February 3, 2010

Ray Stevens: Country-Pop, Pop-Country?

The image that appears on the flip side of the 1977 Feel The Music album is a picture that became a publicity photo for a period of time. As it was pointed out to me several months back the front of the Feel The Music album is a close-up of a stereo speaker. I never paid much attention to the back of the album, aside from knowing Ray's picture is there, to grasp the stereo speaker concept. On the back of the album we see illustrated renderings of screws and made up product labels designed to mirror what the back of a stereo speaker looks like. It looks so obvious now after I spent several years not really knowing what the front of Feel The Music was suppose to resemble. I took both of these picture yesterday while browsing through my Ray Stevens albums.

Technically, it's the same picture. In the first picture I edited myself out so that the back of the album would have a larger exposure. This picture is the original with me in the shot as you can tell. The music on the album is mostly easy-listening...some may consider it pop-country or middle of the road, which is another name for easy-listening. Today this style of easy-listening isn't called Adult-Contemporary...it's referred to now as Beautiful Music. The phrase Adult-Contemporary at one time meant the songs and artists who recorded light/soft rock and easy on the ears music that wasn't too rock and roll and wasn't considered country. As time went on Adult-Contemporary radio apparently decided they wanted their own identity and that's why you won't hear John Denver, Glen Campbell, Barry Manilow, and others on modern Adult-Contemporary stations. Those acts have been pushed into that Beautiful Music format.

Is this album pop-country or country-pop? Easy-listening or Adult-Contemporary? Beautiful Music or inspirational?

Feel The Music isn't 100% any of those music genres. The overall flow of the album carries that easy sound but there are a couple of songs on here that are distinct in their sound. Those distinct recordings happen to be "Dixie Hummingbird", which carries a country music feel; "Junkie For You" is decidedly more bluesy in it's delivery. We have religious/inspirational numbers on here like "Set The Children Free", "Save Me From Myself", and the title track, "Feel The Music". There are straight forward love ballads like "Daydream Romance" and "Road Widow" and then we have the story of a couple in the songs, "Alone With You" and "Blues Love Affair". I consider "Get Crazy With Me" a pop song more than country. It's arrangement pretty much confirms this. In 1995 Warner Brothers issued a 3 set collection of songs that Ray recorded for the label. The only songs from this 1977 album that weren't spotlighted on those 1995 collections are "Junkie For You", "Get Crazy With Me", and "Road Widow". To date this album is the only place to find those songs.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Show your appreciation for the music of Ray Stevens...leave a comment...