The Very Best of Ray Charles [Rhino] (CD) by Ray Charles

Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl.

It's hard to dispute this disc's title; just about every song here was a hit, and many of them are certifiable classics of postwar American pop. This may be, in fact, the most representative one-disc Ray Charles best-of extant.

It's impossible to quibble about the pulsating, minor-key pathos of Brother Ray's stinging prisoner-of-love plea "Unchain My Heart." Likewise the deeply-felt blues of "Drown in My Own Tears," the jazz/country hybrid "Busted," or the late-night piano-and-organ plaint "Let's Go Get Stoned." Another plus is that the salacious "What I'd Say" is represented by both parts I and II. Worth a reappraisal is the instrumental version of "One Mint Julep" (arrangement courtesy of Quincy Jones), which could have fit perfectly into one of the AUSTIN POWERS films.