Ray Stevens: Memorial Day "Thank You"...

There are so many songs from Ray Stevens that are highly entertaining and there are some songs that are lyrically topical...and if you're not familiar with the subject matter or have some sense of knowledge about the trend or fad being sung about chances are you'll not get the humor. In addition there are songs from Ray Stevens that are timely...and one of those songs is "Thank You", which Ray co-wrote with Larry McCoy. The song and it's music video emerged in 2004 as did a Thank You album in July. The album featured several Military songs with inspirational and love ballads filling out the remainder of the 11-song collection. It's the album that features the 9/11 inspired "Let's Roll", "Stand Up for What You Stand For", and the nostalgic "Come on Home to Baseball". In a pre-YouTube era the music video of "Thank You" was not widely seen when first released. The country music cable television channels (CMT, GAC) typically resisted playing music videos from recording artists over 60. The music video eventually found it's way onto a DVD release as a bonus music video. Ray created his YouTube video channel in 2009 and the 2004 "Thank You" music video debuted on the video hosting site on January 4, 2010. The song would also appear on Ray's We The People album that same year...which introduced it to even more people who maybe missed it the first time around in 2004.  

The music video's been accessed by more than half a million people over the past 11 years. Ray usually shares the video on his social media on Memorial Day or on Independence Day. The song is a "Thank You" to the Armed Forces and some of the visuals in the music video/lyrics of the song point out that America's freedoms and ideals are and were fought for on battlefields...and in one of the greatest ironies it's pointed out that even those who speak out against America's wars or questions what's the use it's the Armed Forces that fight for the American citizen's right to question military conflicts. Ray points out that those in the Armed Forces should still receive respect...and any kind of Anti-war protests shouldn't be aimed at the soldiers themselves who are just carrying out orders from their superior officers. 

I usually never post multiple video embeds in one blog entry but on this occasion, since it's Memorial Day, I'm going to. Ray performed "Thank You" on his CabaRay Nashville television show. He performed it on the Patriotic episode. I'm featuring this performance from the television show because it captures Ray on stage singing it. There is another video clip on YouTube of him singing the song from one of the concerts he did at The Welk Theatre in 2010 and it's a great performance, too, but I decided to embed the performance from the television show since it's a little bit more recent. 

Ray Stevens: New Tennessean Article...

Hello all...we're in the thick of Memorial Day weekend. Earlier today The Tennessean newspaper published a new article on Ray Stevens. The article included commentary from Ray about some of the songs he recorded on his four digital download albums. Those songs will be issued in CD format on a box set in July called Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. The front of the headline features a quote from Ray stating "I do everything for fun...". The bulk of the article promotes the four digital albums: Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. In the article we learn that songs that are iconic do have the potential to be looked over as time goes by...and Ray feels that some songs always need an injection of new energy and interpretation put into them and re-introduced so that they won't totally be forgotten. He mentions that some of the songs he recorded for each of the digital albums, he did so, because he felt they'd never be recorded again and he wanted to re-introduce them. I don't know exactly when the article was written but it makes mention of the June 18th release date of the box set...which is inaccurate. The release date was pushed back to July 23rd. You can read the The Tennessean article by clicking HERE. One of the songs Ray mentions in the article is "Blue Moon" and for this he recorded the song as it sounded originally before the Doo-Wop arrangement overshadowed the ballad approach to the song.

Ray Stevens speaks fondly of B.J. Thomas...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens! I'm almost certain you've heard the news that B.J. Thomas passed away yesterday at the age of 78. The moment I heard the news I immediately began thinking about "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" and how that song is not only tied to B.J. Thomas but also how there's a Ray Stevens connection to it. The writers of the song, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, contacted Ray Stevens in 1969 and asked if he'd fly out to California and listen to a song they'd written...a song that was going to be in a movie. Ray flew out to California and listened to the song and based on recollections that have been published in several magazine articles and newspaper stories he overall liked the song but didn't like some of the lyrics...however, the main reason that Ray turned down the chance at recording the song is because he had just finished recording a brand new song by one of the hottest songwriters in the business, Kris Kristofferson. Ray spent a lot of time musically crafting, arranging, and singing "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down". The song was scheduled as his next release on Monument Records and so he passed on "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". As we know, B.J. Thomas recorded the song and it became a gigantic hit for him and for some people it's the highlight of the movie it appeared in, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ray's rendition of "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" wasn't a 'Top-40' hit but it did appear on the Country singles charts in America and Canada as well as on the Pop chart in both countries. In fact, Ray's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" marked his first appearance on the Country singles chart.  

Anytime "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" is being written about it's always mentioned that Ray Stevens turned it down. There was one particularly snotty, so-called music historian that I came across online today referring to Ray turning down "Raindrops..." for what he called the 'corny' "Everything is Beautiful". The historian shown that he is not only snotty but incredibly ignorant about Ray Stevens. It's the ignorant "critics" that drive me up the wall. For that critic's information "Everything is Beautiful" had similar success for Ray Stevens as "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" had for B.J. Thomas. Each song sold millions of copies and ranked among the Top-10 pop songs of 1970. Ray's 1969 million selling novelty hit, "Gitarzan", was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category and B.J.'s recording of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" was also nominated in that category at the same 1970 Grammy Awards (which honor the previous year's music). Joe South's recording of "Games People Play" was nominated, too. It was on this date in 1970 that Ray's "Everything is Beautiful" reached the top of the Hot 100 for it's first of two weeks at number one. 

Ray, at the 1971 Grammy telecast, won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Everything is Beautiful"...at the time of the ceremony he was on tour overseas and the Grammy was accepted by Glen Campbell and then passed along to Ray. 

In the photo above we have B.J. Thomas and Ray Stevens on the set of Ray's television series, CabaRay Nashville. In this episode B.J. asks Ray about the story behind why he turned down "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". The two speak about "Billy and Sue", a song that B.J. recorded and had a hit with...featuring Ray Stevens playing the organ. B.J. says how much he loved Ray's song "Mr. Businessman" and so he recorded it...but remarked to Ray in the interview that it was the first time he'd seen a song with so many words. This is what Ray said in a press release regarding the passing away of B.J. Thomas...

“BJ Thomas was one of the most natural singers I ever knew. He was a pleasure to know and to work with. The Angels were there when he recorded ‘Rain Drops’ and he’s now added his unique voice to their eternal choir.” -Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens: All-Time Hits reaches 25...

