Ray Stevens: Last Chance at 40...

Hello once again all you fans of Ray Stevens!! I'm spotlighting an album that Ray Stevens released in 1981 which reaches 40 this year. That year in country music was dominated by the Urban Cowboy influence...the Urban Cowboy movie had been released in 1980 and it set off a massive explosion of country music appeal to a wider pop audience. Country music had adopted pop sensibilities prior to 1980 when you consider the fact that the concept of the syndicated television show, Pop! Goes the Country, was centered around the pop influences in country music...and that series debuted in 1974...so by 1981 there had been a gradual shift in how the music was being marketed. Pop! Goes the Country, by the way, was hosted by Ralph Emery (1974-1980) and then Tom T. Hall (1980-1982). The Urban Cowboy movie and everything that followed was in it's prime, you might say, into 1981. A lot of country music artists were going places that country singers hadn't been before...it catapulted Mickey Gilley, a country singer who'd had a string of hits since the early '70s, into super-star status. His honky-tonk bar, Gilley's, was the main setting for the Urban Cowboy movie and he had several scenes in the film as did Johnny Lee and other country music artists. The album cover can be found in my pictorial time-line off to the side of the blog page.   

Ray Stevens adapted to the Urban Cowboy craze, a little bit, and this album is one that I've always referred to as his contribution to early '80s Urban Cowboy sentiments. The music is wonderful but so is the photography on the album and the design. The visuals, as you can see, fit in perfectly with the honky-tonk, cowboy, bar room romanticism that was taking place in the aftermath of the Urban Cowboy film. Although this fine, ballad heavy album emerged in 1981 it included a song that had already been released as a single by Ray in the fall of 1980...a single that climbed into the Country Top-20 in the latter half of 1980, "Night Games". The hit song is all about a couple who meet in a single's bar and decide to have a one-night stand...but there's no love or passion between the two come the dawn. Ray tells us that in spite of the couple having fun, and being lost in the thrill of what the night would bring, we're told it's simply part of the routine...the couple go their separate ways with the hope of finding the right person back inside the bar where all the 'grown-up kids' play their "Night Games". The steel guitar players on this 1981 album are Larry Sasser and Hal Rugg. However, the two legendary steel guitarists aren't specified as to which songs they played the steel guitar on...the mystery thickens as this album included a lot more steel guitar than any previous or any upcoming Ray Stevens album. "Night Games" featured steel guitar as did the title track, "One More Last Chance", and "Let's Do It Right This Time". The love ballad title track features a great combination of steel guitar and electric guitar taking turns with lengthy instrumentation. 

That's the photo of Ray Stevens that appears on the back of the album for those that aren't familiar with this 1981 release. I've often half-jokingly suggested that Ray's plea for "One More Last Chance" must've been rewarded because he's giving us a big grin and he's wearing the cowboy hat that the woman was wearing on the front of the album. Did you know that Ray recorded his version of a pop classic for this album? The song, "Pretend", had previously been recorded by a whole host of recording artists. Nat King Cole had a big hit with it as a ballad. Carl Mann had a hit with a rock and roll version. Ray's take on the song is partially up-tempo like Carl Mann's but instead of having a distinctive rock and roll sound to it, like Carl's, the Ray Stevens arrangement features a lot of trumpets...a whole lot of trumpets. Ray put a lot of life into his rendition of the song. Once "Pretend" reaches it's end you'll think you just left the bullfights in Madrid, Spain. I wish there was an audio clip of Ray's version of the song on-line so I could share the great rendition with those that more than likely haven't heard it. This 1981 album was issued on RCA Records. "Night Games" closes out the album while the title track, "One More Last Chance", opens the album. The title track hit the Country Top-40 early in 1981...but for the rest of the year no other songs from the album were issued as singles. Ray was keeping busy as a touring artist and appearing on numerous television shows. It was in 1981 that Ray guest starred in several episodes of the soap opera, Texas. He played himself and in one of the episodes he sang "One More Last Chance". The video footage of his soap opera appearance used to be on-line in the mid 2000's but it's long since been taken off-line. I used to have screen-caps but those were on a different computer. I think his Texas guest appearance was the only time Ray Stevens sang "One More Last Chance" on television. In addition to his guest appearance on the soap opera he also lent his talents to the movie, Cannonball Run. Ray wrote and sang two songs for the movie: "Cannonball", the movie's theme song, and the love ballad, "Just For the Hell Of It". The 1981 One More Last Chance album contains 10 songs...as mentioned earlier it's a ballad heavy album. There is only one song that would qualify as legitimately up-tempo. There are a couple mid-tempo songs but the rest are ballads. The album is outstanding but it remains only available on eBay in vinyl format and once in awhile it'll become available in cassette format on eBay but it's never been issued on CD or on any on-line digital music store: 

1. One More Last Chance

2. Just About Love

3. Certain Songs

4. Melissa

5. I Believe You Love Me

6. Pretend

7. It's Not All Over

8. Let's Do It Right This Time

9. Take Your Love

10. Night Games