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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Concord Records
Salesrank: 8528
Released: October 3, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.45 |
| Used Price: $1.31 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Ray Sings, Basie Swings Track Listing:
1. Oh What A Beautiful Morning
2. Let The Good Times Roll
3. How Long Has This Been Going On?
4. Every Saturday Night
5. I Can't Stop Loving You
6. Cryin' Time
7. Busted
8. Come Live With Me
9. Feel So Bad
10. The Long And Winding Road
11. Look What They've Done To My Song
12. Georgia On My Mind
Editorial Review:
The producers of this CD discovered archival reels of Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra performing live together in 1973. Although the vocals were superior, the remaining elements were or extremely poor quality. They decided to bring the current Count Basie Orchestra into the studio and, using the latest technology, they carefully and painstakingly laid down a new musical backdrop for Charles' towering vocals.
More from Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra
Genius Loves Company | 
Ultimate Hits Collection | 
Ray!Soundtrack |
America's #1 Band: The Columbia Years | 
Count Basie at Newport | 
Swing Shift |
Description of Ray Sings, Basie Swings:
To fake or not to fake: That is the question consumers must answer for themselves in assessing this feat of aural Photoshopping: an "imaginary concert" created by combining recently discovered soundboard tapes of Ray Charles's vocals from a mid-'70s European show and newly recorded backing by the Count Basie Orchestra--the "ghost band," still on the road 22 years after Count's passing. Charles is in exceptional voice, singing the heck out of standards like "How Long Has This Been Going On?," Genius classics like "Busted," and pop covers like Melanie's "Look What They've Done to My Song." His performance is a thrilling corrective to forgettable posthumous albums like Genius Loves Company, designed to cash in on the new audience created for him by the movie Ray. But as competently as the Basie band fill in the blanks under the direction of Bill Hughes, with Joey DeFrancesco guesting on organ, most of the new arrangements are rather pallid, and the ensemble lacks the personality of both the Basie orchestra and Charles's best groups. And as attractive as Ray Sings, Basie Swings may be for the casual listener, the gimmickry will appall serious fans, particularly since neither Charles nor Basie--who never collaborated in life--was around to lend his approval. Is The Doors Sing, Woody Herman Swings next? --Lloyd Sachs
Ray Sings, Basie Swings Reviews:
Good Listening 
2009-05-20 - I read the earlier reviews; they are informative and appreciated. Bottom Line for me is ... It sounds good and I LIKE IT.
Listenable... but there's so much that is better 
2009-04-24 - Ray Sings, Basie Swings isn't a bad album... it just isn't very good.
Other people have commented on the sound quality of this CD. For my tastes Ray's voice is flat and the Basie Orchestra isn't exactly on fire. So what...
But in world where you can buy any one of a dozen of Ray Charles or The Count's best albums for less money than this album, why would you settle for this one?
And you would get so much more out of them. This album is practically throwaway by comparison.
For Ray Charles, try Genius Sings Soul, Genius Hits the Road, or Soul Brothers.
For Count Basie, pick up Atomic Basie (or just about anything else he recorded WHILE HE WAS ACTUALLY ALIVE).
Get it if you want it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just don't prepare to be amazed, because you won't be.
Phenomenal! 
2008-12-18 - This record sounds fantastic! Hats off to everybody involved with the project. Close your eyes, sit back, and enjoy the ride. Quincy Jones is right on the mark, as usual, with his remark that this record is one for the ages! Yes indeed it is!!!
Best Ray Charles CD hands down
2008-11-03 - I can't understand why anyone would give this CD anything other than 5 stars. It is currently my favorite CD in my collection. I put it on whenever I want to feel really good. Ray is all over it. And as added bonus, this disc is filled with great B-3 alla Joey DeFrancesco and great Wurlitzer. I love Ray and I have many his albums. This is my favorite, even though he didn't really make it. The arrangements are fantastic. It is knit together seamlessly--you would never know that the vocals and the instrumental tracks were recorded 30 years apart. I'd like to buy a case of this CD and give it to everyone I know. BUT IT!
Ignore the hype on this CD 
2008-07-15 - Despite what the producers of this album want you to believe...the vocal tracks on these tracks are not "superior". It sounds like Ray Charles is singing in the shower, and the shower is on the other side of the house....meanwhile, the basie orchestra and the backing vocal singers are blasting away on the couch right next to you.
This is a great technology achievement???? This is horrible, on many levels, and not because they merged two sets of tracks cut 30 years apart. On some tracks, Ray's vocals are basically inaudible...and Ray is just an annoying buzz in the background. Most modern bootleg recordings are way better than this. There's a reason these tapes were buried away somewhere, as good as Ray's performance may have been if you saw the show live.
Spend your hard earned money elsewhere...as another viewer noted...there are much better recordings of both Ray the the Basie Orchestra available.