If you're a longtime fan of Ray Stevens then you're aware that throughout most of the 1980s and more heavily in the 1990s there were many compilation albums released featuring songs from Ray Stevens. There are dozens upon dozens of albums released on Ray with the titles of Greatest Hits, The Best of Ray Stevens, All-Time Hits, and The Very Best of Ray Stevens. There's one called His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits and then there's Get The Best of Ray Stevens. Oh, there's also a compilation album titled The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. The compilation albums weren't just here in America...there were compilation albums that were sold overseas and some companies from overseas imported their Ray Stevens compilation albums to America. These compilation albums, most of them, weren't released by Ray Stevens. The record labels upon which he recorded the songs would license and then re-license the recordings to a variety of small-market and overseas record companies. Barnaby Records, in particular, was the label that re-licensed the music the most. Well, technically, Celebrity Licensing would handle the licensing of not only Ray's Barnaby Records recordings (1970-1975) but also his Monument Records recordings (1966-1969). Ray had no involvement in their release. There's often a misconception that Ray deliberately saturated the marketplace in the 1980s and 1990s with his recordings but that simply isn't true. Almost all of those compilation albums were out of his control. Anyway, I began this blog entry recalling those compilation albums because one in particular, All-Time Hits, turns 25 this year. The compilation, released in March 1996, was issued by Mercury Records subsidiary Polygram Records. The label used the imprint Polygram Special Markets. I purchased the cassette copy, first, and later on I purchased the CD copy. 

I purchased the cassette due to it including a song from Ray that, at that point in time, I hadn't heard...the song "My Dad". The song is from his 1983 Mercury album, Me. When I bought the cassette I already had the other 7 recordings on other compilation albums but I decided to purchase it anyhow because I wanted to hear "My Dad" so badly...this was at a time when I only had a couple of Ray Stevens vinyl albums and my cassette collection was only made up of his latter day releases. I'm glad I purchased All-Time Hits...when the intro of "My Dad" came on the speaker I immediately fell in love with the song and then hearing the crisp vocals from Ray caused it to become an instant favorite. Also, in the back of my mind, I knew I had to start purchasing vinyl albums online in order to hear all of the amazing Ray Stevens recordings that I hadn't yet heard. Slowly but surely I built up my Ray Stevens collection of music to where it is today. I love the publicity photo that was used as a cover photo for All-Time Hits. The cassette copy has 8 recordings and one of the unique things about this compilation is because it's associated with Mercury Records it includes the original early 1960's versions of "Ahab the Arab", "Harry the Hairy Ape", and "Funny Man". The original Mercury Records recordings of those three songs, in particular, are usually replaced on most of those compilation albums by his re-recordings from the late 1960's. "Funny Man", originally from 1963, was re-recorded by Ray in 1968 and placed on his Monument Records album, Even Stevens. "Ahab the Arab", originally from 1962, was re-recorded by Ray in 1969 and placed on the Monument Records album, Gitarzan. "Harry the Hairy Ape", originally from 1963, was also re-recorded by Ray in 1969 for the Gitarzan album. The CD release of All-Time Hits features what are called bonus tracks. There were three additional recordings placed on the CD release: "Butch Babarian", "Santa Claus is Watching You", and "One More Last Chance". 

Ray Stevens: Vintage Performance Photo...

This Ray Stevens photo is a new one for me. It appeared earlier today on his social media. I cropped the photo so that it would focus more on Ray instead of the background. As you can see he's wearing a top hat with CAT written across the front. Yes, you guessed correctly, he's performing "The Streak" and given his appearance I'd say it's from anywhere between the years 1974 and 1977...I'd strongly suggest it's from 1977 but it's difficult to tell, actually. I don't know at what point Ray incorporated the top hat into the performance...meaning that I don't know if it's something he's done since the song was released in 1974 or if it's something he decided to do to garner more laughs as the years went by. The idea of having the CAT brand on a top hat is comical. The yellow CAT hat is something he's often used as a visual during "The Streak" but, as mentioned, I don't know at what point in time he began putting on the CAT top hat. The unedited photo has a background indicating the sponsor of the concert and part of the word, Palomino, is visible. Once I seen this I began thinking that this must be a performance at The Palomino Club...a venue that used to exist in Los Angeles. It was notable for being one of the few nightclubs on the West Coast centering around country music in the '50s, '60s, and '70s before country began to see much more broad acceptance beginning in the mid and late '80s. The venue closed in 1995 simply because so many other country music clubs and performance venues began popping up...creating a lot of competition that previously didn't exist. An audio clip of "The Streak" is below...

Ray Stevens: July 23rd Box Set Release...

It's me once again!! Blogger's fixed the image problem from the other day. In my last couple of blog entries I was unable to post images...I could still post video clips but whenever I'd go to post an image I'd get an error message. I'm glad that the image feature has returned!! That's an image of the Country Music Hall of Fame plaque unveiled in 2019 when Ray was elected. If you're familiar with the official webpage of Ray Stevens or you visit the contact area of Ray's social media you'll probably be familiar with his newsletter. Anyone that signs up to receive their newsletter typically gets e-mail alerts about the latest happenings in Ray's career. Yes, even in the day of the internet, they realize that not all fans have the time to do internet searches, etc. and so they offer a free newsletter re-cap. All anyone has to do is sign up for it. I received their latest newsletter in my e-mail inbox today...the box set I've been mentioning since February, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, is being pushed back to July 23rd. The original release date was scheduled for June 21st. The newsletter states that the box set will be an exclusive to the gift shop at the CabaRay and it'll also be available at Ray's web-store. The newsletter contained a photo of the upcoming box set and I'll be posting an image of it in a future blog entry. This blog entry is more or less being composed to highlight the change in release date for the Iconic Songs of the 20th Century box set. The four digital albums that Ray has released will be issued in CD format for that box set. A lot of fans want CD copies of the music. 

The newsletter also revealed some upcoming secondary releases...which includes a brand new comedy song soon to be released digitally and a brand new comedy album this fall. This bit of news may be of relief to those wondering if Ray had decided to by-pass comedy entirely in favor of recording and arranging classic country and pop songs. When Ray decides to release this information from the newsletter about the brand new song and the upcoming comedy album to the general public through his social media then I'll write a blog about it. 

Ray Stevens: Brief 1975 audio clip...

It's me once again!! I came across a unique kind of audio clip from Ray Stevens circa 1975. A disc jockey named Bob Barry, a website describes him as being the most popular disc jockey in Milwaukee, Wisconsin throughout the '60s and '70s, uploaded a brief audio snippet of Ray from around the time "Misty" was released. Ray speaks of the origins of how he recorded the song. In the beginning of the audio clip the disc jockey, circa 2021, speaks of Ray in the past tense...at least that's how it sounded like to my ears. Due to this I left a comment over on the website and pointed out that Ray is still actively recording and will re-open his CabaRay showroom this coming September. The audio clip is unique because not only does it sound edited but near the end of the clip they play short audio samples of "The Streak" and "Misty" over top of Ray speaking to the disc jockey. I'm pretty sure these audio samples were added recently and simply placed over top of the 1975 audio clip. I decided to compose a blog entry about that brief audio clip because it's Ray Stevens...and it's a unique presentation. "Misty", "Indian Love Call", "Young Love", and "Lady of Spain" were the single releases from the 1975 Misty album. Ray re-recorded "Indian Love Call" and "Young Love" for his current Nouveau Retro digital album. 

