But the problem isn't Studdard- he's competent. It's the damned song. Ray made awesome gospel of "Eleanor Rigby" decades ago, and his voice was as good as ever. The song "Imagine" is just so horribly trite that it can't support a soulful performance.
It was said that Ray Charles could sing the phone book, and make you believe it. It might have worked better here if had literally done that. The more meaning you try to invest in this nonsense lyric, the more ridiculous it ends up sounding. Thus, Ray makes a particularly bad version of the song- and the gospel choir really adds the Velveeta.
Most of the rest of the songs just aren't very interesting. If you're trying to write new songs, and some of them come out better than others, well that's what you had to work with. I do not, however, understand why of all the songs in the world he could record, Ray came up with "All I Want To Do" and "Big Bad Love" and several other generic, half-assed songs. I still say he should have tapped the Elvis Costello songbook.
Ah well, missed opportunities. What he did manage to come up with sounds like he was enjoying making music, and he could sing as well as ever. If he went out with a project that was more the joy of jamming rather than a deeply heartfelt night of the soul, that's not so bad.
This obviously isn't the place to start your Ray Charles collection. His primetime was 40 to 50 years ago. Obviously you'd want to start with the big box set, and go from there. But if you've got pretty many Ray albums, this would be a decent, listenable one to add to the pile.
Article comments
1 - Rehan
Well, I would like to comment on one of the above lines w.r.t George Michael. His pen hasn't dried yet. Actually, people are simply not aware of his new music. His album Patience was his best solo album. This is far most the best songwriting material.
2 - cj
I have to disagree with you on the song "Imagine". I love it and think it is the best on the whole cd. I tend to listen to it over and over, instead of the other songs. Ray Charles and Ruben Studdard do an excellent job. Most of the songs on the cd are good, but "Imagine" is the best.
3 - Mark Thomas
My favorite by far is "IT ALL GOES BY SO FAST" with Mary J. Blige, which is worth the cost of the album.
I also loved Compared to Waht and Busted and a lot of the other tracks.
This is a MUCH better album than Genius and Company, where Ray was not in good voice at all. If you ask me, tha album sounded much more contrived.