Ray Stevens: 35th Anniversary Time...

As the title of this blog entry points out this is the 35th anniversary time...for what you may be asking? It's 35th anniversary time for anything that took place in the career of Ray Stevens in 1988. This was another action packed year. In the first half of the year Ray was continuing the successes of the previous year as recognition for his 1987 single, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", was in the running for a Grammy Award early in 1988. Ray performed that Grammy nominated single on a 1988 episode of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson...and at one point the camera shown Johnny holding Ray's 1987 album to the camera so the audience could see what it looked like. In 1988 Ray launched his own record label, Clyde Records. The very first product released on the Independent label happened to be some recordings by his daughter, Suzi Ragsdale. In 1988, however, her stage name was Suzi Stevens. Ray's record label, however, became much more visible several years later when he began the telemarketing phase of his career. He released mail-order VHS tapes under his Clyde Records banner beginning in 1992. In 1988 a mail-order release, Get The Best of Ray Stevens, was an on-going success...a double album released by MCA Records in 1987 the television commercials and print advertisements continued getting circulation throughout 1988 and even into 1989. Ray's studio album in 1988 came along in the middle part of the year...titled I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like...and it marked a turning point in his recording career. The subject matter in a lot of the comedy songs was a bit more topical and only a few of the songs played into the 'southern humorist' vibe that had been heard in greater quantity on Ray's previous comedy albums. 

The 1988 album features 10 comedy songs...and topical, satirical humor kicks things off with "Surfin' U.S.S.R."...a very funny song which became only the second music video of his career. The music video contains exclusive content not heard in the audio recording. In the music video we see a comedic sketch at the beginning with Ray doing vocal impressions of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Why it was never part of the audio recording is a mystery. My guess is it was something Ray or Buddy Kalb come up with when it was decided to turn the song into a music video. The song comes from the pen of William Martin and here's the 1988 music video... 

The good ole boy vibe shows up in "Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex". In this song Ray laments the headache most any parent feels when satellite television is hooked up and how, back then, all kinds of R-rated films were easily accessible to anyone that could operate a remote control (including children). Remember, of course, this was 1988...we were nearly 10 years away from the internet as we know it coming into existence...and back in 1988 it was fashionable but also controversial, to some, to have satellite television...with 'adult programming' easily available in the home. The disclaimer written on screen prior to a strong R-rated movie would be something like "this film is rated R; the following film contains strong language, nudity, violence, and sexual situations". Well, those kind of disclaimers and the country's fascination with satellite TV inspired "Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex". The fiddle sawing away is the prominent instrument in the recording. There isn't an official music video for the song but the audio is on YouTube...

One of the unexpected treasures of Ray Stevens albums is how songs can take on a life of their own or be discovered years after their original recording. The second single release from the 1988 album, "The Day I Tried to Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive", is a fun up-tempo song with a distinctive 1950's rock and rolling dance arrangement...heavy on saxophone, too. The story is comical...Ray sings about attempting to teach a deaf girl how to drive a '57 Chevy. Ray performed it on the 1988 television special celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hee Haw. Then, 7 years later, the song resurfaced and played a big role in his 1995 direct-to-VHS movie, Get Serious!. The role of Charlene MacKenzie was played by Connie Freeman. Here Ray Stevens is singing the song on a television special titled An American Music Celebration...

Some of the other comedy songs on the 1988 album are "The Booger Man", "I Don't Need None of That", "Blood and Suede", and a country rendition of Michael Jackson's song, "Bad". The "Blood and Suede" song is fabulous...and Ray sings it in hushed tones as if he's passing down a story that's better left whispered about than shouted out loud. In the song Ray tells us of a car crash on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles between a Porsche and Mercedes Benz and the consequences of adultery. The 1988 album is fabulous and if you've not heard the entire album go to YouTube and look up the album title and you'll be able to hear the audio tracks from the entire album.  

Ray Stevens: 1988 Nashville Now performance and Interview...