The B-side of "Indian Love Call" is a song called "Piece of Paradise" that never appeared on any album until Varese Sarabande put it on a CD in 1998 called The Country Hits Collection. The B-side of "Misty" is "Sunshine". The B-side of "Young Love" is "Deep Purple". The B-side of "Lady of Spain" is "Mockingbird Hill". If you're familiar with the Barnaby Records design on their vinyl releases you'll know that the company didn't actually designate which side of the single was A-side or B-side. The international releases tell me that "Lady of Spain" was the A-side because it appears above "Mockingbird Hill" on the single's picture sleeve. The same holds true for the international release of "Young Love" and "Deep Purple". Since this blog entry focuses almost entirely on 1975 here's an audio of Ray Stevens singing the cute "Mockingbird Hill" from the Misty album...

Ray Stevens: Upcoming Box Set...

Hello all...in just under a month from now Ray Stevens will issue the box set featuring CD copies of the digital albums he's released during the first half of 2021. The box set will be released on June 18th, a Friday, and it's titled Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. As of this writing there's no artwork released and there's not been much information pertaining to what'll be inside the box set beyond the CD's. I don't know if they'll have a booklet or not. Ray previously released a mammoth 9-CD box set in 2012 featuring his renditions of classic novelty and comedy songs. That collection was called The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. In recent interviews Ray mentioned that the music he's currently recording will be part of a future project. It means that later this year or possibly even next year Ray will issue a series of digital download albums and then release the music in CD format in a second volume box set. I'm not able to add photo's to my blog at this point in time. 

I've attempted to add a photo to this blog entry and I keep getting an error message from Blogger basically saying it's unable to complete the task. I eventually tried several different photos, thinking there might be some sort of issue with the photo I originally attempted to post, but each attempt to post a photo met with the same error message. That kind of thing has never happened before. When I compose the next blog entry I'll try the photo feature again...hopefully whatever glitch is currently going on will have been solved since I like to add photos to my blog entries. 

As fans await CD versions of the digital albums Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro let's all take a listen to one of the songs from his most recent digital album...the Ray Stevens rendition of "You Don't Know Me"...

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Earth Angel"...

Hello Ray Stevens fans out there!! In this blog entry I'm going to embed the rendition of "Earth Angel" from the current Ray Stevens digital album, Nouveau Retro. This is another fabulous recording from that album. I say that for those that haven't heard the recording yet. The origins of the song, as mentioned in my album review, date back to the mid 50's. Ray does his greatest to capture the mood of the original...you'll hear Ray's overdubbed vocals as a choir of harmony singers replicating the sound of the mid '50s love ballad.

When I was doing research for my album review I came across information about legal disputes centering around the authorship of "Earth Angel". The single release by The Penguins and several other recording acts credit Curtis Williams as the writer. Later on the song was credited to Curtis Williams, Jesse Belvin, and Gaynel Hodge. I first heard the song in the 1985 Back to the Future movie. Something that you should keep in mind is that most of the songs on this digital album and several on the previous three releases that Ray chose to cover were brand new/contemporary  recordings when Ray was just beginning his career. 

When Ray was a disc jockey in the mid 1950s on local Georgia radio he more than likely was playing the original renditions of "Earth Angel" by The Penguins or by the Crew-Cuts...both groups released the song in the same time period. Ray co-hosted a local radio program for several years beginning in 1955. If you look over at the pictorial time-line you'll see the publicity photo of Ray and the radio microphone. Anyway, I love the rendition of "Earth Angel" from Ray Stevens...and you're going to love it as well!! 

Ray Stevens: "Quarantine Song"...One Year Later...

Hello all the fans of Ray Stevens!! Exactly one year ago today YouTube gained a brand new music video upload from Ray Stevens titled "Quarantined". The video had been recorded inside Ray's recording studio during his guest appearance on the television series, Larry's Country Diner. The song, if you couldn't tell by it's title, is centered around COVID and the very early stages of the pandemic. A lot of information has surfaced which contradicts a lot of the accepted information at the time...but that's the risk of topical novelty songs...but regardless, like so many Ray Stevens songs the cleverness of the lyrics and the superior feel of the music elevate it above your typical run-of-the-mill, quickly assembled novelty offering. In the case of "Quarantined" we're given a humorous breakdown of a day in the life of someone coping with the rigid stay-at-home orders and consumer rationing of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and other items. When you listen to the song all these months later it'll have you recalling those oh so fun restrictions and the experience of walking into a shopping store and seeing ration signs on the shelves with 'two to a customer' or 'one item per customer', etc. Remember those long lines to get inside any number of local Wal-Mart stores? In my area you had to wait in line as only a few dozen were allowed inside at a time. In this song, released on May 25th 2020, Ray sings of the COVID misery and how it's upended things in America but is optimistic things will return to normal 'after two more weeks of Quarantine'...wow, the lyric sounds so refreshingly quaint one year later.

In October of 2020 Ray Stevens revealed that he had signed a recording contract with Curb Records. This is a record label he'd recorded for during the first half of the 1990s and then returned a couple of other times in the early 2000s for several releases. The reunion with Curb Records in 2020 stemmed from his duet with Jeannie Seely, "Dance Tonight". Jeannie is an artist signed with Curb Records and a member of the Grand Ole Opry since the early 1960s. It was reported that when Ray and Jeannie recorded their duet together for her album of duets that the powers that be decided to sign Ray to their label once again. Once he returned to the label their first project on him was a 50th anniversary salute of "Everything is Beautiful". He recorded it originally in 1970 and so, for Curb Records, he re-recorded it and a performance music video was released. In addition to this there was a medley, "Everything is Beautiful / United We Stand", which was also turned into a performance music video. These two Mp3 audio releases arrived in October 2020 on the same day the two music videos made their debut online. After the activity of those two releases began to peak on video hosting sites Curb Records issued a digital download of "Quarantined" with a new title, "The Quarantine Song". Ray re-recorded the song and added some more instrumentation and re-phrasing of several lyrics. It's just my opinion but I assume Curb Records wanted their own recording of the song rather than simply using the audio from the music video. The music video had been uploaded on May 25, 2020 and the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" became available on December 11, 2020. At the time of the Mp3's release the music video was nearing 3,000,000 unique views on YouTube. It's gotten 3.2 million as of this writing. I've posted the music video numerous times throughout the summer and fall of 2020 and I also shared the performance Ray gave on Mike Huckabee's television show. Here's the music video...uploaded exactly one year ago today...

Ray Stevens: Vinyl 45 at 35...

Let's take a look back to the summer of 1986 in the career of Ray Stevens. He was preparing for the release of his third studio album for MCA, Surely You Joust, and on this comedy album were a number of songs that have since grown into classics in his career. The main attraction from the album was the lead-off comedy song, "Southern Air", which features Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl as guest vocalists. The song, from the pens of Stuart Dill and Brent Holmes, is about a southern airline apparently put together with scraps of wood with a screen door on the side. The song kicks off with Ray doing an impression of an airplane propeller trying to start...then finally does...amidst the sounds of shattered glass. Ray sings the song and acts as narrator while Jerry Clower plays the pilot and Minnie Pearl plays the role of the stewardess. It was a Top-40 hit on the Country Single Sales chart in the latter half of 1986. "The People's Court" was released as a single from the album, too. Ray's performed a couple of other songs from the 1986 album in concert. "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat" was recorded for this album...later becoming an animated music video. "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" is another favorite song from the fans and it, too, became a music video in the mid 1990s while "The Camping Trip" was made into an animated music video in the mid 2000's. You can read a much more detailed review of Ray's 1986 comedy album in the archives here. Earlier this year I wrote a blog entry about Surely You Joust turning 35 this year. 

