With a ridiculously large output of albums recorded over more than 40 years, garnering an "ultimate" Ray Charles compilation is a pretty impossible and highly subjective task, but this two CD set comes just about as close as anything you could reasonably expect. Concentrating, quite rightly, on those songs on which his formidable reputation has been based it includes many of his most popular "hits" and, equally importantly, some of the very best from his huge canon of less popular tracks.

Put together by people who clearly know his back-catalogue and who also know an excellent song when they hear one it cleverly avoids the trap that many other attempts at a "best of" Ray Charles album fall into of being too superficial, too limited in time span, or just too big. Both CD's hang together as high class acts, encompassing not only a carefully sequenced cross-section of his extremely broad recording career but some of the best music you'll ever hear. As a primer it's outstanding but, equally importantly, for fans who have all or most of these selections already it's a great "play", bringing together on two discs many of those tracks that you really do want to hear back-to-back.

A "genius"?... well you decide but certainly, as this collection shows, one of the most exceptional and enjoyable artists of all time.

The two CD set is a very fine tribute to the late Ray Charles. Although it contains his "ultimate hits" only, don't let that stop you--the complete gamut of Ray's brilliance is presented here. From the sexual "Mess Around" and "What'd I Say" to Ray's passionate and patriotic version of "America The Beautiful," this two CD set demonstrates the core of his ability to perform virtually any type of music. (He could also play classical music on the piano, just about the only style not included here.) Blues, country-western, jazz, romantic ballad--anything that could be done, Ray did to perfection!

I had some familiarity with Ray's work; but I learned so much more about him from this collection! His musical abilities are obvious throughout the two CDs. He can sing, play piano, use back up singers very well, and even do an awesome job with the instrumental "One Mint Julep." Listeners also get the treat of hearing Ray collaborate with Willie Nelson for the song "Seven Spanish Angels." Ray also worked with Quincy Jones and Chaka Khan to do "I'll Be Good To You."

Rhino went further, however, in adding a 48 page booklet by David Ritz detailing the events of Ray's childhood years as well as all the pertinent developments during his over five-year career. The book is well written and there are terrific black and white photos in the booklet of Ray with Frank Sinatra, Percy Mayfield and many others. One minor disappointment: almost all of the personal events of Charles' life are written of his childhood; there are only three or four very brief passing references to his personal life after that.

In addition, there are some nice pictures of Ray on the CD covers and the recording dates of each song are also listed in the 48 page book. The sound quality is excellent and the songs are almost entirely presented in chronological order.

I would highly recommend this two CD set and booklet for any Ray Charles fan, obviously, but also for fans of classic R&B and soul. There isn't much of his work here before 1954, but this still stands as the clear superlative anthology of his work that you could get in a two CD set. Fans of the "crooners" may also delight in Ray's talents! I write this as the 2004 holiday season approaches--and, even if it weren't this time of year--this also makes a great gift! A BUY! GRIN

Most appelations in pop music are unearned. If Elvis was the King, he certainly abidicated by the mid-60's. Michael Jackson, King of Pop? Puh-leeeze. Aretha, Queen of Soul? Sinatra, Chairman of the Board? Yeah, I'll buy those.

But one nickname was earned, fully bought & paid for by decades of originality, creativity, boundary-breaking and genre-crossing: Ray Charles - The Genius.

Most artists would be satisified by acheiving success in a single field of music. Charles, by comparison, virtually created modern soul as a fusion of gospel and blues, revolutionized country music with his "Modern Sounds" series, and was a leading light in jazz.

How many artists owe a debt of gratitude to Charles? To even start a list would be to trivialize his impact.

As usual, Rhino has done a superlative job of selecting virtually every top forty hit from a decades-spanning (& label-crossing) career. From 1953's "Mess Around" to the mid-80's duet with Chaka Khan, produced by the man he mentored, Quincy Jones.

It is cliche to say when a famous person dies that we will never see his like again. With Ray Charles, that is a certainty.

I've been a fan of Ray's since I first heard What'd I Say back in 1959. Later in college, I had a roommate who had an album with all his early stuff at Atlantic and I found it fascinating. Through the years however, it was always impossible to find a greatest hits package that featured his early Atlantic sides along with the latter ABC-Paramount hits. This one does it! The only qualms I have of course is that Ray's output was so prolific that there are going to be a couple of favorites left off, I wish it included "It Shoulda Been Me and "Mary Ann" (which is on the Ray soundtrack) both from the 50's Atlantic recordings. But if you are relatively new to the Genius of Ray Charles, this should fill your beak. The sound is excellent and it does feature every charted R & B and pop hit from the 50's to the 80's. All the great ones are here "georgia On My Mind" "What'd I Say", "Hit The Road Jack", "Unchain My Heart" etc. etc. This one is a keeper for life. Also the book that comes with it is outstanding , full of photos and info on recording dates, personnel etc. Well worth the price. There's 36 cuts here and they run to gamut from hard-core blues, rock, pop, lush ballads, and everything that may Ray an icon. What a voice from God he had! Rhino does it again!

There are plenty of Ray Charles compilations to choose from - some focusing on a particular era or a particular aspect of Ray's career. This particular compilation combines his fifties music (recorded for Atlantic) and his sixties music (recorded for ABC-Paramount) on one collection - it also includes a few tracks from more recent times.

The most famous of his early songs is probably the often-covered Hallelujah I love her so. What'd I say and I've got a woman are among the other great songs from Ray's fifties music that are included here. Ray wrote all three of those songs, although he also recorded songs written by others even then.

It is the sixties with which Ray will be forever associated and which is most strongly represented here. Despite Ray's ability to write his own songs, the two songs for which he is best remembered are both covers. Georgia on my mind is a Hoagy Carmichael song from 1931, while I can't stop loving you is a country song written by Don Gibson. In both cases, Ray did them his own way, broadening their appeal considerably.

I can't stop loving you was one of many country songs that Ray adapted to the R+B style. Some of his fans deserted him, but these recordings gained him more fans than he lost. What Ray showed was the main difference between different styles of music was the presentation - not the songs themselves. Among other country songs adapted to R+B are You don't know me, You are my sunshine, Take these chains from my heart, Busted, Crying time and Together again.

Among his other great recordings of the sixties are Hit the road Jack (with Margie Hendrix), Unchain my heart, Let's go get stoned, Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby.

After the sixties, Ray's success was limited, but he still had the talent. In 1984, he recorded a country album of duets with various country singers - it really was a country album, unlike his sixties covers. That album is represented here by Seven Spanish angels - a duet with Willie Nelson. Another (non-country) duets from the eighties, I'll be good to you (with Chaka Khan), rounds off the collection superbly.

This collection is one of the best compilations of Ray's music I've come across. It is worth noting that Rhino released a similar but not identical UK double CD (Definitive). Many of the songs are the same but I particularly like Baby it's cold outside (a duet with Betty Carter) and That lucky old sun, both of which only appear on the UK set. However, there are other great songs here that are missing from the UK set. Only dedicated Ray Charles fans will worry about the differences as all the essentials appear on both.