Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 5

I believe I have touched upon this CD at some point in my many blog entries. The collection came along in 1998 and it features 10 songs...5 of the songs by Ray Stevens and 5 by Roger Miller. Interestingly fan wars have come in and out of fashion down through the years when it comes to these two talented individuals. Those in the Roger Miller camp say their guy is the funnier comedian while those in the Ray Stevens camp say their guy is funniest. One of the things that the Roger Miller devotees are quick to point out, though, is the abundance of songs that mainstream country artists recorded of Miller's. This, I think, is more about Roger having the talent of writing country songs that could fit just about anyone. Ray Stevens, on the other hand, admitted that the songs he wrote could only be believable if he himself recorded and performed them. I mean...can you imagine anyone other than Ray Stevens singing a song called "Gitarzan", for example, and have it be as entertaining? That's where Ray's talent comes across. All of those novelty songs he wrote and recorded in the early 1960's...they were all written to fit his performing style and no one else. Even the non-comical songs that Ray wrote during that time period were so distinct in their lyrical content that they were not as easy to adapt to other forms of music as Roger Miller's songs were.

I happen to give each performer equal status...in my mind the two of them had parallel careers, pretty much, and each of them excelled in songwriting. Ray went beyond that and became a wizard in the recording studio, too, and a businessman, of sorts, with a publishing company and several other ventures including his own recording studio, his own record label, and his own music video studio. Roger Miller became a legendary figure on and off stage. Ray kept his off-stage life private. There are no famous Ray Stevens stories...but there's plenty of famous Roger Miller stories floating around. Roger won a sack load of Grammy awards for a couple of songs and albums...Ray won two and was nominated for several more. Roger and Ray were both involved on variety shows in the late '60s. Roger was the host of his own show while Ray was part of Andy Williams' show. Ray would later host the 1970 summer replacement program for Andy Williams.

On paper, Roger did indeed have much more mainstream success...but this isn't to say that Ray Stevens pales in comparison. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Two artists who the public at large would consider "comedy singers" but two artists who spent the bulk of their careers writing and singing serious material...with just the novelty songs gaining attention. Roger, according to his career time line, was frustrated by the lack of attention or respect his serious works were getting and by the late '70s he semi-retired. Ray Stevens, also, faced similar circumstances in the early '80s when he felt his non-comical releases weren't getting much mainstream attention but Ray shifted gears and began marketing himself as a country comedian to capitalize on the image the public at large had always viewed him to be. Roger, in the meantime, re-emerged in the mid 1980's on the national level. He wrote the music for the Broadway hit Big River, which won Roger a Tony Award. It was the last major accomplishment, as far as national recognition is concerned, during his lifetime. He passed away in 1992 from cancer. He was 56.

Ray Stevens, on the other hand, once he became clearly identified as a country comedian in the mid 1980s, he recorded a string of high charting comedy albums on the country music album charts during the mid to late 1980's. Two albums that Ray recorded during this time period were certified Gold while two others were certified Platinum. The readers of Music City News named Ray their Comedian of the Year, starting in 1986 and running uninterrupted through 1994. In the 1990's Ray shifted focus to Branson, Missouri where he opened up a theater and at the same time debuted as a comedy music video star. His music video releases, via television commercials, became another source of success for Ray. Ray shut down the theater in 1993...but returned to Branson, Missouri off and on during the last half of the '90s. You can read much more about Ray Stevens within the archives of my blog page.

This CD collection, I feel, does Ray Stevens a great disservice. The 5 songs that the label chose to spotlight from Ray include one original recording and four songs lifted from his 1969 Gitarzan album. The puzzling thing is if the label was able to get the rights to Ray's 1961 single why couldn't they get the rights to the 1962 and 1963 songs as well? The 1962 and 1963 songs on here are re-recordings from the 1969 album...plus there's two songs from the 1969 album that weren't even singles. As far as the Roger Miller selections are concerned...each of the five songs are familiar with music buyers in general.

Here are the songs from this album...Roger Miller recordings are italicized...

1. King of the Road

2. Ahab the Arab {1969 re-recording}

3. England Swings

4. Alley-Oop {1969}

5. Dang Me

6. Harry the Hairy Ape {1969 re-recording}

7. Engine, Engine Number Nine

8. Yakety Yak {1969}

9. Chug-a-Lug

10. Jeremiah Peabody {1961}