When I saw Ray in concert a few times he performed the whimsical love song "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". I don't know how long this particular song's been in his setlist but he also performed it during his concerts in Branson, Missouri in the 1990s...video of him performing it at his former theater is on YouTube. The song was included in the 1987 Greatest Hits, Volume Two release and later on it was turned into two separate music videos: a live-action music video arrived in 1995 and an animated music video arrived more than a decade later. The song comes from the pen of Buddy Kalb...known more formally as C.W. Kalb, Jr.  

MCA released "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" in the latter part of 1986 and it was a song being promoted a lot by Ray in the early part of 1987 and inserting it into his concerts. The song is more or less about a guy who finds out an old flame of his is getting married...from the old flame herself. The guy is told of all the wonderful things her new boyfriend has accomplished which include how rich he is, how he's got several college degrees, how he constantly works out in a gym, etc. to which the guy counters his old flame's happiness by pointing out all of the wonderful things he, himself, is capable of doing such as wiggling his ears, crossing his eyes, drinking mugs of beer one after the other, making balloon animals, etc. and he leaves her with the question "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". In the 1995 music video Ray included scenes and performers from the movie that the music video originated from...which happened to be his VHS home video release, Get Serious!. In this 1995 music video performance some of the lyrics, toward the end of the song, are exclusive to the music video and they didn't appear in the 1986 recording. The reason Ray's wearing a chicken suit in the music video is because, in that part of the Get Serious! storyline, he and girlfriend Charlene MacKenzie (Connie Freeman) were on the run from Dudley Dorite (Buddy Kalb) and Coy (Tim Hubbard) and the two decided to hide in a chicken coop with the rest of the chickens.  

Ray Stevens audio clip: "April in Paris"...

Well, it's me once again!! As we're a few minutes away from Monday morning as I type this I decided to begin the week sharing the Ray Stevens recording of "April in Paris". It's the opening track on his current digital album, Nouveau Retro. The song dates back to the 1930s...it emerged in 1932 as an instrumental from composer Vernon Duke. Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics. The song is typically tied to Count Basie although numerous other recording artists and performers have recorded it. The song inspired the 1952 April in Paris movie starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger. The song's been recorded by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey, Doris Day, and numerous others. It's either recorded as an instrumental or as a vocal performance. Ray's rendition of "April in Paris", as mentioned in my album review, sets the mood for most of the digital album...particularly the first five recordings. 

You're going to love the recording if you hadn't heard it yet. I don't know if Ray will highlight any of the songs on Nouveau Retro or not...chances are he will...and perhaps "April in Paris" will be the song he spotlights on his social media. There are any number of songs from the album that I'd also select as a promotional audio.

Ray Stevens: CabaRay concerts Return this Fall...

I made mention of this last month...in the archives for the month of April you'll see a blog entry focusing on the return of concerts at the CabaRay showroom. I wrote the blog entry on April 1st and here we are approaching the end of May...and I've written many blog entries between April 1st and May 23rd that I felt the need to spread the news once again. Yes, you are reading things correctly...the CabaRay showroom is scheduled to re-open for capacity seating concerts later this fall on September 4th. There are several other venues that have already re-opened to full capacity but Ray decided to hold off until the fall and re-open the CabaRay. Is there a chance he may decide to re-open sooner than that? I don't know the answer to that...but next month is typically branded as Country Music Month and in pre-pandemic times June had always been the month where country music singers from all stages in their careers (beginners, current artists, and legends) made it a point to be seen in and around Nashville, Tennessee. Once upon a time there was a week long event called Fan Fair. It's long since been morphed into an event called Music Fest. The concept is the same as Fan Fair...gather as many recording artists that are available and have them sign autographs, take photos, and perform sponsored concerts for the fans on multiple stages set up all over the grounds.  

When you visit the CabaRay website there's a note which states that the box office will re-open in August (for in-person ticket purchases) but tickets can currently be purchased on the CabaRay website and over the phone. Online ticket purchasing, obviously, can be done any time of the day or night whereas if you call to reserve tickets there's a window of 9:30am to 4pm Central time. You can find out the phone number and all other information about the upcoming concerts by clicking HERE. There's a big red Buy Tickets button located on that page for online ordering. 

The CabaRay showroom hasn't been fully opened since the final Christmas concert took place in 2019. The 2020 season was to get underway in the spring but, of course, that didn't materialize due to the pandemic. A pandemic-influenced concert took place in October 2020 (limited capacity and spaced apart seating) but the showroom closed down again soon after. Now, then, the CabaRay is set to re-open fully September 4, 2021 and the link I posted will take you to the ticket ordering page.  

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Talk to Me"...

Hello all...one of the songs from Ray's current digital album, Nouveau Retro, is "Talk to Me". If you happen to be a longtime fan of Ray Stevens as I am then you'll know that Ray previously recorded "Talk to Me" in 1978 on his salute to classic/early Rhythm and Blues, an album titled There is Something on Your Mind. That 1978 recording is great and so is the modernized arrangement on Nouveau Retro. If you want to read my review of that digital album you can find it by clicking HERE. When I make mention of a modernized arrangement I'm referring to the instrumentation...the overall vocal performance of the 2021 recording is nearly identical to the 1978 recording. 

When I was listening to the album over this weekend not only does it feature "Talk to Me" but it also contains "You Don't Know Me". Those two songs would later become hits for Mickey Gilley...in fact it's Mickey's recordings of those songs that I was most familiar with growing up. "Talk to Me", from the pen of Joe Seneca, goes back to 1958...being popularized by Rhythm and Blues singer Little Willie John. Some pressings of the 1958 single were written as "Talk To Me, Talk To Me". Ray Stevens, as I've mentioned in other blog entries, truly outdoes himself on this and his previous three digital albums in this series of releases this year. 

Ray Stevens sings "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation"...

Hello to all the fans of Ray Stevens who stop by here. Earlier this afternoon Ray uploaded a performance of "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" from his CabaRay Nashville television show. Ray had originally recorded this song in 1986 and it appears on his Surely You Joust album. In this 1986 recording he sang it really up-tempo. The song's writer happened to have also written several up-tempo songs that Jerry Reed recorded...in fact, the 1986 Ray Stevens recording when I first heard it as a kid, had me thinking of Jerry Reed. In 2007 Ray re-recorded the song and changed the tempo from really fast to mid-tempo...actually it's like a ballad in comparison to the 1986 recording. The re-recording appears on Ray's 2007 comedy album, Hurricane. That's the album which features 7 new songs and 5 re-recordings of songs from a couple of his comedy albums from the 1980s, with "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation" being one of those re-recordings. In this CabaRay Nashville performance, as mentioned, he sings it as it appears on the 2007 Hurricane album. The overall storyline of the song deals with a series of misfortunes that are dealt with in a humorous, often ironic, way. It's in the country comedy category for certain. 

