Riffs: Ray Charles’ latest reissue hits ‘The Road’

Ray Charles had already established his reputation for brilliance in multiple genres when he departed Atlantic for ABC-Paramount in 1960. He’d helped usher in the soul revolution by re-recording gospel tunes with secular lyrics, done big and small band jazz sessions and had his share of R&B classics.

But he wanted to try even more adventurous things conceptually, as well as maintain control over his catalog and output, things that he achieved in his landmark deal with the new label.

The first project Charles recorded for ABC-Paramount marked his entry into yet another area: the concept album. In a bid to both expand his audience and also try his hand with more pop/mainstream material, Charles and new producer Sid Feller collaborated on 12 tunes that had ties to different states. It also featured him in two band settings, one with his large group, the other in a basic trio augmented by strings and choir.

Longtime jazz arranger Ralph Burns, best known for his work with Woody Herman, provided both the charts and conducted the main orchestra. The resulting LP, The Genius Hits The Road, was not only another big hit for Charles, but yielded his first pop smash, a version of “Georgia On Mind” that became a signature tune.

The Genius Hits The Road (Concord) has just been reissued as part of the ongoing Ray Charles reissue program, supplemented with seven bonus tracks from seven other Charles dates.

The original 12 cuts also include masterful renditions of “Basin Street Blues,” “Mississippi Mud,” “Moonlight in Vermont” and “Deep In the Heart of Texas,” plus versions of “Blue Hawaii,” “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” and “Carry Me Back To Old Virginny” (with the Raeletts employed in a most unusual fashion) that reaffirm Charles’ ability to reshape any number in his own magical fashion.

The bonus cuts include some classics (“Hit The Road Jack,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky (Swingova)”), and others that range from intriguing (“I Was on Georgia Time,” “Rainy Night In Georgia”) to interesting but not quite highlight material (“The Long and Winding Road,” “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”) But even Ray Charles’ flawed pieces have flavor and sparkle, and the vast majority of the songs on this updated CD edition of “The Genius Hits The Road” is outstanding.

New Stewart

The four-disc boxed set The Rod Stewart Sessions (Rhino) offers 63 songs from the Stewart catalog that have never been issued in any form anywhere. They include alternates of familiar hits and soul covers, early or demo performances on songs he subsequently re-recorded, and in some cases numbers he did on piano then later reworked on guitar.

In many instances, this is Stewart trying things with tempo or pace, substituting or experimenting with lyrics, or just feeling his way through an arrangement and deciding on an approach.

Unlike the usual boxed set that pads the output by including rejected takes or flubs, this one is quite valuable as a mirror into the Stewart sound and technique. Hearing “Maggie May,” “Forever Young,” or “Hot Legs” being shaped, or Stewart seeking a new way to deliver longtime favorites like “I’d Rather Go Blind,” “This Old Heart of Mine” and “I’m A King Bee” is far more rewarding than yet another disc of remade standards.

It also shows his influences run much deeper than just Chuck Berry and Sam Cooke (though certainly those are two major ones). He does his fair share of Bob Dylan songs as well, and also ventures into blues, pop, country and doo-wop in a diverse and quite enjoyable collection.

Early and late period DeShannon

Jackie DeShannon’s biggest hits were pop-soul gems “What The World Needs Now” and “Put A Little Love In Your Heart.” But she actually did her fair share of folk numbers as well, and that’s the dominant strain in the first of three new reissues covering DeShannon’s earliest releases (all Collector’s Choice).

Jackie DeShannon from 1963 includes earnest, sometimes anguished performances of not only Dylan tunes like “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “Walkin’ Down The Line,” but Bobby Darin’s “Jailer Bring Me Water” and “If I Had A Hammer.”

She lightens the tone and delivery on “Puff (The Magic Dragon”) and another Dylan piece “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” but becomes exuberant again on the inspirational/spiritual pieces “Oh Sweet Chariot” and “Sing Hallelujah.”

Her voice was deepening and her sound getting grittier on the two albums Me About You and To Be Free, which are combined into one single CD release. She still included folk covers (Tim Hardin’s “Close My Eyes” and “Reason to Believe,” which was initially left off the Me About You album), and her originals such as “Splendor in the Grass” and “Nicole” were also reflective of that mood.

But her cover of “I’ll Turn To Stone” was an indicator of what would come later, while many of the numbers on To Be Free like “Child Of The Street,” “Livin’ On The Easy Side” and the medley of “You Keep Me Hanging On/Hurt So Bad” were more journeys into soul/R&B territory.

By the mid-‘70s, when New Arrangement was released, Jackie DeShannon had made another thematic change, this time into modern rock, though she still had ample soul, jazz and even a little country influence in her writing and singing.

The original album included perhaps her greatest composition “Bette Davis Eyes,” even though it would be Kim Carnes that later turned it into an anthem. But other fine songs from that release include “Queen Of the Radio,” “Let The Sailors Dance,” “Barefoot Boys and Barefoot Girls,” and the climatic “Dreamin’ As One,” which nicely concludes both that disc and the latest collection of outstanding Jackie DeShannon songs.