Ray Charles pre-Atlantic collections

[jligon]

Does anyone know if any of the Ray Charles pre-Atlantic collections are any good? If so, which ones?

Thanks,

-Jon

[Steve Hoffman]

Pre-Atlantic? Hmmmm, you mean pre 1953. I don't think Ray sounded like Ray until AFTER he was on Atlantic for a year.

If there are compilations of pre Atlantic stuff out there, they are taken from records.

[jligon]

Yeah, didn't he record for Swing Time Records for awhile before he went to Atlantic. Everything I've heard sounds like it came from a record. You're saying that's all there is to choose from?

[Mal]

A few years ago I found a double CD of his pre-Atlantic stuff released by "Tomato" records or something. Poor sound and Ray, as Steve said, sounded nothing like he did from Atlantic onwards. It's as though he hadn't found his voice yet. I exchanged the discs for some Atlantic material I think :) .

[Dave B]

I have a box called the Swing Time Records Story that has several early Ray Charles cuts. It's Ray but it's not RAY if you know what I mean. He really didn't hit his stride until the Atlantic sessons.

[Steve Hoffman]

Jon,

I assume you have the Atlantic box? The one with that ugly cover? Great music though, all cut flat from the correct tapes. That's the place to start with Ray.

If you do have it and want older stuff, there really isn't much that sounds good out there. Ray sounds too much like Nat Cole and Charles Brown combined. Nothing like himself yet. And, of course, there are no tapes, so nothing but bad sound to boot!

[Mal]

Steve,

Do you mean "The Birth Of Soul" box?

The cover isn't that ugly.....

[Steve Hoffman]

Yeah, that's the one! Great mastering job. They only screwed up on two songs, tape wise out of the whole thing. A great effort!

OK, the cover isn't THAT ugly, but it was all I could think of to describe the box at that moment. :)

[Mal]

Is "Hallelujah I Love Her So" one of the suspect tracks? I always thought it sounded a bit warbly on that set. Sounds like it may be a copy of a copy of a....

[Steve Hoffman]

Funny, I thought so to at first, but no. That's the correct tape. Just too much echo and a bad Capitol engineer that day.

Without getting the box out, there are two earlier songs right in the middle of a group that have echo on them when the others recorded that day don't. They stick out like a sore thumb.

Atlantic put the actual dry masters of those songs on a later LP reel, and put the echo versions on the "single" reel, probably around 1962. Should have been the other way around. They are minor songs, but someone should have caught it when mastering the CD. I mean, four songs recorded in one afternoon, two are dry as a bone, and two have wacky reverb on them. Uhhhh, hello Mr. Engineer...;)

Hey, Malc S., how is the weather in Brighton at the moment?

My mom was born in London.

[Mal]

The weather is crap over here right now - wet, wet, wet! It's OK though - I'm in for the evening with my two babies, Martha (10 weeks old) and my SCD-1 :p while "mum" has gone out without Martha for the first time. Time to teach the kid about great music - Ray seems like a good place to start!

Where in London was your mum born? I grew up in Ealing (west London).

[Steve Hoffman]

She was born on (please forgive the spelling) Tottenham Court Road near Goodge Street. My Grandfather had a shop there. My mom came to America as a toddler with my Grandparents on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary. My great uncle was in the Movie business in Hollywood and brought them over. Neat, eh?

Whenever I stay in London, I like to stay at the Hotel Russell in Great Russell Square. Pretty near to my Mom's old stomping ground. I like that area anyway, near the B. M. and the Egyptian Mummies, bookstores, etc.

Sorry the weather is bad, but what else is new?

:(

[Mal]

Do you ever do any mastering, or related work, in England?

(The spelling was fine by the way!)

[Steve Hoffman]

I don't actually. Something about a work permit...

I like to visit though!

[Mal]

Well, if you ever come to Brighton let me know!