Ray Stevens: "Hurricane" among the Amazon Top-100 Comedy Best Sellers...

It's me once more! I was going to write a blog entry about this earlier today but when I saw that Ray uploaded a promo video for one of his current digital albums I decided to write a blog entry about that, first. Now, then, this blog entry deals with the sudden emergence on the Amazon Top-100 Best Seller Comedy list of a 2008 Ray Stevens comedy album called Hurricane. It was ranked in the Top-50 yesterday and when I checked this morning it was still charting within the Top-100 Comedy Best Sellers. I'm assuming the sudden appearance on the Top-100 is tied to the Hurricane/Tropical Storm that went up through the Florida Keys and the surrounding Islands and into Southern Florida several days ago before it weakened...but it still produced a tornado in Georgia as it went up the East Coast. That's just my guess as to why this comedy album, in particular, finds itself on the Amazon Top-100 Best Selling Comedy list. If you're new to this Ray Stevens comedy album here's a brief review: The title track is patterned after "The Streak" but rather than the bystander telling the reporter about seeing a streaker this time around the bystander relays to the reporter the things he's seen while being caught up in a Hurricane...among the things he's constantly seeing are pigs flying around. "Hurricane" is an amusing novelty song with some parodies of some notable cable news personalities but within the collection there are several songs that I feel would've been looked over if not for YouTube and the presence of audio tracks on various online music sites. 

This album contains 12 songs...one of the songs, "Sucking Sound", which Ray co-wrote with Buddy Kalb, includes Ray's exaggerated mimicry of Ross Perot. A couple of songs deal with southern culture such as "Hey Bubba Watch This!" (written by Buddy Kalb), "Bubba, The Wine Connoisseur", and "Down Home Beach". Chuck Redden wrote "Down Home Beach" and he co-wrote, with Buddy Kalb, "Bubba, The Wine Connoisseur". Ray debuts his rendition of "Rub It In" on this album...a song he originally published and had been a huge hit for Billy 'Crash' Craddock. Ray had actually produced a recording session of the song's writer, Layng Martine, singing "Rub It In" but the writer's rendition was a minor hit. The song became a major hit for Ray's publishing company, as mentioned, when recorded by Billy 'Crash' Craddock. "The Cure" is a very funny song...and the song's title isn't actually heard throughout the recording...Ray sings of a time honored cure to solve any kind of shenanigans that take place in childhood and adulthood. The other 5 recordings on the album are updated versions of songs Ray originally recorded in the 1980s: "Hugo the Human Cannonball", "Stuck on You", "The Camping Trip", "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", and "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation". The Hurricane comedy album is on YouTube. I've included one of the audio tracks, "Hey Bubba Watch This!", below...

Some Vintage/New Ray Stevens Items...

Hello all...it's an early Saturday morning here as I type up this latest blog entry. This time around I'm blogging about a couple of vintage but new to me items from Ray Stevens. First off is a CD that Ray released 10 years ago that I never owned a copy of until now!! In 2007 he released a CD titled Hurricane. The CD features 12 songs...five of which are re-recordings of previous songs. At the time of the release I purchased the 7 original recordings, as Mp3's, but lately I began thinking of the physical copy of the CD...plus the fact that the Mp3's that I had previously purchased were lost on a computer I no longer operate...and so I purchased a CD copy of Hurricane about a week ago during one of Ray's web-store discount sales and it arrived in the mail yesterday.

