April 22, 2016

Ray Stevens: A Collage of Gospel...

Hello all...I've put together a collage featuring imagery of Ray Stevens gospel projects over the decades. I've only focused on the major releases and so there isn't any images of budget priced reissues or anything. Ray has recorded three gospel albums in his career. His first, Turn Your Radio On, arrived in 1972. The album featured the hit title track plus several other singles that found their way onto the Top-20 of the Adult-Contemporary chart. "A Mama and A Papa" and "All My Trials" reached the Adult-Contemporary charts in the latter half of 1971 prior to the release of "Turn Your Radio On" in late 1971 which hit the Top-20 on the Country chart in the first half of 1972.  The LP hit all of the usual English speaking countries. The international pressing of the album featured the green lettering of the album's title that you see in the collage below. The LP issued in the United States had different letter coloring.

I'm in a habit of referring to the chart as Adult-Contemporary since that's the name the chart has had since the late '70s. At the time Ray's gospel singles had their chart run the survey it was called Easy-Listening.

Ray's gospel recordings on the 1972 album seen several afterlives. In 1982 the album got reissued complete with different cover art (a contemporary, bearded Ray Stevens appeared on the cover) but the recordings are the same ones from 1972. Later, in 1992, a label named Arrival released an album called The Gospel Side of Ray Stevens. It, too, contained the recordings from 1972...the same goes for a 1996 project from Curb Records titled Great Gospel Songs. Not only did it feature the songs from the 1972 album but it also included 1970's "Everything is Beautiful" and "A Brighter Day". Later still came a CD pairing Turn Your Radio On with Ray's 1975 album, Misty.

Fast forwarding to 2014...Ray releases his second gospel album, Ray Stevens Gospel Collection. It introduced Ray to a much different audience and he participated in several gospel events and gatherings...mostly centered around the Nashville area. One of the songs from the CD, "If Jesus Is a Stranger", became a popular song in his concerts and he performed it during his select television appearances. The much anticipated follow-up is due to be released in mid June of this year...titled Just a Closer Walk with Thee...it picks up where the 2014 gospel CD left off.

The upcoming CD can be pre-ordered at AMAZON. I plan on purchasing the CD from Amazon as it gets closer to release day but for those that ant to pre-order it click that link. You can click the gospel collage to see a bigger image...

April 11, 2016

Ray Stevens: Forthcoming Gospel CD...

Hello once more!! I came across an internet site advertising an upcoming CD release from Ray Stevens...it's going to be his much-anticipated follow-up to his 2014 gospel CD! In August 2014 he issued The Gospel Collection, Volume One. In radio interviews and media reports he always let it be known that a follow-up would be forthcoming. No, less than 2 years later, that follow-up is a reality.

The forthcoming Ray Stevens gospel CD is going to be titled Just a Closer Walk with Thee/Gospel Favorites. The project features 12 recordings as did his 2014 gospel collection. Capitol Christian Distribution has information about the CD and you can read about it HERE. The photo of Ray I imagine comes from the past year or so...during photo sessions for his RFD-TV series, Ray Stevens' Nashville, more than likely. Once you visit the site I linked to you can click the box marked View Tracklist. It'll drop down the list of recordings on the CD. Some of the titles are "Rusty Old Halo", "Just a Touch of Jesus", and "This Old House".

The project includes a couple of recordings originally found on a couple of previous releases from Ray...such as his recording of "When The Saints Go Marching In" and "Dropkick Me Jesus". The CD's lead-off track, "Everybody Needs a Hiding Place/I Found a Hiding Place", is interesting as a title. As you can tell from that song's title this forthcoming gospel project is going to feature several medley performances (combining multiple songs together) just as his 2014 gospel collection did. The song's title itself makes me think of a song he recorded in 1978 called "Hidin' Place"...the CD's lead-off track is perhaps a reworking of that earlier recording complete with a sequel thrown into the mix. I can't wait to hear it and hear the rest of the songs!!!

The CD is scheduled to be released on June 17th...don't you just love the CD's cover art??? Don't forget to click the Capitol Christian Distribution link I provided! It'll give you a lot of information about the forthcoming CD...