Ray Stevens: "A Mama and a Papa" are Golden...

It was on this date 50 years ago that Ray Stevens issued the inspirational song, "A Mama and a Papa", from the pen of Tom Autry. The record label that released the single was Barnaby Records with distribution during this time period from Columbia Records/CBS. If you look close enough you'll see the Columbia logo in the upper left hand side of the single's picture sleeve. Barnaby Records would later have distribution from Janus...they're the company who memorably used the melted vinyl on the tree limb graphic on all of the Barnaby Records releases. In the meantime, on May 22, 1971, Barnaby issued "A Mama and a Papa". The vinyl album and single releases from Barnaby in the early 1970's during their association with Columbia had a solid blue label. You'll see that solid blue label down below in the collage. "A Mama and a Papa" is a song about showing respect and appreciation for your parents...whoever your parents happen to be. A parent doesn't necessarily have to be biological but nevertheless the song encourages people to cling to family and be thankful for your parental figures. There are a number of contemporary music critics who I think would take it upon themselves to probably criticize the song as a product of it's time or shrug it off as a song that's either too optimistic, too simplistic, or overly traditional...but it's a great message song and why should it be considered a bad thing if positive, uplifting, or perhaps inspirational songs breakthrough into the so-called mainstream? 

The image below is the 50th Anniversary collage for "A Mama and a Papa". I made one of these for a couple of Ray's songs from 1970 last year when they reached the golden 50 year mark. The solid blue label is on display. 

I'm currently in search for a new golden number 5. That one looks blurry...it might be due to it being enlarged in that collage. The B-side, "Melt", is a song written by Ray. It's not an inspirational, family themed song. "Melt" is a full-on passionate love ballad featuring Ray conveying a message of raw emotion laced with yearning, longing, and desire. You can interpret it as a song dealing with a man completely devoted to his companion...it's never revealed who the lyrics are directed to. In this regard it can be interpreted as a boyfriend/girlfriend song or a husband/wife song. You can listen to the audio of "Melt" over on YouTube. A montage was made of the song by another fan of Ray's named Daniel Curtis. The video can be viewed when you click HERE. "Melt" has never appeared on any Ray Stevens compilation album and was never put on any of his studio albums in the early 1970s...that video montage is the only audio of that song on the internet believe it or not. "A Mama and a Papa" and "Melt" both reach 50 today!!

Ray Stevens: My Review of "Nouveau Retro"...

As a longtime fan of Ray Stevens I've listened to hundreds upon hundreds of recordings by the legendary Country Music Hall of Fame member. I've also read a lot of reviews over the decades pertaining to songs, albums, music videos, or concerts from Ray Stevens...at one point there were several book reviews when he released his memoir back in 2014. However, I come across a description in a review from several decades ago that characterized Ray more as a recording artist than a recording star. The author of that description meant it as a compliment...explaining that throughout Ray's career he's been more focused on the music rather than maintaining focus on "being a star". Ray himself, in his memoir, remarked that he was always more focused on making records and working on the arrangements, the production, the publishing, and he left the marketing and the publicity in the hands of whatever marketing firm the record company was associated with or in most cases it was left up to the record label's internal marketing team to promote his music (some of the record labels he was on didn't necessarily handle marketing that great, but that's another story!). The series of digital albums that Ray's been releasing in the first half of 2021 go to great lengths to showcase his versatility when it comes to music styles and it puts the spotlight on his music arrangement skills and his production skills. Every aspect of a Ray Stevens album is under his creative control...and when you listen to Nouveau Retro you'll hear a recording artist perfectly comfortable leaping from style to style. The album kicks off with his urgent rendition of "April in Paris" and the jazzy ambience of this performance sets the mood for the first 5 tracks on the album.

Nouveau Retro is completely different than his previous digital album, Slow Dance, even though both fit under the same umbrella. In this latest digital album you're going to hear some slow ballads backed with symphonic arrangements but you're also going to hear some mid-tempo songs as well. When I was looking over the track list for this album I noticed "Blue Moon" as track two. I had completely forgot that the song originated back in the 1930's...a crooning pop hit in 1934...so I was surprised to hear a ballad rendition of the song! I was so used to hearing the doo-wop rendition by The Marcels that I'd grown up hearing on Oldies radio stations in the 1990s and 2000s. Ray's rendition has a mid-tempo feel to it...the way he belts out the song's title with such energy! The tempo lowers a bit on track three, "Earth Angel". Now, this is a song that I first heard on the movie, Back to the Future. I'm sure most people in my age group were introduced to the song in that movie. It's a song I could picture Ray singing at any number of sock hops in the late '50s. There were two versions of the song released in the same time period...the Top-10 pop, number one Rhythm and Blues release by The Penguins came along late in 1954 and peaked within the early part of 1955 while a recording by The Crew-Cuts reached the Top-10 of the pop charts as well. 

After opening the digital album with three songs arranged in a pop-standards flavor he switches gears and delivers a piano-heavy ballad with gorgeous music accompaniment on "Lay Me Down, Roll Me Out to Sea". Although all of the songs on here had previously been recorded by other artists the title of track four sounded oddly familiar. I did some research and discovered why it sounded so familiar...it had previously been recorded by Barry Manilow. It appears on his 1975 album, Tryin' To Get the Feeling. Ray does the song so well...incorporating a gospel inflection...perhaps a lively spiritual inflection to match the soft key strokes on the piano. For track five, "Cry Me a River", Ray comes across like a male torch singer...and if you're familiar with the storyline of the song you'll understand the reason why I use the torch singer description. Ray's decision to include it on Nouveau Retro had me thinking back to an article I'd read about his alumni class reunion in 2007. One of Ray's high school friends remarked that when she and Ray were on local radio together she preferred songs like "Cry Me a River" by Julie London...and she said that Ray always wanted to play suggestive, playful songs by Rhythm and Blues artists. Those artists, at the time, weren't considered mainstream...which is why The Crew Cuts version of "Earth Angel" was a bigger pop hit while The Penguins had the bigger Rhythm and Blues hit. 

Okay now...we're at track six! This song jumps right out at you...it's an up-tempo recording and Ray superbly tackles "Mountain of Love". I grin throughout the entire performance. The song is bouncy and it has this rockabilly feel...it's not very up-tempo in the vein of Johnny Rivers or Charley Pride but compared to the first 5 tracks on Nouveau Retro "Mountain of Love" is very up-tempo. I think it's one of the highlights of the entire digital album. Ray covers himself in the next three songs. Ray previously recorded "Talk to Me" for his 1978 album, There is Something On Your Mind. The instrumentation on this 2021 recording is modernized but he kept the same arrangement. The same thing holds true for "Young Love" and "Indian Love Call"...both songs were previously recorded with Ray's arrangements on his 1975 Misty album and on this 2021 digital album he kept his original arrangements but used modernized instrumentation. 