The first six songs on the CD had never appeared on any previous Ray Stevens album and the same goes for track eleven. Tracks seven through ten and track twelve are the re-recordings. In order: "Hurricane", "Sucking Sound", "The Cure", "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur", "Hey Bubba Watch This!", and "Rub It In". Dedicated fans of Ray Stevens may take a moment and ponder over "Rub It In". Ray has long been linked to this song but until this 2007 CD was released he had never recorded it. In the early '70s Ray produced a version of the song recorded by it's writer, Layng Martine, Jr., and released it on Barnaby Records. Ray also published the song...which proved very beneficial...because the publisher of a song tags along with any artist that records the song. The version by it's writer didn't became a big hit but later on Billy "Crash" Craddock recorded the song and it became a monster hit. If you have the single or if you come across an image of it on-line you'll see Ray's publishing company credited as Ahab Music Company on the upper left hand side of the label sleeve. In the '80s and '90s the song's title was parodied in a long series of television commercials for Glade...their jingle was called 'Plug it In, Plug it In!". The seventh never before available song on the CD is "Down Home Beach". The re-recordings include: "Smokey Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", "The Camping Trip", "Makin' The Best of a Bad Situation", "Stuck on You", and "Hugo the Human Cannonball". Four of those re-recordings were turned into limited animation music videos. For those that have seen those videos the recordings you hear originated on this Hurricane CD.

The second vintage item is truly a gem of obscurity and in very limited quantities. Long time readers of this fan created blog are aware of how I have complained over the years about the lack of cassette tape on eBay of studio albums Ray recorded during the hey day of cassette tape. I have a blue cassette tape of Boogity Boogity (the oldest cassette of Ray that I own; from 1974). Next in line is a 1980 cassette of Shriner's Convention. Then everything from 1984 to 2002 I have in cassette format, too...but that was until a couple of days ago...

Into my possession came a cassette copy of Don't Laugh Now, a 1982 Ray Stevens album. As you might know I already have all of Ray's studio albums in vinyl format starting with 1963's This is Ray Stevens and stopping with 1989's Beside Myself...but the cassette tape collection prior to 1984 is really small and I act like a kid in a candy store anytime I obtain something rare. I'm forever on the look out for cassette versions of 1981's One More Last Chance and 1983's Me. I know cassette tape was manufactured throughout the 1970s but I just never, hardly ever, come across anything on cassette from Ray during that time frame. Cassette versions of Losin' Streak, Nashville, and even Just For the Record have come up for sale on eBay but the prices are outrageous. Don't Laugh Now was just the right price! This is the album that contains the single releases "Written Down In My Heart" and "Where the Sun Don't Shine". The album opens up with "Such a Night"...a song that only recently became something of a staple in Ray's set lists during concerts. The album also includes "Country Boy, Country Club Girl" and one of my all-time favorites, "Oh, Leo Lady". I made the images small...you can always click them and a larger image should appear. If a larger image doesn't appear then the small image will just have to do.

As a reminder...tonight's episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville will guest star Charley Pride. I'll give my commentary about the episode in my next blog entry. I should have it up either late tonight or in the early morning. Here's the promo for the episode...

Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series, Part 35...

Studio album 35 came blowing into the marketplace at the start of 2008. In late 2007 Ray issued a single-only titled "Hurricane" which was available at Itunes. This was followed by a digital Mp3 album in early 2008, titled Hurricane as well. The project was available exclusively at Ray's web-store for more than half a year before it became available in the latter half of 2008 at all the on-line music shops. The project features 12 recordings in which 7 were brand new and 5 were re-recordings of songs he had did in the past.

The title track, "Hurricane", is patterned after "The Streak" in many ways. The cover photo of the CD features the 1992 cover shot of Ray from Comedy Video Classics...that particular image comes from the music video of "The Streak", by the way. Ray and Buddy Kalb wrote "Hurricane". In "Hurricane", Ray plays the part of a man caught in a hurricane as well as the reporters who are on the scene attempting to get a response or a reaction from those who've stuck around and didn't flee. Ray plays the same character he did in "The Streak". The main point of the song is a commentary on cable news in general and how it covers a natural disaster. Hurricane's and storms are also given names...and in Ray's song he tells us that they've cleverly given this latest hurricane a name that's truly memorable. Wolf Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour are spoofed as is a Jamaican news reporter. The remaining six new comical songs range from topical and political to rural and redneck.

