Ray Charles, sitting in the dark.

The blind can be *extremely* sensitive, it's VERY true. One of my ol' best friends had a blind dad, and he could tell exactly where you were in the room no matter HOW quiet you were, sense of smell is also quite baffeling. He could tell you had corn flakes for breakfast, even though it's past 3 in the afternoon, and you've long left the house!

Personally, if I'd known that he was looking for help, I'd be more than happy to "volunteer". Heavens knows he woulnd't be looking for keyboards in there, so whatever he would buy would make it all the more interesting, even though I don't work there.

Steve, what did he end up buying, do you remember? Just a Cass/FM deal, or did he buy something quite extravagant?

My only story I have about Ray is quite boring, but when I was 20, my girlfriend at the time was working at a deli while she was going to school. She told me that someone called in for fried chicken, said that Ray Charles and his "helpers" would be in to pick it all up. She said it sounded quite sincere. Said "Ray loves a certain fried chicken", or something to that effect, as I remember.

Alas, no Ray. Actually, if I met the gentleman, I would have just said "Thank you Ray. Thank you very much."

 

Great story about Ray buying a Walkman, Steve!

I can just picture Ray Charles in Circuit City. Really must have thrown those guys for spin.

You should write a book about this stuff.

 

Steve,

I just picked up The World of Ray Charles. I am sure glad you sat in the dark or whatever it took to remaster these disks. I am sure I speak for many when I say thanks a million for taking the time to make these and so many others sound "right".

 

Mine is the double "Uh, Huh!" set soon after he did ads for Pepsi.

The tube playback is where it makes an ALARMING difference. Almost like a decoder! The discs sound great.

I had them on one of my Dynacos a while back and now with a dedicated set downstairs on a Bottlehead "Foreplay", I mean, this is one of the best examples of how the sound just throws you for a loop!

 

Steve, is there any history to the different version of "What I'd Say" where the middle "encore" sounds different to the one that's on the Atlantic compilations and your 2CD?

I have it on the Atlantic R&B box. You can hear more guys than gals tell Ray to keep going. Ray seems to sound suprised.. etc. Know which one? Might be the Mono version.... Was one the single, or LP version, whole remake, etc....

 

Actually, if memory serves, that studio didn't open till 1963 or something. Maybe 1961.

They got the 8-track in early 1958, of course, though.

 

Steve, I still have those Brother Ray discs you kindly sent my way when I could barely afford the postage to send you a letter asking about how they sounded - still great sounding after all this time!

 

Tom Dowd always makes me scratch my head cause I'm never quite sure I follow why a lot of folks swear his work is all great; lots of tracks seem to be one of the downward turning points in sonic treats - more tracks leads to more monkey business, more sources of noise like crackly pots (Good Lovin' anybody)??? 3 or 4 tracks seems kinda ideal from the sonic standpoint (although 1 track with somebody like Uncle Sam Phillips or Norman Petty at the wheel thrills me plenty). What's this Uh-Huh comp that's been mentioned above - I musta been snoozing when that was put out...

 

Actually, my thought al this time was, the Uh Huh set (2CD) was the only release of these recordings BY Dcc. It wasn't. They actually released single disc compilations before that time.

There's some black - covered single disc'ers that cover the same material. DCC made it easier to get it all in 2Cds, basically. I'm not even sure if there's anything missing if you compared the 2 single Cds to the 2CD set. The single discs are older from what I see...

I've seen both CD1 and CD2 of the single sets out where I live. the track listing, as I remember, was different, Steve knows about this more than I.

But the 2CD set is what I have, with Ray in Tux as the Pepsi commericial wanted to have him. For all I know, he drank orange drink (like Steve mentioned) and creame soda. BUT the complilation is incredible, and MUST be experienced on tubes.

My 2CD set possibly mirrors what you have, but....which disc do you have?

 

Hi Sckott - I have the DCC discs that only have the ABC/Paramount/Tangerine label stuff. I like the Atlantic stuff when Ray was still toying with all kindsa ways to sing and play, so I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled...

 

Hey, Steve! Missed ya over at the Alexis Park Hotel last Wednesday, you and your S & P cohorts must've been prowling the main convention hall at the time. Anyway, I want to thank you for all the fine work you did back in the '80s & early '90s on the Ray Charles catalog. It's one of the most treasured parts of my music library. I played your remastering of "America The Beautiful" from the 2-disc comp a week after the al Kaeda East Coast tragedy and started bawling like a baby! It was quite a catharsis and a morale booster after the worst week in modern American times. It's amazing what a great piece of inspiration music can be!

 

Love all these Ray stories... Steve, you are a great story teller. You really should write a book.

Uh Huh is a standard in my house.

We play that one quite a lot... among others of course.

Thanks for the inside stories.

Fun stuff!

 

You used to do late night shifts at KPFK? When? Did you have a DJ shift? Did you ever run into Joseph Spencer? I used to do various DJ shifts and concert recording for Sister station KPFA in Berkeley.
By the way, the first CD reissues I could stand to listen to at all were those DCC Ray Charles discs. I felt at the time that digital recording was the moral equivalent of nuclear power. Remember that first CD reissue of "Kind of Blue"?

 

Really nothing quite like having a shift that starts at 10 pm on a Sunday night (used to board-op the "Music From The Hearts of Space" shows then have two hours of my own stuff) and finding out that you have to sub till 5am on Monday when Kevin Vance would arrive. Running to the music library to find something to play because you've already played everything you brought. Yes, working at KPFA 1988-1998 was something else.
Joseph Spencer ran "The Musical Offering, an independent classical LP/CD store in Berkeley and I worked there for nearly ten years. He did a long running early music program called "Chapel, Court and Countryside" at KPFK. When he moved from L.A. to Berkeley in the 80's, he took his show with him. He let me sub for him a few times. Wonderful guy. He spent a lot of time in the L.A. and Hollywood studios schlepping and tuning keyboards for all sorts of recording sessions, including the Rolling Stones and Vladimir Horowitz. He also was responsible for producing all sorts of concerts and music festivals.