Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series Extra...1971...

Welcome to this Extra feature of the Golden LP Series. In this specific blog entry I'll be commenting about a certain single from Ray Stevens that hit in December 1970 but it had it greatest impact the following year. The current single from Ray, at the time, was "Sunset Strip". This particular single, as mentioned in the previous blog entry, became a Top-20 Easy-Listening hit. Several weeks after the single became a chart hit, his label, Barnaby Records, issued "Bridget the Midget The Queen of the Blues". It hit the charts in America during December of 1970, reaching the Top-50 early in 1971. However, the impact that the single had internationally had to have been a surprising achievement for all involved. The novelty single hit the Top-5 in several different countries throughout the early half of 1971. It reached the Top-5 in Holland, Belgium, Brazil, and the United Kingdom just to name a few. The novelty single used a sped-up vocal technique commonly associated with The Chipmunks franchise. The song, at it's core, is a spoof of Go-Go dance clubs where Ray portrays the singer/narrator, the emcee, Bridget, as well as a spaced out patron forever trying to get up on stage. The song was available as a single-only and eventually appeared on the first Greatest Hits release that Barnaby issued on Ray. Given the enormous popularity of the single overseas it created the scenario where Ray competed with himself and as history shows, "Bridget the Midget the Queen of the Blues" won the sales battle. 

As a hit single, "Bridget the Midget the Queen of the Blues" found it's way onto numerous compilation albums released on Ray Stevens throughout the 1970's but one of the more ironic aspects about this is how obscure the single's appearance became as the 1980's progressed. I'd been a fan of Ray's since about the mid '80s...I clearly remember watching him on Hee-Haw in the mid '80s as a co-host with Roy Clark...but I was not aware of this particular song at that point in time because it didn't appear on the 1983 or 1987 Greatest Hits releases from RCA and MCA, respectively, and yet other singles from the 1970's by Ray appeared on those albums. It wouldn't be until a 1990 compilation from Curb Records appeared on the market that I was introduced to this song for the first time. It's since become more prominent on CD and Mp3 but for whatever reason it was mostly an obscure offering during the 1980's.  

As was the case with most single releases by artists in the pop music umbrella, picture sleeves were commonplace and depending on how popular a single happened to be the more alternate picture sleeves it would spawn. There were multiple picture sleeves for this particular song and each used different pictures of Ray taken from various photo sessions in the late '60s and early '70s. The b-side, "Night People", originated on the Unreal!!! album. "Bridget the Midget" spent a combined total of more than 30 weeks on the weekly international music charts and it further reinforced his image as "a singer of comedy songs" to the general music buyer. Ray would follow up this single with a series of gospel-flavored offerings which ultimately climaxed in the 1972 release of his eighth studio album, Turn Your Radio On, so be on the lookout for Part Eight of the Golden LP series.

Studio Albums from Ray Stevens...

Good Monday mid-morning! Way, way back in 2008 when I started this fan blog page I listed the various albums that have been on the market spotlighting the music of Ray Stevens. A lot of the compilation albums that hit stores in the '70s and especially the '80s and into the early '90s were out of Ray's control. Some people assume that Ray was responsible for all of those various compilation releases but in reality he wasn't. Those days are long gone but glancing at Ray's discography it'll be helpful if we lift the studio albums from the list.

Contractually, in many artists career, the release of a Hits album or two is part of a deal. There were some compilation releases that Ray was aware of but a vast majority were the result of record labels licensing, re-licensing, re-re-licensing Ray's songs for low-budget collections. Those kind of releases flooded the market in the '70s and '80s and were out of Ray's control. So, for those who visit his web-site and look at his discography, I hope you all don't think that all of those releases were did with Ray's approval because they weren't.

There was a time when I could walk inside the local Wal*Mart in 1993/1994 and see quite a few releases on Ray from Polygram (a division of Mercury Records) and then there was the K-Tel various artist collections of novelty songs and often there would be 1 or 2 early '60s songs from Ray among the track list. There was also a collection of gospel songs released on K-Tel...the title of the release was The Gospel Side of Ray Stevens. This was more or less the third or fourth re-issue of his 1972 Turn Your Radio On album. A quick way of knowing if a compilation on Ray Stevens is contractually approved is if the record label is the same as the one Ray was recording for at the time of it's release. When Ray was on Barnaby they issued several compilation albums on him. The same holds true for MCA and Curb Records. A lot of the other compilation releases were did after he had long departed the label's roster.