It's me once more...and in my third blog entry of the day I'm focusing on the most recent social media post from Ray Stevens. There have several social media posts from Ray within the last couple of days and I've been playing catch-up which is why there's been multiple blog entries posted by me today. This video clip comes from earlier today and it's Ray's performance of "Gourmet Restaurant" on a May 1988 episode of Nashville Now. The song originated on his 1987 album, Crackin' Up. The video clip shows the performance of the song and the interview with Ralph Emery...I'd love to have seen the other Ray Stevens performance from that episode.

Ray Stevens; 1988

In the interview there's not much discussion about what Ray's currently doing in the studio or experiences he's had on the road...this appearance more than likely was did strictly for publicity purposes given there wasn't a performance of something brand new...but yet we don't know if Ray sang something soon to be released later on in the show or not. Nashville Now ran 90 minutes each weeknight and the guests sang two songs sandwiched between interviews and performances from the other guests. The interview always took place after the guest performed their first song of the night. There weren't any follow-up interviews within the episode. Now, having said all that, Ralph mentions an upcoming album from Ray. I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like hit retail stores in June of 1988, a month after this appearance, so it's hard to tell if Ray later performed a song from that upcoming album or not. Ray spoke of the album's title and it's reference to Will Rogers. Ralph asked Ray if he personally feels he never made a record he didn't like. Ray jokingly remarked that he always likes any song he's recorded...but maybe 2 weeks later he'll have regrets about it. In this 1988 interview Ralph, out of the blue, asks Ray about the song focusing on Barry Manilow...which became a hit for Ray in 1979, nearly 10 years earlier. Ray spoke of the song's title, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow", and that it was written by Dale Gonyea. The reason Ralph had brought it up is explained in the interview. Ray, by 1988, had long since removed that particular song from his concert set-list and I'm sure he was surprised that Ralph would bring it up...he even looked surprised.

I captured a lot of screen caps from this appearance as I did his 1987 Nashville Now appearance (uploaded on Ray's social media sites last month). The screen cap below is from the May 1988 episode of Nashville Now.

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery share a laugh; 1988

Ray Stevens sings Michael Jackson...

Well, here I am posting another fan created blog entry about the career of Ray Stevens. In my previous blog entry I gave some spotlight to the upcoming concert season at the CabaRay showroom. In fact the entire blog entry was centered around the fabulous venue in Nashville, Tennessee. It's nestled in the suburb community of Bellevue and it sits high atop a hill on River Road overlooking the community.

A little bit later in this blog entry I'll provide a link to the showroom's ticket page as March 14th is the official kick-off date for the upcoming season of concerts. In this particular blog entry, though, it's all about a certain recording from Ray Stevens which originated in 1988. In a lot of my blog entries over the last decade I've given a lot of spotlight to Ray's 1988 comedy album, I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like. It's so different from the album that preceded it, 1987's Crackin' Up, and the album that followed it, 1989's Beside Myself. I'm not going to examine the entire 1988 album as I already did that too recently (last year I wrote a blog highlighting the album's 30th anniversary) but given the appearance of a video clip from Ray Stevens a couple of days ago I decided to embed that clip in this blog entry. I didn't share the video clip in my last blog entry because I wanted that one to be entirely devoted to the CabaRay showroom and the upcoming season of concerts.

Ray's social media outlets posted an audio of his 1988 recording of Michael Jackson's pop hit, "Bad". The video clip used an unreleased photo of Ray, in Michael Jackson attire, surrounded by a gang of people that looked as though they were searching for the casting department of one of my favorite shows, Hee Haw. This photo appears on the screen throughout the entire recording. The artwork is a parody of the Michael Jackson Bad album and single from 1987. This is just an image of the photo...the art work parodying Michael Jackson's hit I decided to edit out because you can see the art work in the YouTube clip with Ray's name listed along the left side of the picture sleeve and the song's title appearing in spray paint form.

