December 3, 2012

Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series Extra...2002...

On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked by terrorists. Among the artists who rallied support for America and our military was Ray Stevens. He, like a lot of other artists, used their music to bring people together or show a spirit of solidarity against a common threat. Terrorism was that common threat. By year's end Ray and Buddy Kalb had written a song, "Osama Yo' Mama", which, through humor, chastised and shown contempt and anger at Osama bin Laden. The song was issued as a single-only late in 2001 and throughout the early to mid 2002 the single racked up quite a bit of sales and spotty airplay. The single reached the Country Single Sales list and peaked at #1 and hung around the Top-5 for nearly all of 2002 and was certified Gold for sales of more than 500,000 copies. In addition, the song rose to the Top-50 in Country Airplay. A music video soon surfaced as did this project, Osama Yo' Mama: The Album. The project was given such a title because the CD single used the same imagery with the phrase The Single written in place of The Album. The project was released by Curb Records and it quickly became a Top-30 Country album.

I don't count this as a studio album because 7 of the 10 songs were lifted from 2000's Ear Candy. The songs from that 2000 project that appear on this 2002 release are: "Hang Up and Drive", "Safe at Home", "Deerslayer", "Bon Temps Roulette", "The Hustler", "The Lady on the Radio", and "Gone For Good". The exclusive material was: "Osama Yo' Mama", "United We Stand", and from the pen of Ray Stevens, the bouncy love song, "Freudian Slip". "United We Stand" was considered the b-side of the "Osama Yo' Mama" CD single. "United We Stand" originated in the early '70s and was extremely popular. Ray's cover captures the mood of the original "United We Stand" without it being a complete replica of the original. After the success and publicity of this 2002 project winded down Ray found himself back in Branson, Missouri at his theater. He re-opened the venue, it had been closed since 1993, and he began performing there once again and did so for three more seasons. He closed the theater for good and put it up for sale not long after season 3. Curb later released a couple of cartoon DVD's on Ray. Each DVD consisted of 5 limited animation music videos. This time around Ray himself was animated rather than appearing in live action form. Continuing, though, in a patriotic/military vein saw Ray issue his first non-comical project in many years in 2004. Studio LP 33 hinted, a little bit, of the sort of music and audience that Ray Stevens would aim for in the coming years...and so be on the look out for the next Golden LP Series installment!!

No comments:

Post a Comment

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