Here are the studio albums from Ray Stevens:

1. 1,837 Seconds of Humor; 1962 (Mercury Records)
2. This Is Ray Stevens; 1963 (Mercury Records)
3. Even Stevens; 1968 (Monument Records)
4. Gitarzan; 1969 (Monument Records)
5. Have a Little Talk With Myself; 1969 (Monument Records)
6. Everything Is Beautiful; 1970 (Barnaby)
7. Unreal; 1970 (Barnaby)
8. Turn Your Radio On; 1972 (Barnaby)
9. Losin' Streak; 1973 (Barnaby)
10. Nashville; 1973 (Barnaby)
11. Boogity-Boogity; 1974 (Barnaby)
12. Misty; 1975 (Barnaby)
13. Just For the Record; 1976 (Warner Brothers)
14. Feel the Music; 1977 (Warner Brothers)
15. There Is Something On Your Mind; 1978 (Warner Brothers)
16. Be Your Own Best Friend; 1978 (Warner Brothers)
17. The Feeling's Not Right Again; 1979 (Warner Brothers)**
18. Shriner's Convention; 1980 (RCA)
19. One More Last Chance; 1981 (RCA)
20. Don't Laugh Now; 1982 (RCA)
21. Me; 1983 (Mercury)
22. He Thinks He's Ray Stevens; 1984 (MCA; Platinum)
23. I Have Returned; 1985 (MCA; Gold)
24. Surely You Joust; 1986 (MCA)
25. Crackin' Up; 1987 (MCA)
26. I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like; 1988 (MCA)
27. Beside Myself; 1989 (MCA)
28. Lend Me Your Ears; 1990 (Curb-Capitol)
29. #1 With a Bullet; 1991 (Curb-Capitol)
30. Classic Ray Stevens; 1993 (Curb)
31. Hum It; 1997 (MCA)
32. Christmas Through a Different Window; 1997 (MCA)
33. Ear Candy; 2000 (Clyde Records)
34. Osama Yo' Mama; 2002 (Curb)*
35. Thank You; 2004 (Clyde Records)
36. New Orleans Moon; 2007 (Clyde Records)
37. Hurricane; 2008 (Clyde Records)
38. Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What??; 2008 (Clyde Records)
39. One For the Road; 2009 (Clyde Records)
40. Ray Stevens Christmas; 2009 (Clyde Records)
41. We The People; 2010 (Clyde Records)
42. Spirit of '76; 2011 (Clyde Records)
43. Encyclopedia of the Greatest Novelty Songs (To Be Announced)

**-The 1979 release, The Feeling's Not Right Again, could be considered a compilation album since all the songs except one in particular were available on other albums. "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" was the only new song on the album...the rest of the material had been recorded in 1976, 1977, and 1978.

*-The 2002 release, Osama Yo' Mama, featured a track list mostly lifted from his 2000 Ear Candy release and so it, too, can be considered mostly a compilation project.

I included the 1979 and 2002 releases in the studio album category because each release contained a major hit single for Ray...it was a scenario in which each album was constructed to support the hit single instead of the other way around.

Here is a list of Notable Compilation Collections:

1. The Best of Ray Stevens; 1967 (Mercury; re-issued in 1970, 1987, and 1993)
2. Greatest Hits; 1971 (Barnaby)
3. The Very Best of Ray Stevens; 1975 (Barnaby)
4. The Many Sides of Ray Stevens; 1977 (GRT; 2-LP collection)
5. Greatest Hits; 1983 (RCA)
6. Collector's Series; 1985 (RCA; features 8 recordings Ray did for RCA)
7. Greatest Hits; 1987 (MCA; Platinum)
8. Greatest Hits, Volume Two; 1987 (MCA)
9. Get The Best of Ray Stevens; 1987 (MCA; 2-LP collection sold on TV)
10. His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits; 1990 (Curb; Gold)
11. Greatest Hits; 1991 (Curb; features alternate version of "There's a Star Spangled Banner")
12. Cornball; 1995 (Warner Brothers)
13. Do You Wanna Dance?; 1995 (Warner Brothers)
14. The Serious Side of Ray Stevens; 1995 (Warner Brothers)
15. The Country Hits Collection; 1998 (Varese Sarabande)
16. All-Time Greatest Hits; 2001 (Varese Sarabande)
17. The Millennium Collection; 2004 (Hip-O)
18. Box Set; 2005 (Clyde Records)