Apparently Ray and MCA were either thinking about issuing his recording of "Bad" with the alternate title, Awful, as a commercial single or it was to be a parody in which the lyrics would be the same but the song's title would be "Awful" instead of "Bad"...that part of the concept isn't divulged over on the video's YouTube page but the cover art you see in the YouTube clip below was to be the picture sleeve for a proposed single release. The video clip was uploaded on February 7th and so far more than three thousand people have seen it. I've always loved Ray's recording of "Bad" and given this cover art and the fact that the song was under consideration to be a single release back then creates something of an interest in the recording from those that had never even heard it before. Keep in mind that the song is performed with it's accurate title...the cover art was never released and the song's title, "Awful", was never recorded...it came from an idea that was scrapped during the planning stages...but it's neat to see what may have been. 



However, as things are likely to happen in the music industry, plans changed rapidly and a decision was made not to release Ray's version of "Bad" as a single nor issue it under the alias, "Awful". It's amazing how much one learns after they feel they've either learned it all or had heard it all. I'm glad that Ray and company decided not to release the single under the title of "Awful"...could you just imagine the kind of commentary that a title like that would generate from the various snooty, snobby, crabby, and highbrow critics that seem to always critique music or criticize recording artists whom they personally dislike from the start? The Ray Stevens haters would have a field day!!! So fortunately the plans to unleash the recording under the name of "Awful" was scrapped but the recording from Ray Stevens lives on under it's actual name, "Bad", for all to enjoy.

If you attend a concert at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom I doubt that Ray will be performing "Bad"...it isn't something that's on his set-list...but one never knows. How can you attend a CabaRay concert? It's really easy. Click this LINK and then click on the calendar to the month of March. You can select a date by clicking on the number that's circled. Concerts, as mentioned, kick off on March 14th and during the remainder of the year concerts will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and then only on Friday and Saturday as the year progresses. The showroom is on River Road just off of Charlotte Pike.

This Ray Stevens LP turns 30...

Hello once more! As the title of this blog entry states...this Ray Stevens LP turns 30. Released in the summer of 1988 on MCA this 10 track comedy album is chock full of top notch material and while the recordings aren't as lengthy as some of the songs on his previous albums it's nevertheless a highly entertaining project. First off the album's title is based upon a phrase associated with Will Rogers. Whereas Will's saying if often quoted as "I never met a man I didn't like", Ray's album offers a twist on that phrase with I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like. As you can see Ray is in full costume as the rope twirling Rogers. I may have shared this story before but I'll repeat it again...I discovered this project at a record store at a shopping mall with my grandfather. At the time of it's purchase it was already several years old. I remember finding the cassette copy among a stack of Ray Stevens cassettes on display at the store. I was there hoping to find his most recent album at that time, Lend Me Your Ears, and I found this one which I had never known about...the same holds true for his 1989 album, Beside Myself. I was still a teenager at the time (pre-16 so I wasn't able to drive on my own) and my only access to stores was with my parent's or my grandparent's...and a lot of the time the local K-Mart and Hart's stores didn't always carry an abundance of Ray Stevens titles...so most of the purchases of Ray Stevens music that I had at that point in time was through my grandparent's who'd take me to a shopping mall not too far away which featured a couple of music stores which carried a wide array of music and plenty of Ray in a comedy music section of the store. Those stores were Camelot and NRM.

Anyway, I found I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like and glanced over the song titles and was dumbfounded that I'd never heard of these songs before...or the album...and I looked at the copyright year, 1988, and a light bulb moment occurred when I realized the album was simply a project my grandfather skipped over when he had purchased several of Ray's albums a couple of years earlier. Ever since the cassette copy came into my possession in the early '90s I've long since been a fan of it. Once I got onto the internet in the mid 2000s I was able to purchase vinyl albums released on Ray Stevens including the vinyl copy of this 1988 release.

