Ray Charles (Mono)＜限定盤/Clear Vinyl＞

★★アトランティック創立75周年記念限定クリア・アナログ・コレクション★★

アトランティック・レコード創立75周年を記念して、同レーベルが発表してきた数多くのソウル/R&Bの名盤たちの中から厳選された作品が限定クリア・アナログ盤となって登場!
こちらは「ソウルの天才」レイ・チャールズの初期ヒット曲/歴史的傑作をぜいたくに収録した決定的編集盤『RAY CHARLES』!

1947年にアーメット・アーティガンとハーブ・エイブラムソンによって設立されて以降、75年にわたり時代を牽引し続けるレーベル、アトランティック・レコード。ジャズやソウル/R&Bに始まり、フォークやロック、ハード・ロックやヒップ・ホップと、ジャンルの幅を押し広げながら時代を先取りしてきた名門レーベルの創立75周年を記念した、生産限定盤クリア・アナログ・コレクションが登場! 2023年2月に発売される5作品は、同レーベルが発表してきた無数に存在するソウル/R&B名盤の中から厳選された作品をラインナップ!

★★★『RAY CHARLES』 / レイ・チャールズ★★★
「ソウルの天才」レイ・チャールズの初期ヒット曲、歴史的傑作をぜいたくに収録した決定的編集盤。ソウルの歴史の扉を開いた、と称されるレイ・チャールズ、その事実を証明する重要作が収録されたアルバムだ。全米R&Bチャート1位の〈こぼれる涙〉〈ア・フール・フォー・ユー〉〈アイヴ・ガット・ア・ウーマン〉、同5位の〈ハレルヤ・アイ・ラヴ・ハー・ソー〉ほか、14曲中9曲がトップ10ヒット。ゴスペルの躍動を取り込んだリズム・ナンバーや、レイの重要なルーツとなる染み入るブルースも収録し、ソウル誕生の軌跡が楽しめる。
1957年作品

One of the first handful of LPs issued by Atlantic, Ray Charles (later retitled Hallelujah I Love Her So) is a bona fide classic of its genre. Weighted about three to one in favor of Charles' own compositions, its raison d'etre was the hits "Hallelujah I Love Her So" and the pounding, soaring "Ain't That Love," which opens the LP. As with other Atlantic albums of the period, its content was determined more by Charles' recent singles than by a real plan for the LP, but even within those limitations it's an amazingly subtle record. Charles does just as well with his interpretations of others' work, most notably the ominous, gospel-focused rendition of "Sinner's Prayer" (which offers a virtuoso piano performance, and comes courtesy of the pen of Charles' former mentor Lowell Fulson) and Henry Glover's wrenching ballad "Drown in My Own Tears," which is topped out on each verse by a gorgeous chorus. "Funny (But I Still Love You)" offers a guitar break played in such an understated fashion that it almost doesn't seem so much a part of R&B as it was usually being offered in 1957 as it does a part of Charles' early career output. The second side of the LP is even better, opening with the title track, a number that is almost too ubiquitous in its various cover versions -- the original has a mix of urgency and playfulness that's absolutely bracing, and the album carries this mood forward with "Mess Around," an Ahmet Ertegun-authored piano- and sax-driven romp with Charles at his most ebullient as a singer. "This Little Girl of Mine" offers him in a surprisingly light, almost acrobatic vocal mode, while "Greenbacks" is a knowing, clever cautionary narrative that is almost a throwback to 1940s-style R&B. "Don't You Know" is as salacious a piece of R&B as one was likely to hear in 1957, and "I Got a Woman" closes the record out on a pounding, driving note. The original album suffered from deficient sound and most reissues left a lot to be desired, but in 2003 WEA International reissued it (as Hallelujah I Love Her So) in a 24-bit remastered version in a gatefold format that is a treat to the ear and runs circles around prior reissues. ~ Bruce Eder