The 1985 collection was re-released in 1987 and in 1992. "One More Last Chance" appeared on the original release in 1985 but it was replaced on the two re-releases by the comical "Put It In Your Ear". Since Collector's Series is the only compilation to showcase Ray's RCA recordings exclusively it's become a notable release. I really don't see RCA or whoever owns the original recordings issuing anything on Ray anytime soon. It would be nice if Ray's studio albums from 1980, 1981, and 1982 were to get re-issued in Mp3 form or in CD form, but, considering that no other release outside of the eight song Collector's Series have become available the chances are it'll never happen. Warner Brothers, until 1995, also kept Ray's recordings in the vaults and never kept them in print and commercially available. It continues to remain baffling why Ray's RCA recordings remains out of print in an era when re-issue's of older albums is very commonplace.

The 1995 3-CD series from Warner Brothers represented the first time his recordings for the label were spotlighted in great detail. Most compilations prior to 1995 feature "In The Mood" and "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" but never bother to spotlight any of his other recordings for the label. The 3-CD series did a great job at spotlighting a lot of his under-rated recordings for the label...some of the recordings reached the country charts and one of them, "You Are So Beautiful", reached the country Top-20 in 1976...but given how out of circulation the songs had become (the label never kept any of his songs in print) it was, for a lot of people, like a discovery. There were a couple of songs Ray recorded for Warner Brothers that weren't highlighted in the 3-CD series but the bulk of his output for the label had finally become commercially available again.

The 2001 release on Varese Sarabande includes the rare 1960 recording by Ray of "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". This recording is rarely available except on low-budget various artist collections...it's nice to see the song available on a collection as top-notch as All-Time Greatest Hits. This collection is also notable for including "Everybody Needs a Rainbow", an under-rated Top-40 country hit for Ray in 1974. It's a bouncy, cheery recording and it's never been included on hardly any collections, even though it was a hit, so it was great seeing it available on a modern-day release.

Earlier I mentioned the lack of RCA material in print by Ray Stevens. To date the RCA material is the least commercially available. Ray's studio albums for Barnaby Records, well, most of them, were re-issued on CD format in 2005 by Collectible's Records. Each CD contained 2 studio albums for a total of 6 studio albums re-issued altogether. 1973's Losin' Streak wasn't re-issued. It remains on vinyl.

The 2005 CD releases were:

1. Everything Is Beautiful / Unreal
2. Nashville / Boogity-Boogity
3. Turn Your Radio On / Misty

Ray Stevens...2010 Year in Review...

As I look back on 2010 in the career of Ray Stevens I should also say that this will perhaps be my last blog entry for the year. I had planned on taking a break and then start back up in 2011 but I decided to write one more before 2010 came to an end.

2010, for Ray Stevens, was all about incredible successes on the video hosting web-site, You Tube, among other things. The initial success began in December 2009 when a music video, "We The People", was uploaded onto You Tube. The song is all about being in opposition to ObamaCare, the nick-name of the health care overhaul that was being drafted and making it's way through Congress. In some circles the supporters of ObamaCare see it as "health care reform" whereas those who are in opposition see it as "health care transform". The video became a runaway success and in a month's time it had amassed over 2 million hits. In the world of on-line videos, a "hit" is equal to a play, or, a view...so, in other words, the video had been viewed/played over two million times in the span of 30 days. The success of the video led to a segment on The O'Reilly Factor, the highly rated cable program on the Fox News Channel. This single, one-time mention of Ray's video on O'Reilly's program caused Ray's web-site to crash that same evening as thousands of people attempted to access the site for more information about the song. The site was back up and running later on that night.

As the on-line popularity of "We The People" continued Ray eventually appeared on O'Reilly's program to give a much more in-depth account of the song's impact and it's political overtones. In the interview O'Reilly brought up political correctness and asked Ray what he felt about it and if it's caused him to stop performing some of his songs which have been labeled politically incorrect. As a Ray Stevens fan I felt as if I already knew his answer but for the national public at large they were treated to a response they perhaps weren't accustomed to hearing. Ray didn't necessarily take up for political correctness but he didn't come across as a fan, neither. He and O'Reilly reminisced about a pre-Politically correct era where people weren't so uptight and overly sensitive.

In the aftermath of "We The People" and his appearance on O'Reilly's program Ray found himself a focal point of the liberal-progressive left in their series of talking-point blogs. Throughout much of early to mid 2010 the liberal blogosphere seemed to have a new target for their venom: Ray Stevens. You couldn't do a Ray Stevens blog search during January through July 2010 and not see some sort of liberal leaning blog attacking Ray's songs and the Tea Party, for which "We The People" was closely identified.