First off I'd like to give a run down on the list of musicians that played on this record. I usually don't single out the album musicians but ever since Ray began his CabaRay Nashville television series with a lot more heightened emphasis and attention directed toward his band I figured I'd provide a list of the musicians for this particular release. Ray is credited with playing the synthesizer. The keyboard is credited to Gary Prim. His name appears on several of Ray's albums as keyboard or piano player even though the public at large assumes that Ray plays piano on all of his recordings. Steve Gibson is credited with electric guitar, mandolin, and dobro. Larry Sasser is the credited steel guitar player and it also credits him as a dobro player as well. There's no indication of whether or not Larry and Steve play the dobro together on any of the recordings or if Steve played the dobro on specific recordings while Larry played the dobro on other recordings. I assume the latter. Stuart Keathley is the bass player and the engineer. Stuart had been with Ray for many years as bass player and engineer and would continue as such into the 1990s before his untimely death in a house fire in 1995. Tommy Wells is the drummer. Terry McMillan played the harmonica. Mark Casstevens played the rhythm guitar and the banjo. Lisa Silver was on hand as the fiddle player and as one of the background vocalists along side Sherri Huffman, Wendy Suits, and Diane Vanette. Lisa is another musician that goes back quite awhile with Ray. She's the one singing harmony with Ray during a 1980 appearance on Hee Haw...he's singing the song "Love Me Longer" at the piano wearing a cowboy hat and she's standing to the side of him with fiddle in hand.

As mentioned it's a 10 song comedy album and MCA released two commercial singles. "Surfin' U.S.S.R." was issued as a single and it also became his second music video. The song blends the sounds of Beach Boys music with the real world topicality of the Cold War between The United States and Russia. In the music video there's exclusive content in which Ray does audio impressions of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in addition to delivering opening commentary (off-camera voice over) as an unidentified news man reporting on the meeting between the two world leaders. It's never been stated if Ray was one of the two on camera...I'm assuming Ray had two of his friends act as Reagan and Gorbachev (both are wearing masks) and he delivered their audio remarks. The wives of the two leaders are also on the music video but they don't speak. This footage is exclusive to the music video and that audio isn't heard on the album/single release. It's my guess that it was added to the music video release for visual humor prior to the kick off of the actual song itself. After the completion of the opening track it's time for "The Booger Man", a bluesy comical song dealing with monsters and how if you're not careful the most horrific of them all will get'cha. Ray performed this song on a Halloween themed episode of the televised portion of The Grand Ole Opry in the mid '90s. It's the only time I'd ever seen him perform the song and it's probably the only time he performed the song on television. He wrote it with Buddy Kalb. I don't own a CD copy of this album but I have an image of it saved on my computer so I thought I'd include it in this blog entry. "Mama's in the Sky with Elvis" is a song that originated on a prior project...the 1987 Greatest Hits, Volume Two on MCA...but the label placed it on this 1988 album, too. It's a darkly humorous story about an Elvis fan who passes away in the most bizarre fashion. It's filled with Elvis references from movie titles to song titles and the arrangement carries an Elvis flavor including Ray's impression of The Jordanaires providing harmony/background vocals to open the song.

Something found on most of Ray's comedy albums in the 1980s and early 1990s were traces of topical references or social commentary on trends/fads of the day. Cable television was booming and even though financial reports indicated a decline in satellite television sales the fact remained that some pockets of the country were just discovering the unfiltered programming of satellite television...and what better way to offer comical commentary than with a song whose title utilizes all of the disclaimers accompanying a large amount of programming: "Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex". In this bouncy sing-a-long with heavy use of fiddle Ray plays the part of a rural well to do who decides to give in to his family's wishes and get satellite television. Ray proceeds to tell us everything he's seen and the things he's noticed his children watching, too...and there's a vague reference to Doctor Ruth even though she's not mentioned by name. This countrified slice of hilarity is followed by a dramatic shift in music in that Ray delivers his version of Michael Jackson's song, "Bad". The song begins with a faithful Rhythm and Blues tinged arrangement prior to it shifting into a full-on rollicking performance with a country overtone with sheep impressions and chicken clucks near the end.