In the redneck theme we have "Hey Bubba, Watch This!", from Buddy Kalb, which is a comical tale about southern culture and we're told that whenever you hear someone shout "Hey Bubba, Watch This!" then it means that you better watch out for anything. In the song we're told about a guy named Junior who seems to find enjoyment out of experimenting with things he shouldn't be messing around with. One disaster after another...which were preceded by the "Hey Bubba, Watch This!" battle cry. Staying with this style of humor we have "Down Home Beach", from Chuck Redden, which describes the goings-on a southern beach where the backwoods citizenry gather around to play and have fun. Buddy Kalb and Chuck Redden supplied Ray with "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur", a comical story that deals with a uniquely southern gentleman who finds himself playing the part of a first class wine taster whose descriptions of the wine he samples aren't necessarily the kind of descriptions you'd hear coming from the mouths of the more urbane wine tasters.

Doing an impression of Ross Perot, Ray tells us all about the giant "Sucking Sound". Ray recounts Perot's appearances on Larry King's CNN program and how Perot warned of the complexities and disasters of a global economy and it's impact on America's economical outlook. A flushing toilet sound effect and other comical effects enhance the recording. "The Cure" is a cute song about enema's. How can someone have a cute and fun song detailing an enema? Once you hear "The Cure" you'll find out...but it may make you stay away from soap for a couple of hours after hearing the song.

Although "Rub It In" isn't a comical song it does have it's light hearted presentation. This song has a unique connection to Ray as he was involved in the song's original release in 1971. Ray played the role of producer of the first release of "Rub It In" but the record company issued it during the wrong time of the year and it peaked in the Top-70 of the Hot 100. The song's writer, Layng Martine, Jr., had recorded it first in 1971 and Ray Stevens was the producer. Several years later an artist named Billy "Crash" Craddock recorded it and soon after it became a huge #1 hit for him. Craddock's version was produced by Ron Chancey. I assume Ray had at long last recorded the song because it fit the beach and tropical theme of several of the songs found on Hurricane.

The remaining 5 recordings are updated performances of songs that Ray originally done in the mid 1980's. The re-recordings are: "Hugo the Human Cannonball", "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", "The Camping Trip", "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation", and "Stuck On You". 3 of those songs originated on his 1986 studio album.

This project marked the second time that I purchased a digital download rather than the physical CD. I do hope to add New Orleans Moon and Hurricane to my CD collection simply so I can have the CD counterpart to the Mp3 recordings. The main reason I want CD copies is because they offer a physical CD, cover art, musician credits, songwriter credits, and other things that you don't have if you simply click and purchase music and then transfer it to your music library. I'll edit this entry as well as the one for New Orleans Moon whenever I get a physical CD copy of those titles. Until then be on the look out for the next installment of the Golden LP Series as we look at studio album 36!

Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 19...

By the looks of it a great time was had by all who attended the private birthday party for Ray Stevens this past Monday January 24, 2011. There have only been three pictures made available of the party which took place inside his office in Nashville. A link to the pictures is located here. In those three pictures we see the cake and we see Ray reading birthday cards and a close-up of Ray looking at the cake.

Hurricane is a CD that Ray released in 2008 and for whatever reason there was no publicity, promotion, or much support given to it. The title track borrows a lot of inspiration from "The Streak" with a CNN-style on location reporter detailing the events of a hurricane. The somewhat silliness of giving hurricane's a name is poked fun at in the recording. A Jamaican reporter is also on hand as is a witness, curiously sounding like the same unfortunate soul who warned Ethel not to look when the streaker ran by. It's perhaps no coincidence that the image of Ray on the CD comes from "The Streak" music video...an image also used on the cover of Ray's 1992's million selling home video, Comedy Video Classics. The catchphrase in the song, which flies across the CD cover, deals with the absurdity of pigs literally flying all over the place...apparently making extensive use of the expression "when pigs fly!". There are 15 songs on the CD...some are brand new and some are re-recordings. Tracks 1 through 6 and track 11 are original recordings brand new to Ray's catalog of songs while tracks 5 through 10 and track 12 were re-recordings, mostly of material from the mid '80s. "Hurricane" dabbled in spoofing cable news reporters but another song from this CD, "Sucking Sound", is a direct parody of Ross Perot on Larry King's program. The song depicts the viewpoints Perot held during the 1992 Presidential race and compares Perot's predictions about the U.S. economy back then to the current state of the economy and the workforce. The result? Perot's predictions were pretty much on target. Throughout the song Ray does impressions of Perot talking to Larry King.