In March of 2010 Ray uploaded two music videos on You Tube: "Caribou Barbie" and "Throw the Bums Out!". "Caribou Barbie" is a music video filled with visual gags about left-wing cable news broadcasters while at the same time being all about Sarah Palin. The video uses a Palin impersonator and several of her catch-phrases are inserted into the song. "Throw the Bums Out!", on the other hand, takes aim at Congress right on the heels of ObamaCare being signed into law along party lines.

In April, Ray released his 22-song collection, We The People, to those who frequent his web-site. The collection was only available at Ray's web-site store through June...after which it became available nationwide.

On April 15, 2010 Ray further involved himself in the Tea Party by appearing at their tax day event in Washington, D.C. and singing several songs for the crowd. On April 24th Ray was saluted as a Nashville Cat in a series that took place at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The special was video streamed on-line at the Hall of Fame's web-site. The special concentrated on Ray's behind-the-scenes work on recording sessions in the '50s, '60s, and the first half of the '70s. The special also highlighted his own recording success, too. It was a very thorough look into his career. Ray appeared in person to offer first hand knowledge about the clips and information being highlighted.

The "We The People" music video obtained over 3,000,000 hits by the late spring of 2010 and by December it would vault into the 4,000,000 category.

On May 13, 2010 Ray uploaded another music video onto You Tube...this particular video tackled illegal immigration and it coincided with Arizona's controversy with illegal immigration...and the bill that was drafted to help combat the problem. The video, "Come to the USA", takes a light-hearted, but pointed look at illegal immigration by sarcastically pointing out that America has the most gracious and hospitable attitude toward illegal immigrants. In the song Ray points out how severe foreign immigration laws are in comparison to America and how in any other country in the world an illegal immigrant would face all kinds of harsh treatment for entering illegally but yet in America the illegals are given a free pass, some are given sanctuary, and a lot of voter-hungry politicians cheer for Amnesty as an answer to the problem. At the core of the song is the hypocrisy that exists among foreign presidents and dictators who uphold their own far worse immigration policies while calling out Arizona as some sort of evil empire.

The "Come to the USA" music video, as you could imagine, created a whole different controversy than "We the People" did. The illegal immigration issue has always been a dicey one and those who've chosen to take it on have always been charged of being racist in some way. Even if racism isn't part of a person's make-up, the liberal's think that anyone whose against illegal immigration must really be against immigrants altogether. Liberals apparently have some sort of degree in psychology given that they always think that they know the inner workings of every single human being.

This video, as I mentioned, caused a lot of controversy and it got some attention from an unlikely source: The New York Times. A reporter/columnist decided to do a write-up on Ray's latest happenings...it was surprisingly a positive write-up but the readers of the publication didn't appreciate the glowing words and positive vibes. Later, Ray appeared on the Fox News Channel once again...this time during the daytime hours on a show hosted by Megyn Kelly. He was interviewed by Megyn about the video and the illegal immigration battle. The music video quickly amassed over 2,000,000 hits and in no time at all was knocking on the door of 3,000,000! The music video was so controversial and so popular that it obtained over 4,000,000 hits...it has the distinction of being the first Ray Stevens video to reach 4,000,000 hits...followed a few months later by "We the People".

Upon it's nationwide June release, the We The People CD quickly hit the Country albums chart as well as the Comedy albums chart. Later in June, Ray released a new music video on You Tube...this time around "The Global Warming Song" got it's exposure. The song, of course, deals with global warming and how a lot of people feel that it's nothing but a hoax by the EPA and other environment agencies. The song purposely takes place at a frozen wasteland as two brothers await the warming of the continent. The brothers have a plan to turn the frozen wasteland into a tropical resort once things start to heat up. In the video there's a news banner that crawl along the screen with hilarious news items.

During the months of July and August 2010 Ray was featured on a PBS series hosted by Marvin Hamlisch. The special, Marvin Hamlisch Presents the 1970's: The Way We Were, featured Ray performing "The Streak", "Misty", and "Everything Is Beautiful".

In early August 2010 Ray uploaded a new music video on You Tube...this particular video was not part of his We the People CD and it was not a comical recording. This song, "God Save Arizona", is a serious ballad detailing the war between the Federal Government and Arizona over illegal immigration. The song starts off with a tribute to the U.S.S. Arizona war ship but then the song glides into a critical assessment of the Attorney General for his politically correct positions on: illegal immigration, foreign and domestic affairs, and his infamous "nation of cowards" remark. All of it is wrapped up in a stirring ballad that asks God to save Arizona from the clutches of the Federal Government. The video's gotten over half a million hits so far. The updated hit count as of 12/28/2010 is 584,958.