The pop song "No, Not Much" appears as track ten. This is a song that builds upon irony and tells how the man doesn't think much about the girl or anything else in his life...only to contradict himself time after time...eventually asking himself if she ever walks out on him would he like it? The response? "No, Not Much"! Ray delivers his version of the pop-standard "You Don't Know Me", track eleven. The song comes from the pen of Cindy Walker...research says she gave Eddy Arnold co-writer credit because he thought up the song's title and storyline...but she wrote the lyrics. A classic love ballad it became a hit for the likes of Jerry Vale, Eddy Arnold, Ray Charles, and Mickey Gilley. It's been recorded by hundreds of recording artists and on this digital album Ray Stevens takes his turn at the song and hits a home run. Now, not to be overlooked, is the finale: "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows / Over the Rainbow". The medley features a little over a minute's worth of lyrics from "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" before it morphs into "Over the Rainbow" for the duration of the song. Ray had recorded "Over the Rainbow" in 1975...and in this 2021 recording he instrumentally modernized his arrangement and he also sang it almost note for note as he did in 1975! He hits a lot of high notes pretty much matching his 1975 rendition. Nouveau Retro was the fourth in a series of four digital albums Curb Records released on Ray Stevens this year. In June all four of those digital albums will be released in CD format in a box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. The box set will enable us to discover the names of the musicians on these recordings, too. 

Ray did an extraordinary job with this digital album and the previous three. His music arranging skills were put on full display and it also spotlighted the diversity of music styles he likes to record...something which has always been there throughout his career...yet often overlooked/overshadowed by his novelty songs. 

Ray Stevens: Nouveau Retro on Amazon's Top-100

Hello once again to the fans of Ray Stevens! Ray's current Nouveau Retro digital album debuted on the Amazon Best Selling New Releases Top-100 yesterday. When I checked the list it was ranked within the Top-30. The positions change every hour. Ray's previous three digital albums made appearances on this list and I made note of it and so now I'm making note of his current digital album appearing there. I've been jotting down a series of opinions and thoughts on little sheets of notebook paper that I'll soon turn into a review of Nouveau Retro. I made note of several things when I first listened to the digital album and I'll be making some more notes when I listen several more times and then I'll write my review. Some of the songs that are highlights include "Mountain of Love", "April in Paris", "Blue Moon", "Lay Me Down, Roll Me Out To Sea", and the album closer, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows / Over the Rainbow". It'll be right around this time next month that Ray will issue all four digital albums in CD format in a box set called Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. Yes, as I've often remarked, I'll be purchasing the CD box set next month because that's just how I am. If there's CD availability of a Ray Stevens digital album I order it for my personal collection. Since this will be a box set I'm assuming it'll come with some sort of a booklet or liner notes. Ray released a statement about Nouveau Retro and I'm going to paste it here. I said I'd be pasting his other statements about the previous three digital albums in a future blog entry and at some point I will...but for now I'm copying/pasting Ray's statement about his current release...

"Nouveau Retro is just my way of saying...Let's take a new look at some old standards. I guess it is a bit of a habit of mine to hear some piece of music or recording I really like and after listening a few times, begin to think of how it might be done a little differently. I just can't seem to help myself, if I were a painter I would probably want to add a little something to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at some point. One of the characteristics of really great music is that it can stand the test of interpretation or re-interpretation. A great song continues to be 'great' even when it's presented in a completely different way and this selection is definitely in the that category. When we hear a song and we like it we consider it our own. We hear people say 'They're playing our song' or 'My song.' That's because some songs become personal and we don't want people messing with them...but then...there are adventurous, curious, experimental souls like me...and hopefully you. So lay aside all previous opinions and be open to receive a little something different and behold....Nouveau Retro (What’s Old is New Again)!"

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Mountain of Love"...

Well, hello to all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! It's release day for Nouveau Retro and I purchased it about an hour ago and have listened to it already. It's great...a good selection of songs that Ray decided to bring back. You can purchase your copy of the digital album by clicking HERE. I like all the songs...one of the stand-out tracks, in my opinion, is his rendition of "Mountain of Love". Ray's rendition kicks off with what I call a mid '60s flavor...well, when I heard it I thought of that time period in pop/rock music. The song was made popular, the first time around, by Johnny Rivers. His rendition is great and has harmonica solo's. I grew up hearing the country music version from Charley Pride. Ray's rendition is up-tempo throughout and it's a bouncy up-tempo performance. If you're familiar with Johnny Rivers or Charley Pride's version you'll immediately notice the lack of female harmony singers chiming in "oh, yeah!" at various moments in the song. This lack of harmony singers is something that caught me off guard...especially since Ray's known for having female harmony singers adding a lot of accompaniment to his recordings yet for this song he decided to not utilize them. I'll be writing a review of the digital album at some point later today or over the weekend after I listen to the album several more times but I just had to share this song right away because it jumps right out at you. When it comes to "Mountain of Love" Ray, obviously, didn't want to make a carbon copy of the Johnny Rivers or Charley Pride renditions and so he recorded it this way...

Ray Stevens: Nouveau Retro is Right Around the Corner...

Can you feel the excitement building as well?? Only one day left until Nouveau Retro is upon us on May 21st. If you follow Ray on his social media accounts, as I'm sure most of you do, then you're aware of the audio snippet he released yesterday on his Facebook page. The audio snippet is of "April in Paris". The brief audio leaves you wanting to hear the entire recording. The song's been recorded by many recording artists over the decades. Count Basie, for example, issued an instrumental version. Doris Day recorded a ballad version while Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong did jazz/upbeat renditions. Ray, based on the audio snippet, keeps a mellow feel, instrumentally, but his vocalization is mid-tempo by comparison. It's hard to tell if the entire performance will sound like that or if this is just part of something larger...something like starting a song out like a ballad and then mid-way through accelerating the tempo. This is why I'm anxious not only to hear "April in Paris" in it's entirety but I'm also anxious to hear the rest of the album, too. Is it May 21st yet? Well, in 12 hours from now it'll be Midnight...so we got half a day left until Nouveau Retro! Ray put up a promotional banner on his Facebook page and I'm closing this blog entry with that banner...this is just a banner...it isn't a link to another webpage. Once the digital album is released I'll be pasting a link to it in a future blog entry.

Ray Stevens: Nouveau Retro in Two Days...

It's me once again!! We're now just two days away from the fourth digital album from Ray Stevens in as many months. He began issuing digital albums this past February...one per month...so now we're getting closer to the fourth release this coming Friday, titled Nouveau Retro. I don't know if any online music site will preview this album before it's officially released or not. A couple of websites published promotional articles on Great Country Ballads (February) and Melancholy Fescue (March)...and some of those websites included embeds of audio tracks from each release. For whatever reason Slow Dance (April) wasn't promoted in those same websites so that's why I don't know if Nouveau Retro will get much publicity in the manner in which the first two digital releases received. Ray promoted Slow Dance several times throughout late April and into the middle of this month on his social media pages. A couple of days ago, for example, Ray posted on his Facebook page an audio snippet of one of the songs on Slow Dance. Meanwhile, in June, all four digital albums will be released in CD format and placed in a box set called Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. When Ray gave a couple of interviews recently he remarked that this box set was only the beginning of a larger project. He plans on recording four additional albums and release those digitally, at first, and then release them in CD format in a second box set. I don't know if the box set will include a Part Two or a Volume Two attached at the end of the title or not. He could very well attach a Part One or a Volume One at the end of the title of the box set being released next month...as a way to tell a general audience that there's more to come. 

