Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (Top 500 Countdown Update)

A good album to throw on for a rainy Sunday. This is the first Ray Charles album I've ever listened to so I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out it sounds about like what I expected. Good vocals, tight arrangements with an odd mix of jazz and soul that works quite well. For the day I'm supposing this was pop, but today I would think of it as vocal jazz in the same way we think of Dinah Washington. I would prefer Washington to Charles, but she's tough competition. I'm not sure what else to say about the album. There was no song that really grabbed me, no moment where I felt really drawn into the recording, for me it was a bit flat. Maybe that's because I've heard so much Ray Charles played in so many Hollywood romantic comedies it just takes away the freshness and wonder of it all.