There's a distinct rural/backwoods theme that runs through the CD...which is something that had been missing on a lot of previous comedy CD's from Ray during this time period. In a lot of the songs on Hurricane the focal point is the rural culture and the independent lifestyle they enjoy with the protagonists in each song being good ol' boy characters.

Track List:

1. Hurricane
2. Sucking Sound
3. The Cure
4. Bubba the Wine Connoisseur
5. Hey Bubba, Watch This!
6. Rub It In
7. Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat
8. The Camping Trip
9. Makin' The Best of a Bad Situation
10. Stuck On You
11. Down Home Beach
12. Hugo the Human Cannonball

In the above track list I use the bold lettering to indicate the brand new songs so that readers can have a quick reference. The CD is also available as an Mp3 and the great thing about that is a consumer can purchase individual songs...which is what I did. I bought the 7 new songs since I already have the originals of the 5 re-recordings on this collection.

One day, just for completest purposes, I'll purchase the physical copy of the CD.

Unlike Hurricane, I happen to own the LP, cassette, and CD versions of Crackin' Up. I don't necessarily own what I call an individual CD version of Crackin' Up...instead I have a copy of it on CD form that was part of a collection called The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. It's a 3-CD collection...with the third CD being 1987's Crackin' Up. I came across a write-up of this particular comedy album back in 1987 when it was brand new...and the critic complained that the humor on the CD was, and I'm paraphrasing: "too R-rated" and "mired in adult themes and not family friendly". As laughable as those criticisms are the reviewer came across very serious. I've listened to this album for years and know the songs inside and out...there's absolutely nothing "adult oriented" or "r-rated" about the collection. The thing that the critic must have taken objection to is how marital strife and romance was spoofed in several of the songs. "Three Legged Man", for instance, is a story about a man who falls for a married woman (nothing new for country songs) and the hilarious chase that ensues when the man and woman go running through the wilderness with the angry husband hot on their trail.

"Cool Down Willard" is a story about how a man's wife and grandmother have flipped for weatherman, Willard Scott. Ray does his popular grandmother vocal impression in this recording. "I'm My Own Grandpaw" dates back to the 1940's if I'm not mistaken...originally a hit for Lonzo and Oscar. I bet the song that really set that particular critic off on a sour note is the song-title, "Sex Symbols"...apparently the word, sex, is something that in his opinion shouldn't grace a Ray Stevens album? Whatever the case, "Sex Symbols" is a very funny song inspired by the unlikely duet pairing of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. Ray doesn't do an impression of Willie but he does do an impression of Julio. In concert Ray often performed the song playing the part of a ventriloquist...with dummy Julio sitting on his lap. Julio hasn't appeared much lately...he made a cameo appearance in "The Blue Cyclone" music video in 2000...since then I hadn't seen him show up in anything else.

There were two separate releases of The Incredible World of Ray Stevens. One collection features Crackin' Up as the third CD which is what I own. Another release with the same title shows a different picture of Ray and it contains both his 1987 and 1984 MCA comedy albums and a third CD is a compilation which features a good number of songs from his 1985 and 1986 MCA comedy albums, a couple of songs from the '70s, plus 1988's "Surfin' U.S.S.R". The collection that I own contains 34 songs while the other collection with the same title features 30 songs...10 per CD. The collection I own covers a lot of his '60s and '70s material on the first two CD's with the third one being 1987's Crackin' Up. The collection that I don't own looks like this...



