When I was just starting to get into record collecting, I lived down the street from PJs Records in Ann Arbor. (What a great old recore store with great owners - you should really check them out the next time you’re in Ann Arbor or just finished up at Encore.) I was browsing through the stacks on an early Saturday afternoon in the winter time, Jess was out doing something so I knew I could come home to our apartment we had then near downtown, up in the attic of that crazy old house, pour myself a beverage while I kicked up my feet on my homemade ottoman and listen to some records.
So I took my time and browsed carefully and finally decided on three records: Otis Redding’s Sittin’ On the Dock Of The Bay, a blues record (that I can’t remember which one), and a Ray Charles titled The Early Ray Charles. Ol’ jolly PJ happily rang me up and put them in a brown bag and smiled at me, and I honesty remember what he said for some reason: ”You go home and enjoy this batch.” (I liked that he called it a batch, and that he remembered me) (Hear that Encore?) And I listened carefully to all three, and while the Otis Redding was fantastic, the Early Ray Charles was really one of those records that catapulted my love affair with vinyl.
I went on to really get into Ray Charles (and this was before the movie and the Kanye remix!) …and I started looking for all his records he put out on Atlantic - which I think I have almost all of them. These early compilations are all from his records he cut in the late 40s and early 50s on Swingtime. There seems to be a ton of ghetto labels who have put out different records of these cuts in various order, so any one of them will do fine. We’ve come across probably all of them through CV, I even have a French pressing that has a mystery blues artist on the b side. I just checked, and sure enough, here’s one in our store.
These records by Ray Charles are different from his Atlantic records, which were in turn different from his ABC-Paramount records and then his ABC records and then his own Tangerine label recordings. There’s a sweetness to these early songs that I love - Ray says or people told Ray he was imitating Charles Brown and Nat King Cole, but that’s all fine, I love them. I pulled out this album again tonight for the first time in a long time and played it, I think it will go upstairs to the cabinet player and get a steady rotation up there.
This song stands out as one of my favorites, and one that you can find on most of the comps. It’s “If I Give You My Love”, by the late great Early Ray Charles.
listen:
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January 27th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Max
Excellent post. I liked the movie Ray, but for some reason it kept me from listening to or buying his music. I did actually throw on The Great Ray Charles the other night and was blown away. Thanks for posting the song too; I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of his pre-Atlantic stuff. I live a short walk from PJ’s and you’re right about that place. All the pretensions that usually plague record shops are totally nonexistent at PJ’s. There are two brothers that run the place that will rap with you about anything dealing with music (or politics). I bought the best of the Drifters on Atlantic last time I was in there and the guy had some really great insight into the history and production of the Drifters’ music, claiming that it was like an early influence of the Motown sound. The place is also great in that it’s a smaller operation than a place like Encore and seemingly more human; for instance the pricing is a bit all over the board, which is a good thing. Some stuff is way too expensive, but some stuff slips under the radar. Not too long ago I found Arthur Conley’s Sweet Soul Music there for like $7 and a great James Brown hits record for like $6. They also carry a lot of great reissues if you’re into that. Some records I know I’ll probably never be able to drop the cash for the real thing, but want the vinyl all the same.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
admin
Thanks, dude. I know we have one of these pre-Atlantic comps lying around that’s not listed, so I’ll snag you one the next time I’m at the shop. Yeah, it’s amazing how good his Atlantic stuff is - a blend of jazz, soul, blues, gospel, and rock and roll, and yet how underrated he really is. Maybe because he was so well known and recorded for so long, and people remember him from those Pepsi commercials. His autobiography, titled Ray, which the movie is based on, is awesome and much better than the movie. To me, Ray is a top-five most important/influencial/pioneer in music history.