Track Six (the first song on side two if referring to the vinyl or cassette copy) is "The Day I Tried To Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive". This is a bouncy sing-a-long, too, with a 1960's flavor as it tells the story of Ray attempting to teach a childhood girlfriend how to drive. The only roadblock being her deafness. So, Ray tells us his adventure trying to teach her to drive a '57 Chevy and all the chaos that ensues.

Now, following this romping adventure of a song, Ray once again does an about face musically and delivers the amazing "Blood and Suede". In an overall somber arrangement Ray tells the story of a young rock and roll singer in Hollywood whose egotism got the better of him as he crashes his car while listening to his Greatest Hits album turned up full blast in his Porsche. Ray's vocal takes on the part of the wise seen-it-all recalling the Porsche and Mercedes crash near Mulholland Drive. The fault of the crash wasn't necessarily all on the rock music star. The driver of the Mercedes, according to the song, was drunk on Cabernet and speeding but the singer paying too much attention to his music never heard the Mercedes screeching to a halt trying to avoid a collision. It is not a comedy song and it breaks up the overall flow of the album...but it's a great performance.

The next two songs on the album are both uptempo. "Ethelene the Truck Stop Queen" is a song about a waitress at a truck stop and the day to day activity of her job. Ray tells us that she was born in the sleeper of a Peterbilt and her parent's abandoned her by leaving her at a booth at a truck stop wrapped in a road map for protection. In "I Don't Need None of That" Ray tells us of several situations he's found himself in and in each situation he's confirmed his belief that he doesn't need anyone's depressing advice, negativity, or potential trouble (one situation has him on the receiving end of a friend's practical joke involving a prostitute). The album's closing song is the satirical "Old Hippie Class Reunion"...and once more the light is shined on his arranging prowess...because as you listen to the song and hear the music playing along in the background you begin to think you're eavesdropping on a conversation between 2 out of their mind hippies. Ray vocally plays the role of 2 hippies...one with a gravelly voice whose hard of hearing and the other with a lazy, mellow voice who constantly has to remind the other of all of their accomplishments (?) at their latest party. Ray uses that mellow voice as he sings the song, too, and as a result you don't hear his natural voice throughout the entire recording.

Under-Rated Ray Stevens Albums...

Given the title of this blog it's easy to lump in a lot of Ray Stevens albums and classify them as under-rated...simply because I feel he's under-rated, period! Having said that it's nice to shine the light on a couple of mid '80s albums that were issued which have become under-rated in comparison to other projects released around the same time.

Some may wonder how can a greatest hits collection possibly be under-rated. Afterall, it contains hit songs and commercial singles. Well, this particular collection is under-rated because of a bigger seller hits collection released the same year, 1987. Greatest Hits featured pretty much all the signature hit songs from Ray Stevens while Greatest Hits, Volume Two featured other hits and more contemporary releases. During the mid '80s when newer audiences were discovering Ray Stevens...he was being marketed strictly as a country comedian by MCA...a lot of his earlier recordings were being re-issued on album and throughout much of the '80s and into the '90s there was a flood of Ray Stevens compilation albums and CD's all over the market. His earlier recordings were finding a new audience and the reason why Greatest Hits, Volume Two became under-rated is due to the high sales of it's predecessor, Greatest Hits. The Greatest Hits release became a huge hit album...and would eventually become a million seller. The reason it became a million seller is because it includes all the important releases in his career: "The Streak", "Everything Is Beautiful", "Gitarzan", "Shriner's Convention", "It's Me Again, Margaret", "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", etc. etc.

Some may wonder: "If those recordings is all it took for the album to go Platinum why didn't other compilation albums from the late '70s and early '80s go Gold or Platinum, too, since they basically all featured the same songs?".

