say "Charles and Carter" or "Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music". Ray sings best he can as his health was failing and he had lost that magic really in his voice by the recording of these duets. The great news is that the orchestration and instrumentation is amazing and all his guests sound excellent and alive. It is really just the flat and unimaginative voice of Ray that makes this a good but not excellent album.
Ray sounds like his dentures were not fitting as snug as they could have during these recordings!
However the sound is quite good and i think the SACD really brings out some of the magic that this album strives but sadly never reaches....
Definitely not an essential SACD nor and essential Ray Charles album to own but if like me you can find it cheap then I'd say go for it.......
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| Review by Ricoflashback July 19, 2013 (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
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My first SACD and a very enjoyable disc. I agree with the other Reviewer's comments about the echos and this is probably not the best converted/engineered SACD out there - - but I'm a big fan of Ray Charles (his book "Brother Ray" is a great read) and Jamie Foxx did an incredible job in the movie.
The soundtrack from the movie "Ray" - - although a plain old CD - - really highlights Ray's voice - - especially songs like "You Don't Know Me."
Unfortunately - - his voice was really "shot" for this recording and is really a shell of his former self. But you can still hear his famous style and the other artists did a great job on the CD.
Would love to hear a SACD mix (duets) of Ray's older recordings with some of these artists - - with an SACD mix. (Like Natalie Cole did with her father) Still an enjoyable listen from one of the greatest, inventive artists that the U.S. has ever had.
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| Review by aschemkes February 13, 2014
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Though a good sounding SACD in surround, Ray isn't on is best (understatement) I'm sorry to say and hear, but Ray is often off key.
It's a shame they think think of this earlier...
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