「ソウル・ミュージックの父」レイ・チャールズのデビュー・アルバム!名曲「I Got a Woman」、「Drown in My Own Tears」を収録した『Sings』が180g重量盤にて復刻!ブルース、ジャズ、ゴスペルなど、様々なソースをクロスオーバーさせたソウル屈指の名盤!
1957年にアトランティック・レコードからリリースされた、レイ・チャールズのデビュー・アルバム『Sings』が180g重量盤にてリイシュー。3曲のボーナストラックが追加収録。
今作『Sings』は、レイ・チャールズのデビュー作『Ray Charles (Hallelujah I Love Her So)』をもとにしたアルバムとなっており、ブルース、ジャズ、ゴスペル、ソウルなど、さまざまなソースをクロスオーバーさせながら、独自のスタイルを確立し、彼の個性が満遍なく表れたソウル屈指の名盤。「I Got a Woman」、「Drown in My Own Tears」、「Hallelujah, I Love Her So」などの名曲が収録されている。

メンバー:Ray Charles (vocals and piano)
A1: Joe Bridgewater, John Hunt (tp) David Newman (ts, as), Emmett Dennis (bar), Roosevelt Sheffield (b), William Peeples (d), The Raelettes (vc).
Recorded in New York, November 27, 1956.

A2, B2 & B5: Don Wilkerson (ts), Cecil Payne (bs), Joe Bridgewater, Joshua "Jack" Willis (tp), Paul West (b), Panama Francis (d).
Recorded in New York, November 30, 1955.

A3, B6 & B8: Don Wilkerson (ts), David "Fathead" Newman (bs), Joe Bridgewater, Charles Whitley (tp), Wesley Jackson (g), Jimmy Bell (b), Glenn Brooks (d).
Recorded in Atlanta, November 18, 1954.

A4-A6 & B3: Jesse Drakes (tp), Sam "The Man" Taylor (ts), Dave McRae (bar), Mickey Baker (g), Lloyd Trotman (b), Connie Kay (d).
Recorded in New York, May 17, 1953.

B1 & B4: Don Wilkerson (ts), David "Fathead" Newman (as, bar), Joe Bridgewater, Riley Webb (tp), Roosevelt Sheffield (b), William Peebles (d).
Recorded in Miami, April 23, 1955.

B7: Joe Tillman (ts), O'Neil Gerald (as), Warren Bell (bs), Wallace Davenport, Frank Mitchell (tp), Lloyd Lambert (b), Oscar Moore (d).
Recorded in New Orleans, December 4, 1953.
All tracks arranged by Ray Charles. Original sessions produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler.

*Bonus Tracks: Ray Charles (vocals and piano)
A7: Joe Bridgewater, Riley Webb (tp), Don Wilkerson (ts), David "Fathead" Newman (as, bar), Roosevelt Sheffield (b), William Peeples (d).
Recorded in Miami, April 23, 1955.

A8: Phillip Guilbeau, John Hunt (trumpet), David "Fathead" Newman (tenor sax), Bennie "Hank" Crawford (alto sax), Leroy "Hog" Cooper (baritone sax), Edgar Willis (bass), Edward "Bruno" Carr (drums), The Raelettes (backing vocals).
Recorded in New York, July 5, 1961.

B9: Marcus Belgrave, John Hunt (tp), Bennie Crawford (as, bar), David "Fathead" Newman (ts), Edgar Willis (b), Teagle Fleming (d).
Recorded in New York, June 26, 1959.

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2024/01/15）

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

Rovi