In addition to all of the success on You Tube in 2010, Ray made a return to Branson, Missouri. Each time he returns to Branson it's always a time for fun and to look-back on the town that he helped put on the map in the early 1990's. Once upon a time Ray owned and operated a theater in Branson...this theater was up and running for three sold-out seasons: 1991, 1992, and 1993. It was during this era that Branson, Missouri had become nationally famous for it's stunning display of music theaters and other attractions. Obviously such a place for country music, primarily, tickled the funny bones of a lot of snobbish critics who dubbed the place "Las Vegas-lite" due to the visual resemblance of a Vegas strip of theaters, especially at night, but with a much more family-friendly appeal. Ray closed down his theater in 1994 but then re-opened it nearly a decade later for a 2 season run. After this he shut down the theater again and later sold it to RFD-TV.

In September 2010 he returned to Branson for a month long series of concerts at The Welk Resort. The concerts featured a lot of politics and this, strangely enough, shocked some people who must have been living under a rock for much of 2010 and were not aware of Ray's political music videos on You Tube. The concert series wrapped up on October 23, 2010. Earlier that day he participated in a Branson Tea Party rally titled The Pre-Election Pink Slip Rally and Concert.

On November 3, 2010 the day after the mid-term elections Ray uploaded a new music video on You Tube...the seasonal "Nightmare Before Christmas" takes aim at political correctness as an over-zealous lawyer takes Santa to court and charges him with political incorrectness. As of now the video's gotten 80,850 hits.

This concludes my Ray Stevens 2010 Year in Review...I'll be back next year...unless news about Ray Stevens should break between now and January 1st.

Ray Stevens: Favorite Album Covers, Part 2...

Part 1 of this series was posted last year during July 2009. I've finally gotten around to supplying a part 2. It's really quite simple...all I do is post images of my favorite Ray Stevens album covers.

This 1981 album is ballad heavy and it features a couple hit songs: the title track, "One More Last Chance", and the album closer "Night Games". I've liked the album cover from the moment that I saw it. For those who may be wondering: "who's the woman?". I have no idea! The album features a couple more extra's in the background. The setting, of course, is a bar. I believe night-club is the more widely used phrase, though. This album came along during the Urban Cowboy era in country music. I know country music purists despise this era and the music but I have a fondness for it. I was raised on country music of the early and mid '80s and as a kid I wasn't old enough to really differentiate between one kind of music from another...I liked what I heard is all that I knew. Years later I learned how hated the Urban Cowboy era was after reading a lot of critical and fan-based commentary on country music as a whole. Obviously, though, I don't let what others say sway my opinion much. The back of this album shows Ray wearing the cowboy hat and grinning. Some of the songs include: "Melissa", "Pretend", "Just About Love", and "Let's Do It Right This Time".

The clever concept of Ray playing the part of a painter in my opinion is one of Ray's most inventive. On this 1983 album cover we see Ray decked out in modest attire...sweat shirt and blue jeans...looking at a painting he is supposedly painting of himself all the while having an oval mirror next to him showing us a profile. As you can see, the entire front of the album is made to look like a painting you'd see hanging on a wall in a museum. The album is simply titled, Me, and the album cover depicts this title rather strongly. The album features ten songs...almost all of the selections were written by Ray. There was one chart hit from the album but yet the promotion effort from Mercury Records was lackluster at best. I say this because during my research of Ray's career through the years I have yet to find any major write-up for this particular album. Some of the songs include: "Me", "Game Show Love", "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee", and the chart hit "My Dad". Dale Gonyea wrote "My Dad" and C.W. Kalb, Jr. wrote "Piedmont Park". The rest of the songs were written by Ray.

This is one of my favorite album covers because of the detail. There's the stormy sky overhead and the twisty way the line is written coming out of Ray's mouth. The line is a phrase heard throughout the title track, "Hurricane". The album in fact does contain 12 comedy songs that'll blow you away. There was a redneck theme that permeated through a good portion of the songs...the album is much longer than the 12 songs would suggest given that several of the songs are well over 3 minutes in length. One song, "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur", runs more than 5 minutes. In a lot of ways "Hurricane" is a reworking of "The Streak". Once you hear "Hurricane" you'll understand what I'm talking about. "Hey Bubba, Watch This!" is a very funny song about a do-it-yourself kind of man named Junior who apparently considers himself a world-class inventor. It doesn't help matters that Junior's a nut-case. His inventions result in disaster for Bubba. "Sucking Sound" originated on this album and in it Ray sings about the work force in America and the visions from Ross Perot during the 1992 Presidential election.