Meanwhile...a few days ago I remarked that Ray's music video, "We The People", was nearing 4.1 million hits on You Tube. It surpassed the 4.1 million mark a couple of days after that particular blog entry. The video has since increased 10,000 additional hits and is sitting at 4,110,304. The other million hitter, "Come to the USA", continues to gain huge numbers each and every day. It's now sitting at 4,781,631 hits! Although the You Tube hit counts will always rise and never remain the same the Top-10 music video uploads from Ray Stevens, as of January 27, 2011, are as follows. The current hit totals are shown in parentheses.

#10: "Everything Is Beautiful" (212,178)
#9: "Thank You" (330,469)
#8: "Caribou Barbie" (352,387)
#7: "God Save Arizona" (619,151)
#6: "Throw the Bums Out!" (655,385)
#5: "The Streak" (660,520)
#4: "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" (800,789)
#3: "Osama Yo' Mama" (854,679)
#2: "We The People" (4,110,304)
#1: "Come to the USA" (4,781,631)

Comedy Curb...Part Three...

After having signed with MCA Records in 1996, Curb was out of the picture for a number of years. Ray Stevens' MCA stay was brief, however, exiting the label after a two-album run in 1997.

In 2001, specifically 9/11, most country artists began to issue patriotic songs. At the same time there were a lot of novelty and comedy songs popping up about Osama bin Laden and terrorists in general. Ray made his contribution to the list of Osama novelty songs when in early 2002 he released the single "Osama Yo' Mama" on Curb Records. The single was a surprise hit...it reached the Country Top-50 and it became a Gold record on top of that...plus it spent multiple weeks at #1 on the Country Single Sales chart.

Well...Curb issued an album to support the single, Osama Yo' Mama: The Album, and the album entered the Top-30 on the country charts...one of his highest ranked albums in over a decade. He made a music video of "Osama Yo' Mama" and it's sequel, "Hello Mama". After the initial splash of the single and the album throughout much of 2002 on into early 2003, things quieted back down. Ray opened up his theater again in 2005 for a series of concerts and Curb issued a 3-CD collection simply called Box Set which contained numerous recordings, mostly songs that he recorded in the early 1990's for Curb plus a wide variety of previous hit songs all re-recorded. Ray remained with Curb Records in addition to releasing material on his own label, Clyde Records.  The Box Set would become a durable sales hit for Curb...frequently appearing on Amazon's Best-Sellers lists for years.

Hurricane Katrina inspired a single-only release in 2005...the topical "The New Battle of New Orleans". The single was distributed by Curb but most of it's availability was on-line as a digital single. The hurricane and the floods inspired a more serious approach in 2007 with the release of New Orleans Moon which found Ray singing songs about New Orleans and other spots in Louisiana. The album was available as a digital-download but then Curb started making physical copies of the album for distribution. A few months later, Ray offered a new digital single, "Ruby Falls". This single was also distributed by Curb Records and has yet to make it's way onto any collection.

Earlier this year Curb distributed Hurricane which boasted a lot of comedy songs. The title track was a satire on CNN's coverage of natural disasters with Ray portraying various characters in the song, prominently Wolf Spitzer...a broad exaggeration of Wolf Blitzer. The album featured 7 brand-new songs and 5 re-recordings of previous material. Hurricane carried a redneck theme throughout most of the songs: "Hey Bubba, Watch This!", "Down Home Beach", and "Bubba, The Wine Connoisseur". Ross Perot and economics are dealt with on "Sucking Sound". One of the surprises is "Rub It In", a song that Ray originally produced and published for it's songwriter, Layng Martine, Jr. but Billy Crash Craddock would end up having the hit recording. "The Cure" tells the story of home remedies.

In celebration of Ray's 50th anniversary, Curb issued the budget-priced 50th Anniversary Collection a couple of months ago which was a single CD's worth of songs pulled from the 2005 Box Set. To date, that is the most recent offering from Curb Records on Ray Stevens.