Ray Charles – The Spirit Of Christmas

Ray Charles was born in 1930 in Albany, Georgia, and became blind during childhood.  Ray developed an interest in music at school.  Ray Charles’ main contribution to popular music is simply, Ray Charles invented Soul music.  His combination of Gospel rhythms and secular lyrics led to the creation of Soul music in the mid-fifties. 

After achieving success in the early days of Rock & Roll, he started to put secular lyrics to Gospel rhythms and Soul music was born.  After years at Atlantic Records, Ray jumped ship to ABC / Paramount.  They offered him more control and had more money than Atlantic Records, so they were able to spend more money promoting him.

In 1962, Ray Charles released the album Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music in which he covered Country standards and exposed Country music to people who never really listened to it before.  Ray would continue to feature Country influences in his music for the rest of his career.

This is Ray Charles’ first Christmas album, originally released in 1985.  The cover on the CD reissue is the same as was used for the original 1985 release.  The artwork on the back of the CD is a blown-up picture from the original album back cover artwork but in shades of dark gray and features a numerical track listing.

The CD artwork folds out to a 2-part fold out that features the original back cover artwork just as it did on the back of the 1985 album.  Inside the fold out lists the original Columbia catalog number, production and recording location.  Included on the left side is a numerical track listing with writers and arranger notes.  That’s always a plus.  On the right side lists the musicians and reissue notes. Another plus.

Also included is a personal note from Torrie Dorrell from Rhino Records Children’s Division thanking all her staff that produce children’s music for Rhino Records Children’s Division.  On the far-right bar of the inside fold out is an information panel promoting the charity The Kids Are Alright?

Overall, the album features Ray on electric piano aided by a strong brass section.  The average listener will be familiar with about half the songs included.  The others are more obscure, including 4 that I think were written for this album specifically.   They are That Spirit Of Christmas, All I Want For Christmas (a different song than the one made famous by Mariah Carey), Christmas In My Heart and Christmas Time. 

Most of the songs, familiar and unfamiliar, have the Ray Charles flavor added, whether that be a faster tempo or more syncopated delivery of the lyrics.  With the brass instruments taking a front seat on most songs, the album has a very jazzy feel to it.

One of the more unusual arrangements on here is the first song, What Child Is This.  It starts off with a traditional arrangement and then suddenly changes the tempo into a very jazzy, horn driven song.

My personal favorite is the title song, That Spirit Of Christmas.  This song was prominently featured in the Chevy Chase blockbuster National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and just hearing the song, anyone familiar with the movie, will immediately envision Chevy Chase stuck in the attic watching old family movies of his past Christmases.

Included as a bonus track on the CD reissue is Baby It’s Cold Outside, a duet Ray did with Betty Carter in 1961.

I like Ray Charles.  He was a phenomenal entertainer who overcame many hardships and obstacles in his life and changed music forever with his soulful jazzy take on familiar songs.  With that being said, if you’re looking for a Christmas CD that will please a house full of friends and family, this may not be it. 

As I said earlier, this CD features a few songs most people will not be familiar with and those that they are familiar with do not stick to the original arrangements and feature a jazzy feel to them with a lot of brass.  This CD mixes in well with an eclectic playlist that features traditional Christmas songs along with more contemporary versions of Christmas standards.

But like I said, I like Ray Charles and this album features one of my favorite Christmas songs, That Spirit Of Christmas.

I give this CD :

*** ½ *