As I was looking over the songs on Nouveau Retro I was trying to decide which one Ray might post on his social media as a promo for the album. As I wrote about in a previous blog entry there are a couple of songs on this that Ray had previously recorded in the 1970s so I don't think he'll upload any of those songs as a promo audio for the upcoming digital album. He may upload an audio clip of "April in Paris", "Cry Me a River", "Mountain of Love", or "You Don't Know Me"...perhaps "Earth Angel"...any one of those songs could be selected by Ray to promote the upcoming digital album. Those are just five of the iconic songs found on Nouveau Retro and I can't wait to hear how Ray has recorded them!!

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Slow Dancing"...

Hello all once again!! As we approach May 21st I decided to write a blog entry focusing on the title track of the current Ray Stevens digital album, Slow Dance. The title track is actually "Slow Dancing" and the song was a previous hit for a couple of artists named Johnny. The pop recording is associated with Johnny Rivers whereas the country recording is associated with Johnny Duncan. As a fan of country music I was more familiar with Johnny Duncan's recording and later on I heard the Johnny Rivers rendition. In this blog entry you'll be hearing the Ray Stevens rendition...it's a romantic love song...deeply romantic one could say. When hearing Ray sing it I'm reminded of some of the highly emotive love songs he recorded for RCA in the early 1980s...songs that ran the gamut from aching, passionate love pleas to calls for reconciliation...songs like "I Believe You Love Me", "One More Last Chance", "Let's Do It Right This Time", "Always There", "Take That Girl Away", and the equally amazing "Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Make Love". Curb Records uploaded the audio track of "Slow Dancing" on April 22nd which was a day before the Slow Dance digital album was available for purchase. I don't know if Curb Records will release the audio tracks for the digital album to be released on May 21st a day earlier or not...if they do I'll make a note of it in a future blog entry. For now listen to the title track of Ray's current digital album, Slow Dance.

Ray Stevens: Re-issue, Re-Release, Re-Packaging, etc.

This blog entry is sort of like a sequel to a blog entry I wrote several months ago (or perhaps several years ago) where I spotlight re-issues and re-packaged albums released on Ray Stevens. This blog entry is more or less of a technical nature for some. As mentioned in my blog introduction I write about all aspects of Ray's career...meaning that some blog entries are focused on such things as album cover art or the differences between re-issues and re-packaging and so forth. I don't nitpick over the words re-issue, re-release, re-packaging...specifically meaning I don't concern myself with whether or not something should be defined as a re-release or a re-issue. Some people get worked up over calling something a re-issue or a re-release. I use both descriptive words interchangeably. Now, I do make a distinction if something is re-packaged...because a re-packaging features new cover art, usually a different album title, and often songs in different sequential order from the original release. If you're a longtime fan of Ray Stevens then you'll know that there have been a lot of compilation albums released on him...both here in America and overseas throughout the decades. A few of the compilation albums, if you look at the track listings, obviously contain songs from previously released studio albums...but in some cases the compilation consists almost entirely of a previously released studio album with some additional songs added in. An example of that being 1996's Great Gospel Songs. This compilation includes all of the songs found on Ray's 1972 gospel album, Turn Your Radio On, with a few extra inspirational songs added in. Great Gospel Songs would be considered a re-packaging of Turn Your Radio On. 

In the two photo collage above we see cassette copies of the 1987 Ray Stevens album, Crackin' Up. The photo in panel one is the original release with the deep blue, almost purple lettering of Includes the Hit Single above the red lettering of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" up against the dark blue background. The cassette copy in my collection is what you see in panel one. My grandfather purchased the cassette the year it was released and I've had it in my collection for more than 30 years. Now, then, the photo in panel two is a re-issue/re-release of Crackin' Up. Note how the coloring below the brick wall is a light brown and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" is written in black letters. Also, the album title went from being written in dark blue, cracked letters to white, non-cracked letters. Aside from those graphic differences on the album cover everything else is the same...which is why it's a re-release/re-issue. Now that I've written about a re-issue/re-release and a re-packaging this is another example of what a re-package looks like...

A re-packaging is when an original studio album is re-released with different cover art and a different title and sometimes added songs or sometimes a song or two is omitted in the re-packaged release. In panel one there's He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, released in 1984. In panel two we have Mississippi Squirrel Revival, released in 1992. The two releases have the same songs, and so no song was omitted, and the songs appear in the same sequential order on both albums...the difference between them being the cover art and album title and that's why the 1992 release is considered a re-packaging rather than a re-issue or re-release.

Ray Stevens: Nouveau Retro in Five Days...

Oh yes, now it's down to just 5 days until Ray Stevens and Curb Records releases Nouveau Retro!! In my previous blog entry I mentioned that I'd be posting more about this collection of songs the closer we get to May 21st...and since it's May 16th I decided that today is as good a day as any to focus on the upcoming digital album. The album's official title is Nouveau Retro (What's Old Is New Again). Now, of course, I'm not going to write out the entire album title each time I write a blog about it. I'll only refer to it as Nouveau Retro. As I pointed out in my previous blog entry the baby on the album cover is a photo of Ray. I first seen that baby photo of Ray in the late 1990s in a documentary called The Life and Times of Ray Stevens. This documentary aired on The Nashville Network and it was, at the time, the most revealing thing ever produced on Ray Stevens. The documentary shown a lot of photographs and rarely seen video clips from Ray's own collection...most of which had never been widely seen by the general public. They also shown a baby photo of Ray with an adult baseball glove on one of his hands...baseball was like a second religion for a lot of people growing up in and around Clarkdale, Georgia. Also on the album cover as you can clearly see is Ray dressed as Father Time. Ray doesn't pose for that many comical album covers anymore...most of the time whenever he issues an Mp3 digital download the promo picture appearing online is usually a screen cap from the corresponding music video or a publicity photo of Ray. 2015's Here We Go Again! did have Ray on the cover at an airport with a gorilla as a chauffeur...but I hope Ray gets back to issuing elaborate album photos like the one you see here on Nouveau Retro. Here is the track list for the upcoming digital album..

1. April in Paris

2. Blue Moon

3. Earth Angel

4. Lay Me Down and Roll Me Out to Sea

5. Cry Me a River

6. Mountain of Love

7. Talk To Me**

8. Young Love**

9. Indian Love Call**

10. No, Not Much

11. You Don't Know Me

12. Always Chasing Rainbows / Over the Rainbow

Tracks 7, 8, and 9 have previously been recorded by Ray. I'm eager to hear if he kept his own arrangements from the time he originally recorded them or if he's re-arranged them completely to where they melodically sound different. We know they'll sound different as far as the music accompaniments go...which is part of the music arranging process, too, but at the same time an arrangement can also apply to vocal phrasing (referred to as vocal arrangement). Track 12 includes "Over the Rainbow" as part of a medley...and Ray previously recorded that particular song in it's entirety in the '70s...so this is another song I'll be interested to find out how musically different it is compared to his original recording. 

