January 6, 2010

Ray Stevens: 45 at 51

The fabulous Ray Stevens was recording for the NRC label during 1959-1960 and "My Heart Cries for You" was one of the singles that the label released. The song was the standard teenage pop heartbreak/heartache love ballad that was enormously popular at the time. I like the song and at various places Ray slips in a little Elvis Presley style vocalization. If someone today were to hear the song and the artist's name would be hidden from view not one person who isn't well-studied on Ray's career would identify the singer as Ray Stevens. The recording was released in 1959 when Ray was all but 20 years old. The producer of the song was a man by the name of Bill Lowery. It's Lowery who became instrumental in helping a group of Georgia singers and entertainers start their path to eventual super-stardom, with Ray being one of the several. There is a video montage of "My Heart Cries For You" on You Tube for those who want to hear the song for themselves. It's available on a very, very obscure ultra-rare CD titled Ray Stevens: The NRC Years that I stumbled on at an on-line auction site. The collection wasn't sold in stores and I don't believe it's in print anymore.  I may have written about this CD before but I've written so many I'm bound to duplicate some things, which is a huge understatement. Anyway...the CD doesn't even have a year of release on it. The catalog number is NRC-CD13 which is very obvious that this CD is the thirteenth in a series of releases on other artists on the NRC label. There are 11 recordings on here, 2 of those recordings are instrumentals. Ray, of course now, is known as a comedic singer and there's two songs on here that are in a novelty/funny category. One of the novelty songs is "Cholly Wolly Chang", a Chinese-laced recording spoofing rock and roll in China. One of the most repeated phrases in the song is "rock and roll Hong Kong!!!". The CD covers his stay with NRC which culminated in 1960 with the release of "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". That particular song is the second of two on this CD that offer humor.

1. Sgt. Preston of the Yukon
2. Who Do You Love?
3. Happy Blue Year (instrumental)
4. High School Yearbook
5. Truly True
6. What Would I Do Without You?
7. White Christmas (instrumental)
8. My Heart Cries For You
9. Cholly Wolly Chang
10. Part of the Time
11. That's What She Means To Me
 


7 comments:

  1. Hello there
    I realise that this is quite an old posting from you, but I've only just discovered your blog.
    I'm intrigued by this compilation - it seems to be incredibly rare.
    Is it a kosher release, or a needle-drop/disc-dub bootleg?
    Cheers
    Roger Dopson

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    Replies
    1. It is indeed a rare item. I came across it at a second hand book store that happened to have a discount CD rack. There are other CD's that became available around the same time spotlighting the recordings of other artists that had recorded for the NRC label in the late '50s and early '60s.

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    2. I don't suppose you'd happen to have a spare copy you could sell me...???
      Cheers
      Roger Dopson

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    3. It happened to be the only one there. It's one of those situations where a person had to have been at the right place at the right time. The collection arrived in 2005 and it's been out of print for 8 years. There are singles of Ray's from the NRC period on eBay.

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    4. I don't suppose I could persuade you to make me a CDR copy, could I?...perhaps I could trade something, or buy it from you.
      I'm not a diehard vinyl collector and I really can't afford eBay's prices for collectors' 45s!
      If you're not up for it, then not to worry.
      Cheers
      Roger Dopson
      NB: I'm in England, which might put you off!

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    5. Well, I don't do things like CD burning and stuff like that but Ray has an active Facebook page. Perhaps you can post a message on there asking if anyone has recordings of his from the NRC years (1958-1960). Someone is likely to have a reply. He also has a following on Twitter, too. Perhaps those that read your commentary here can help.

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  2. OK, will do.
    Many thanks - take care.
    Roger Dopson

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