Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959) [Box set]

Amazon.com
Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning turn as Ray Charles could only touch on the musical highlights of the American musical legend's career. But for those further intrigued by Charles' savory musical roots, this seven CD/one DVD anthology of Charles' epochal career at Atlantic Records (who purchased the fledgling star's contract from a small L.A. label for $2500) is the ultimate chronicle. While the singer's recorded output for the label was typically shuffled and jumbled across a series of contemporary albums and compilations, this set offers them up chronologically as originally recorded in NYC, New Orleans and elsewhere, a gambit that allows a clearer insight into the musician's artistic growth and burgeoning confidence as a performer in the bargain. Though focused on the `fervent r&b and soul sides he cut before crossing over into country and pop in the ‘60s, Charles' Atlantic tenure also includes insightful excursions into small jazz combo work that further underscored the range of his incomparable gifts.

The final CD in the set is a treasure trove of unreleased (mostly) solo performances that range from a lengthy 1953 rehearsal tape to a handful of hotel room-recorded arrangement demos for his 1959 Genius of Ray Charles collection. The set's DVD is another welcome bonus, containing the legend's complete performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival (though he'd just left Atlantic, his repertoire and band for the show are rooted in the era), capped with the modern reminisces of Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun. Lavishly packaged in a box that replicates a ‘50's-era 45-player and featuring a hard-bound liner book that includes reprints of the original albums' liner notes, a comprehensive sessionography and an insightful new essay from noted r&b biographer David Ritz, the collection lives up to its billing at every level: Pure genius, indeed. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description
Ray Charles is an American legend beyond compare. A ten-time Grammy-winning superstar who almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for soul music, Charles proved his mastery with countless jazz, country, R&B, and pop masterpieces as well. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year they gave the honors ('86), and his extraordinary career spanned seven decades. His remarkable life was celebrated in the 2004 biopic Ray-featuring Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning performance as the artist-and now Ray Charles' musical genius is spotlighted in this comprehensive box of his seminal Atlantic Records era, 1952-1959. As preeminent music writer David Ritz notes inside, "These are the historic years of his creative explosion, the time when he reinvented himself as a musical revolutionary. These records will live forever."

Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959),Ray Charles,Rhino / Wea,Blues,Box Sets (Audio Only),Pop,R&B,Soul,United States of America,Urban Blues

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Average customer rating: This Set Gave Me What I Was Looking For & More why there aren't more outtakes on this set Great Music, reasonable price, stupid people!! Nothing wrong with 8th disc? for all the fans...

Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959) Ray Charles Manufacturer: Atlantic / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Blues | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Classic R&B | R&B | Styles | Music General | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music R&B & Soul | Box Sets | Stores | Music Box Sets at 30% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music R&B | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Jazz | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Ray Charles: The Complete Country & Western Recordings 1959-1986 A Musical History Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection The Complete Library of Congress Recordings Talking Heads Brick ASIN: B000A7KL7U Release Date: 2005-09-20

Tracks:

1. The Suns Gonna Shine Again
2. Roll With My Baby
3. The Midnight Hour
4. Jumpin In The Mornin
5. It Shouldve Been Me
6. Losing Hand
7. Heartbreaker
8. Sinners Prayer
9. Mess Around
10. Funny (But I Still Love You)
11. Feelin Sad
12. I Wonder Who
13. Dont You Know
14. Nobody Cares
15. Rays Blues
16. I Got A Break Baby
17. Blackjack
18. Ive Got A Woman
19. Greenbacks
20. Come Back Baby
21. A Fool For You
22. This Little Girl Of Mine
23. Hard Times (No One
24. Knows Better Than I)
25. Blues Hangover
26. Mary Ann
27. Drown In My Own Tears
28. Hallelujah I Love Her So
29. What Would I Do
30. Without You

Tracks:

1. Dawn Ray
2. The Man I Love
3. Music, Music, Music
4. Black Coffee
5. Lonely Avenue
6. I Want To Know
7. Leave My Woman Alone
8. The Ray
9. I Surrender Dear
10. Hornful Soul
11. Aint Misbehavin
12. Joy Ride
13. Sweet Sixteen Bars
14. Doodlin
15. Theres No You
16. Undecided
17. My Melancholy Baby
18. Its All Right
19. Aint That Love

Tracks:

1. Rockhouse Parts 1 & 2
2. Get On The Right Track Baby
3. Swanee River Rock (Talkin Bout That River)
4. Thats Enough
5. Talkin Bout You
6. What Kind Of Man Are You
7. I Want A Little Girl
8. How Long Blues - Milt Jackson & Ray Charles
9. Cosmic Ray - Milt Jackson & Ray Charles
10. The Genius After Hours
11. Charlesville
12. Bags Of Blues - Ray Charles & Milt Jackson
13. Deed I Do - Milt Jackson & Ray Charles
14. Blue Funk - Milt Jackson & Ray Charles
15. Soul Brothers - Milt Jackson & Ray Charles

Tracks:

1. Bags Guitar Blues - Milt Jackson & Ray Charles
2. Yes Indeed!
3. I Had A Dream
4. You Be My Baby
5. Tell All The World About You
6. My Bonnie
7. Soul Meeting - Ray Charles & Milt Jackson
8. Hallelujah I Love Her So - Ray Charles & Milt Jackson
9. Blue Genius - Ray Charles & Milt Jackson
10. X-Ray Blues - Ray Charles & Milt Jackson
11. Love On My Mind - Ray Charles & Milt Jackson
12. The Spirit-Feel (Live, 1958)
13. Blues Waltz (Live, 1958)
14. In A Little Spanish Town (Live, 1958)
15. Sherry (Live, 1958)
16. (Night Time Is) The Right Time (Live, 1958)
17. A Fool For You (Live, 1958)

Tracks:

1. Ive Got A Woman (Live, 1958)
2. Talkin bout You (Live, 1958)
3. Swanee River Rock (Talkin Bout That River)(Live, 1958)
4. Yes Indeed! (Live, 1958)
5. Early In The Mornin
6. (Night Time Is) The Right Time
7. Carrying That Load (Single Version)
8. Carrying That Load (LP Version)
9. Tell Me How Do You Feel
10. Fathead - David Newman
11. Tin Tin Deo - David Newman
12. Bill For Bennie - David Newman
13. Hard Times - David Newman
14. Mean To Me - David Newman
15. Sweet Eyes - David Newman
16. Weird Beard - David Newman
17. Willow Weep For Me - David Newman
18. Tell The Truth
19. Whatd I Say Parts I & II (Mono LP Version)

Tracks:

1. Whatd I Say Parts I & II (Stereo LP Version)
2. Tell Me Youll Wait For Me
3. Come Rain Or Come Shine
4. Dont Let The Sun Catch You Cryin
5. Just For A Thrill
6. You Wont Let Me Go
7. Am I Blue
8. The Spirit-Feel (Live, 1959)
9. Frenesi (Live, 1959)
10. Tell The Truth (Live, 1959)
11. Drown In My Own Tears (Live, 1959)
12. (Night Time Is) The Right Time (Live, 1959)
13. Whatd I Say (Live, 1959)
14. Let The Good Times Roll
15. Alexanders Ragtime Band
16. Deed I Do
17. When Your Lover Has Gone
18. Two Years Of Torture
19. It Had To Be You
20. Im Movin On
21. I Believe To My Soul

Tracks:

1. Rehearsal Session With
2. Ahmet Ertegun (1953)
3. Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand
4. Unknown Title
5. Piano Improvisation & Dialog #1
6. Losing Hand & Dialog #1
7. Little Rock Getaway & Dialog
8. Kentucky Waltz
9. Heartbreaker (Instrumental Version)
10. Heartbreaker & Dialog
11. Piano Improvisation & Dialog #2
12. Heartbreaker (False Starts 12)
13. Losing Hand & Dialog #2
14. Losing Hand & Dialog #3 (W/ Reverb)
15. Losing Hand & Dialog #4 (W/ Reverb)
16. Heartbreaker
17. It Shouldve Been Me & Dialog
18. Nobody Cares
19. Piano Improvisation & Dialog #3
20. Mess Around
21. Funny (But I Still Love You)
22. Sinners Prayer
23. Piano Improvisation & Dialog #4
24. Low Society & Dialog #1
25. Boogie Woogie
26. Low Society & Dialog #2
27. Worried Life Blues
28. Come Back Baby (Walter Davis Version)& Dialog
29. Low Society
30. (Night Time Is) The Right Time (Takes 17)& Dialog
31. Tell Me How Do You Feel (Take 1)
32. Rays Arrangement Suggestions For
33. The Genius Of Ray Charles Album (1959)Dialog
34. It Had To Be You & Dialog
35. My Buddy & Dialog Dialog
36. When Your Lover Has Gone & Dialog
37. Im Beginning To See The Light.
38. Let The Good Times Roll & Dialog

Tracks:

1. Ray Charles On Voice Of America, 1960(Live At The Newport Jazz Festival)
2. Lil Darlin
3. Blues Waltz
4. Let The Good Times Roll
5. Dont Let The Sun Catch You Cryin
6. Sticks And Stones
7. My Baby! (I Love Her, Yes I Do)
8. Drown In My Own Tears
9. Whatd I Say
10. I Believe To My Soul
11. Interview With Ahmet Ertegun

Amazon.com

Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning turn as Ray Charles could only touch on the musical highlights of the American musical legend's career. But for those further intrigued by Charles' savory musical roots, this seven CD/one DVD anthology of Charles' epochal career at Atlantic Records (who purchased the fledgling star's contract from a small L.A. label for $2500) is the ultimate chronicle. While the singer's recorded output for the label was typically shuffled and jumbled across a series of contemporary albums and compilations, this set offers them up chronologically as originally recorded in NYC, New Orleans and elsewhere, a gambit that allows a clearer insight into the musician's artistic growth and burgeoning confidence as a performer in the bargain. Though focused on the `fervent r&b and soul sides he cut before crossing over into country and pop in the `60s, Charles' Atlantic tenure also includes insightful excursions into small jazz combo work that further underscored the range of his incomparable gifts.

The final CD in the set is a treasure trove of unreleased (mostly) solo performances that range from a lengthy 1953 rehearsal tape to a handful of hotel room-recorded arrangement demos for his 1959 Genius of Ray Charles collection. The set's DVD is another welcome bonus, containing the legend's complete performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival (though he'd just left Atlantic, his repertoire and band for the show are rooted in the era), capped with the modern reminisces of Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun. Lavishly packaged in a box that replicates a `50's-era 45-player and featuring a hard-bound liner book that includes reprints of the original albums' liner notes, a comprehensive sessionography and an insightful new essay from noted r&b biographer David Ritz, the collection lives up to its billing at every level: Pure genius, indeed. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description

Ray Charles is an American legend beyond compare. A ten-time Grammy-winning superstar who almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for soul music, Charles proved his mastery with countless jazz, country, R&B, and pop masterpieces as well. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year they gave the honors ('86), and his extraordinary career spanned seven decades. His remarkable life was celebrated in the 2004 biopic Ray-featuring Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning performance as the artist-and now Ray Charles' musical genius is spotlighted in this comprehensive box of his seminal Atlantic Records era, 1952-1959. As preeminent music writer David Ritz notes inside, "These are the historic years of his creative explosion, the time when he reinvented himself as a musical revolutionary. These records will live forever."