The answer to that question, in my opinion, has to do with awareness, popularity, publicity, and timing. In 1983 the RCA label issued a Greatest Hits collection on Ray which featured just about all the songs on the 1987 compilation from MCA. The reason why the 1987 album went Platinum while the 1983 album didn't even reach Gold status is because of the lack of publicity and awareness. This is why in a lot of my blogs I shine the spotlight on albums that I feel didn't generate a lot of publicity from record companies.

Greatest Hits, Volume Two as I mentioned features several earlier recordings from Ray but unlike it's predecessor the collection includes a bit more modern-day recordings. The Platinum selling Greatest Hits that MCA issued in 1987 included only two recent recordings from Ray and those were 1984's "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" and "It's Me Again, Margaret". By comparison, Volume Two featured recordings from 1985, 1986, and 1987 in addition to material from the '60s and '70s.

Each of the greatest hits albums MCA issued on Ray in 1987 were combined for a television-only collection titled Get The Best of Ray Stevens. This may be considered one of Ray's earliest ventures in direct-mail as it was only available by mail-order...and there was a commercial produced for the collection as well. I've got this particular collection and it's a 2 album in 1 release. The album opens up like a book as most double LP collections did. Each vinyl LP is housed in it's own separate sleeve. As you can see, the album cover is full of sight-gags. The microphone Ray is holding is stuck inside a stick of dynamite. He's got a black eye, he's lunging upward due to a "kick-me" sign attached to him, smoking a cigar that exploded, and is being squirted with water from a trick flower by one of the two clowns...who's also ready to throw a pie in his face. Not only this but a second clown has a trick gun and the chair has a whoopee cushion sitting on it. Ray's nickname is The Clown Prince of Country Music but the clowns on the album cover can also be a reference to a line in "Shriner's Convention" where some Shriner's were dressed up as clowns during the parade.

The Volume Two release boasted his current hit single at the time, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". The album also featured the brand new recording, "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis", plus 1985's "The Haircut Song", 1986's "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?", the radio edited version of 1985's "The Blue Cyclone", 1961's "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills", and others. The unique inclusion of "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" instead of an actual chart hit from 1986, combined with the fact that Ray continues to this day to perform the song in concert, has enabled the song to be thought of as an actual hit recording. The actual chart hits from Ray in 1986 were "Southern Air" and "The People's Court" while "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" didn't reach the charts. It nonetheless is a great song.

I received a message from someone who found their way to this blog page asking if I'd make mention of an upcoming appearance from Ronnie Dove. Typically, this being a Ray Stevens blog, I rarely mention other artist's appearances but since Ray played a part in Ronnie's career in the mid '60s I decided to go ahead and make mention of the appearance. The appearance of Ronnie Dove will be on New Year's Eve, December 31st, and you can find out about it at the venue's web-site right here. Once there you can click "Contact Us" for the venue's street address and phone number, etc. etc.

Speaking of under-rated albums...now let's look at 1988's I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like. I've written a few times about this album in the past. This particular album is the one that shows Ray on the cover dressed up as Will Rogers. The album's colors are black and orange and it features the following recordings...

1. Surfin' U.S.S.R.
2. The Booger Man
3. Mama's in the Sky With Elvis
4. Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex
5. Bad
6. The Day I Tried To Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive
7. Blood and Suede
8. Ethelene The Truckstop Queen
9. I Don't Need None of That
10. Old Hippie Class Reunion

There was a music video made of the opening track, the topical "Surfin' U.S.S.R.", which incorporates the stylings of The Beach Boys to tell the story of a Soviet submarine that crashes in Malibu, California. The music video includes additional footage not heard on the audio recording: An off-camera news reporter reads a fictional headline from a newspaper which leads to a comical interchange by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Ray, of course, vocally impersonates both political figures. As you can see from the track list it included the 1987 recording of "Mama's In the Sky With Elvis" as well as his version of Michael Jackson's hit song, "Bad". The arrangement starts out sounding like something you'd hear on an R&B album of that time period but mid-way through the song it turns into a much more countrified arrangement.