The Genius Hits The Road – RAY CHARLES****

Alabamy Bound/Georgia On My Mind/Basin Street Blues/Mississippi Mud/Moonlight In Vermont/New York’s My Home/California Here I Come/Moon Over Miami/Deep In The Heart Of Texas/Carry Me Back To Old Virginny/ Blue Hawaii/Chattanooga Choo Choo

The Genius Hits The Road was not a live album as the title might suggest but songs themed around American locations. It includes the Grammy winning US No. 1 hit single Georgia On My Mind. (US:9)

“However novel a concept this is, the end result is that the conception doesn't always live up to the reality of the finished product. That's why The Genius Hits The Road is an album that ends up sounding bored by its own selective state by state roll call through America.”

“Although one of Ray's signature songs, Georgia On My Mind, appears, these songs are mostly lushly orchestrated standards. A few (Alabamy Bound, Mississippi Mud) are rather embarrassing nowadays, they have almost a minstrel show feel to them. However, Ray takes Carry Me Back To Old Virginny, a song that could have turned out similarly, and transforms it into a gorgeous, soulful gospel number.”

“This was a guy who was in love with the music of Hank Williams and Nat King Cole in his youth, so the joining of jazz, gospel, country and blues with pop that made up soul music beginnings was by now second nature to him. The elements had always been there, and all he really did with his music of this era is bump up the orchestral elements a little bit.”

“When Ray Charles left Atlantic for ABC-Paramount, he also sought to expand his stardom on the pop charts, solidifying the crossover success he'd started. The first outing for his new label was this release, whose travel and place related theme was sufficiently broad to leave Charles room to roam. The titles include Tin Pan Alley classics, Dixieland standards, trad jazz and pop numbers, and even a nineteenth century minstrel tune.”

“These tracks are a transition between Charles' roots as a jazz player and his future as a pop crooner. The material is a mix of novelties and well-selected chestnuts, and though the orchestrations can get a bit strong, Charles holds down the centre with a voice that makes it all worth hearing.”