Customer Reviews:

This Set Gave Me What I Was Looking For & More.......2006-08-02

For my taste, there seems to be three phases of Ray Charles' career... 1. His early Swing Time days (when he sounded more like Nat King Cole than Ray Charles) 2. The Atlantic Years (where the sound was raw, cutting edge, and powerful) 3. The ABC Years & Later (where the craft was more refined, instrumentally and vocally). What I had longed for was a compilation or box set that focused on those Atlantic days and drilled down past the standard Ray songs that are on just about EVERY Ray Charles CD you can find. For that, this set is unmatched. In addition to some of the more popular "live" cuts, there are a good 50 songs on here that I had never heard (I'm talking beyond the songs on "Anthology" or the movie soundtrack) that are fantastic and are every bit as much a part of my Ray Charles i-pod rotation as "I Got a Woman" or "Mess Around".

The real treat (in my opinion), is the 30 or so outtakes and rehearsal cuts. Here, you get to hear what it was like in the recording studio with Ray Charles... there is actually an 8 minute track that covers the recording of "Night Time is the Right Time", which allows you to experience how particular Ray was with the sound HE wanted. Knowing from past readings that multiple takes on a song were a pet peeve of his, one can actually hear his tone change with the band and the guys in the booth as the takes begin to add up... great stuff for any Ray fan who has wondered (as I often have), "How in the world does he do that?"

The only reason this set gets 4 stars from me instead of 5 is that there are many (as in 25 or so) instrumental tracks. Don't get me wrong, they are all solid jazz tunes (as good as any other jazz CD I own) but I would have preferred more of Ray's vocals. Still, my rating may very well not be fair. Afterall, it is the COMPLETE Atlantic Recordings.

It's quite a bit of money to put down and I pondered it for quite some time, but well worth it if you're looking for more than what you can find on a Greatest Hits compilation.

why there aren't more outtakes on this set.......2006-05-11

People complained about there not being more outtakes on this set. This might explain some things, since Ray Charles was an Atlantic recording artist:

"One of the most devastating vault losses in modern industry history occurred in February, 1978 in a fire in a non-air-conditioned Atlantic Records storage facility in Long Branch, N.J.

The warehouse fire destroyed virtually all of Atlantic's unreleased masters, alternate takes and sessions tapes by artists who had recorded for the label and its offshoots throughout its classic 1948-1969 first golden era.

Thousands of performances by nearly a hundred of America's most acclaimed r&b, soul, pop and jazz artists were lost in the fire. According to several sources, between 5,000 to 6,000 reels of tape were destroyed or damaged. Just a handful of the artists names reads like a short-form Who's Who in Mid-Century American Music." [...]
(Bill Holland wrote this for Billboard in 1997. I can't post the website this is taken from because A. won't let me.)

Atlantic probably doesn't have any unreleased RC in its vaults. I think the outtakes on this set were saved by one of RC's producers.

Great Music, reasonable price, stupid people!!.......2006-04-10

This set is great as far as it goes. All of the material is typical RC: wonderful. I was surprised that there weren't more out takes, however. If you have any of the other Atlantic sets there's a fair bit of overlap. (added June 5, 2006: I've since learned that pretty near all the older Atlantic material, including alternate takes, was destroyed by a fire where the material was being stored, which explains the lack of out takes and alternate material.) This set, along with the Rhino Ray Charles country music set makes a pretty darn good overview of Ray's spectacular career.
I was really shocked that so many people don't bother to read the label on the eighth disc, which clearly is marked DVD | Video. Naturally, it won't play on CD players.

Nothing wrong with 8th disc?.......2006-03-10

Um... I don't own this, but I was looking at buying it. Looking at the reviews, I see two people complained that disc 8 won't play in their CD players. Disc 8 is listed as a DVD, so it won't play in a regular CD player (try your computer). I have to assume there it nothing wrong with the product, but rather, the user. Just thought I should point that out to anyone thinking of buying this. I am giving it 5 stars just to offset the bad (mistaken) ratings

for all the fans..........2006-03-10

pure genious is a milestone in the story of music, all the people who love music must have one of this. sorry for my english, but i hope that you understand what i say! by the way ... ladies and gentleman ... the one , the only , the genious ... mr. ray charles

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