Ray Stevens: Nouveau Retro in One Week...

I've been waiting for months to open a blog entry with this eye catching album cover. Yes, yes...I could've posted this image in any number of blog entries if I wanted...but I decided to wait until it got closer to release day before using it. I'll be posting it more and more as it gets closer to May 21st...for that is when Nouveau Retro (What's Old Is New Again) is released. It'll be the fourth in a series of digital albums from Ray Stevens. His current digital album, Slow Dance, is bouncing all over the Top-100 Country New Releases list on Amazon. The baby on the cover is Ray...from his personal collection. The photo's appeared before. In the television special, The Life and Times of Ray Stevens, which aired on The Nashville Network in 1998 the photo appeared on-screen for several seconds. The photo is in Ray's memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, from 2014. The rubber ball has designs of a camel all over it. The camel's been part of Ray's life seemingly since childhood. This digital album, like the three that preceded it, contains 12 recordings. As of now, obviously, we have no idea which song from the album will be promoted on Ray's social media. Ray likes to pick one or two songs, overall, and post them on his social media pages for extra attention. The songs get uploaded by Curb Records onto YouTube on release day...and for those that want to purchase the music it'll be available on Amazon and other online sites. 

In June, don't forget, all four of the digital albums will be released in CD format and placed in a box set called The Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. That box set's release date is scheduled for June 18th. Some of the songs on this Nouveau Retro digital album are "Earth Angel", "Blue Moon", "April in Paris", and "Cry Me a River". Ray also features some updated songs from his own career on this particular digital album. On Slow Dance he brought back a song he'd previously recorded called "Answer Me, My Love" but with a new arrangement. 

On Nouveau Retro he's bringing back several songs he previously recorded: "Young Love", "Talk to Me", and "Indian Love Call". I don't know if he'll keep the same arrangements from when he originally recorded them or if he'll do them completely different. Those three songs are tracks 7, 8, and 9 on the digital album. There's a medley of "Always Chasing Rainbows" / "Over the Rainbow" which closes out the album. Ray had previously recorded a full length version of "Over the Rainbow" on his 1975 Misty album...so it's going to be fun discovering if he's re-arranged his own arrangements of his previously recorded songs or if he's kept his arrangements the same. I can't wait to hear all of the songs and write a review of it. I especially can't wait to get my hands on the box set next month!!

Ray Stevens calls Tony Orlando's Radio Show...

Hello one and all...this past Saturday night Ray Stevens called in to Tony Orlando's radio program. He hosts a 2-hour radio program on WABC in New York (10pm - 12am) called Saturday Nights with Tony Orlando. I became aware of this show just this past Saturday when I seen a promo on social media about it. As a big fan of Ray Stevens that's what caught my eye...so I listened to the show Saturday night online. I held off writing a blog entry about Ray's guest appearance because I didn't know if Ray would be posting about it on his own social media pages. There was no advanced publicity for Ray's guest appearance except for the promo on Tony Orlando's social media pages. Well, a couple of minutes ago, Ray uploaded a brief conversation from the interview. Since I was waiting for some kind of mention of the interview to surface on Ray's social media before writing a blog entry I'm now going to share the interview in this blog entry. The image below is just a publicity photo...clicking it won't take you to the podcast. The link to the interview is in the next paragraph.

Ray uploaded a conversation pertaining to a month long tour that he and Tony Orlando, and several others, were on in 1961. The tour, according to their recollections, was virtually non-stop the entire month. I came across an advertisement from October 20, 1961 showing this tour making a stop on the Iowa Danceland show. The Danceland advertisement shows Ray Stevens, Tony Orlando, Ral Donner, Janie Grant, and Bobby Vinton appearing that night. The upload on Ray's Facebook page is less than 2 minutes but the interview itself is more than half an hour. Tony's topic during the May 8th radio show was Singers and Songwriters. You can listen to the interview by clicking HERE. 

The interview is lively...Ray has frequently referred to Tony as Mr. Shyness as an ironic reference to Tony's outgoing personality. Tony plays several songs of Ray's during the interview...including 1968's "Mr. Businessman" and 1975's "Misty". You'll hear Ray speak of how elated he happened to be in the 1990s when Comedy Video Classics and several other VHS tapes became top sales hits...proving his instincts correct...and leaving the major record labels in shock since they passed on his direct-mail experiment. Ray also sounds as if he was slightly insecure while on tour with Tony Orlando in 1961...watching Tony walk out on stage and sing love ballads whereas Ray sang "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills". Tony attempts to recite the full title of the song and almost makes it...the full title is "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills".

In a career spanning 60-plus years there's no way to cover everything...but the signature hits are covered and then there's talk of contemporary events. Ray speaks of the CabaRay and how he's hoping to get the showroom up and running in the fall but a lot of it will also depend on the people feeling safe to attend indoor events again. There wasn't any talk of his current recordings or the upcoming Box Set next month...I guess he's saving the main publicity for when the box set arrives. Tony closed the interview by thanking Ray for 60 years of friendship.

Ray Stevens: "Slow Dance" returns to Amazon's Top-100...

Hello all once more!! The current Ray Stevens digital album, Slow Dance, had been off the Amazon Best Selling New Releases Top-100 digital album list for a couple of days...when I checked that list about 20 minutes ago I seen that Slow Dance has returned and as of this writing it's within the Top-40 of the Top-100. All three digital albums that Curb Records has issued on Ray this year have made an appearance on this Amazon list. In less than 2 weeks the fourth digital album will be released...it becomes available on May 21. Nouveau Retro, based on the song selection, appears that it will be a sequel to Slow Dance...but we'll have to wait and hear for ourselves to know if the arrangements of the songs on Nouveau Retro mimic what's on Slow Dance. Earlier today on his Facebook page Ray uploaded an audio clip of "Make Believe / It's Only Make Believe". The medley is track number three on the Slow Dance album. The first part of the medley, "Make Believe", originated in 1927 and is tied to the musical, Show Boat. A commercial recording of the song arrived in 1928. The recording was from Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra featuring Bing Crosby as the vocalist. "Make Believe", given it's late '20s origin, is often a song that shows up on albums of showtunes. A showtune, for those curious, is a song that originates in a musical. The song's writers are Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, II. The second part of the medley, "It's Only Make Believe", was written by Conway Twitty and Jack Nance. The song was a huge hit for Conway in 1958 and into 1959...hitting number one on the pop chart in America and hitting number one in more than 20 other countries. Ray re-arranged the song to musically fit the sound of Slow Dance and he changed the phrasing to fit his own delivery. Ray didn't do any Conway growl or attempt to mimic Conway's legendary recording.  

Those wanting a copy of Slow Dance can purchase it directly from Amazon by clicking HERE. Curb Records has uploaded all of the audio clips onto YouTube...so, for those that want to listen there, just go to YouTube and search for Ray's name and the album, Slow Dance, and all the audio clips will show up in the search results.

Now, of course, since I've mentioned the audio clip of "Make Believe / It's Only Make Believe" I'm going to embed it below...