A gem of a soundtrack

The best way to fully enjoy the motion picture Ray is to forget that Jamie Foxx has given a remarkable performance playing the pop music legend Ray Charles. Otherwise, you will be holding your breath wondering how amazing this comedian is as Ray Charles. The Academy Award has already seen fit to honor the talented Foxx for his work so moviegoers can now stop being amazed at what a fantastic actor he is and concentrate instead on the story.

It is the stuff melodramas are made of. A blind black boy grows up amidst limitations imposed on him by his race, poverty, physical handicap and later by heroin addiction. But he was born with music in his soul and this was what brought him success and later turned him into the legendary figure the whole world now admires. This is not only because of his music, a unique blend of the blues, jazz, country and gospel, but also for all that he did to fight segregation and as a champion for artists’ rights.

Director Taylor Hackford did a wonderful job bringing this story to the screen and although he had the perfect actor in Foxx, he wisely decided to use only the recordings of Charles on the soundtrack. Foxx can sing and play the piano and could have easily come up, not with an imitation but with his own take on Ray Charles’ hits. That would have been OK but why use somebody else when the originals were available? So we can now truthfully say part of Foxx’s Best Actor Oscar was due to his excellent lip synching and body language while doing the Charles songs.

These songs can be found in the soundtrack album Ray and the entire package comes across as a musical biography. To the uninitiated this is the best way to be introduced to Ray Charles. It is also interesting to find Ray’s singing, so young and playful in the first cut Mess Around acquiring more depth and texture as he matures with each succeeding cut. Compare the Georgia on My Mind from 1960 with the one from 1976 which closes the album.

Included are his biggest hits Georgia on My Mind, What I’d Say, You Don’t Know Me, Hit the Road Jack and others that have never been compiled in a single album before. That means that for his many followers, this soundtrack is also the best compilation of Ray Charles hits ever put together.

So I see no way any music lover should miss out on this album.

The Week’s Top Albums

Though he must have been already so used to success by the time of his death a year ago, Ray Charles will still be hard put to explain the phenomenal response his recordings have been getting lately. And I do not think the interest is due to the fact that Ray has died. I believe it is because people all over have rediscovered him and now fully appreciate his music. The reaction would have been the same had he still been alive and maybe even bigger had he been able to tour or do some promo activities.

Aside from the Ray soundtrack which is a big hit, his Grammy Award winning Genius Loves Company has been making trips to the number one slot with great ease these past few months. The album features duets Charles recorded with the likes of Elton John, Norah Jones, Diana Krall and others before he died. It is now seventh in Billboard’s Hot 100 and has seldom strayed from the top 10 after six months in the market.

This week’s top album list is as follows: The Massacre by 50 Cent; Rebirth by Jennifer Lopez; In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson; Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta; The Documentary by The Game; American Idiot by Green Day; Genius Loves Company by Ray Charles; O by Omarion; Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson; and Encore by Eminem.

The singles hit list is also dominated by 50 Cent with three new recordings. These are Candy Shop and Disco Inferno from his very successful second album The Massacre and How We Do, his collaboration with The Game. Here are the top 10 singles: Candy Shop by 50 Cent; Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day; Let Me Love You by Mario; How We Do by The Game featuring 50 Cent; Disco Inferno by 50 Cent; Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson; 1-2 Step by Ciara featuring Missy Elliott; Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani featuring Eve; Caught Up by Usher; and Obsession (No Es Amor) by Frankie J featuring Baby Bash.

Come to think of it, the strong presence of various types of R&B recordings in today’s hit charts owe so much to the groundwork laid down by Ray Charles.