The twentieth album: #20 Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles
That title sounds big headed, doesn't it? Then again, listening to the album, I can't say it's undeserved either. The mix of jazz, gospel and big band music works well, creating a swinging, varied combination of songs that is a joy to listen to. It's exciting and fun, getting your foot tapping along.
This changes once you get to the ballads of the B-side, but these sound good, softer and calmer, in a way that worked as slowly calming down after the rush from earlier. All of that worked pretty well for me. If anything, I wished they'd turned down the instruments and violins a bit during these, as they sometimes overpowered Ray Charles' performance. That's the one part that, to me, really maatered in these.