From 1973 comes this Nashville album. The direction in Ray's career by this time had gone into the country direction. Ray, even today, says that he doesn't actually set out to record songs or write songs that'll fit specific music formats. He insists that he records music that he likes and that he hopes is commercial in some way. Of course, at the same time, he admits that having an attitude like that never really allowed him to become disciplined. By this I think he means that he isn't confined inside a box when he goes to record songs...some artists only want to sing one style and that's it. Ray has always been an artist that's sang just about anything. The music on this album you'd think would be wall-to-wall country, right? Aside from the title track, "Nashville", the only other song on the album to sound deliberately country is "Piece By Piece". The rest of the songs on here are arranged in a pop-country style pretty much. Ray does a funny rendition of "Never Ending Song of Love" on this album but gets dead serious on "Undivided Attention". Some other songs on the album are "Golden Age", "Love Me Longer", and the instrumental, "Float".

This is the current album from Ray Stevens. 2010's We The People shows Ray dressed as a founding father...the picture comes from a publicity still taken from the music video of the same name. The music video of "We The People" is nearing 3,000,000 hits on You Tube. The album features 22 songs of political and patriotic flavor. There is another release available which features a CD and a DVD...the DVD features four music videos. The same picture of Ray appears on each release. I like the album cover because it shows Ray in costume...most of Ray's recent releases feature him in stage clothes. This is the first release in awhile to show Ray in costume which used to be something of a tradition on his album covers. Also it showcases a contemporary picture of Ray...some of the recent releases dig into the archives and use past publicity pictures of Ray on the album covers. The 2008 Hurricane CD, for example, used a 1992 picture of Ray taken from Comedy Video Classics. Some of the songs on We The People include "Caribou Barbie", "Obama Nation", "Come to the USA", "The Fallen Ones", and "Throw the Bums Out!".

I once had this album cover as my desktop background on my computer. This picture of Ray was used as a publicity picture on and off in the late 1980's. This collection features songs at random from Ray's MCA years. The CD was released in 1994 and it features 12 songs...four songs from each of the following years: 1984, 1987, and 1989. It's anyone's guess why MCA chose those particular years to highlight but all 12 songs that were selected are great. Also, they're among some of the longest songs Ray recorded during that time period. "Erik the Awful" is 4 minutes, 34 seconds. "Gourmet Restaurant" is 3 minutes, 45 seconds. "Your Bozo's Back Again" is 3 minutes, 51 seconds. Other songs include "I Saw Elvis in a UFO", "It's Me Again, Margaret", and "Doctor, Doctor Have Mercy on Me".

Ray Stevens: The 45 Singles...chapter...I've forgot...

I posted a picture of the a-side of this single in my previous blog entry called "The Clown Prince of Country Music". The a-side is a song called "Speed Ball". The song was inspired more or less by a comedy routine from Brother Dave Gardner. In fact, if you hear any comedy routines from Brother Dave and you hear early Ray Stevens on Mercury Records you'll hear how much of an influence Gardner had on Ray. However, on the b-side, a song called "It's Party Time", we hear a story about the well-visited topic of lost love and putting on a happy face. There are many love songs about this topic and in my opinion what makes the topic feel refreshing in every different recording I hear happens to be connected with lyrics and delivery. A lot of critics of pop music or love songs tend to be a tad bit cynical and say things like "you've heard one love song you've heard them all". In my way of thinking, it's true, we all have heard the same sentiments...but what makes each song different is how the topic is dealt with. To date this song has not been featured on any Ray Stevens album or compilation that I am aware of. As far as I know, this 45 is the only place the song was commercially available. The a-side was available originally on the 1963 album, This Is Ray Stevens and has appeared on several other compilation releases from Mercury through the years.

This same exclusive nature can be applied to this song, "Laughing Over My Grave". I got the camera too close to the single and the flash lit up some of the title. This is the b-side to "Bubble Gum the Bubble Dancer" and like "It's Party Time", the "Laughing Over My Grave" song is only available on the b-side of a 45. There have been You Tube video montage's made of both b-side songs. Thanks to technology there's a way to transfer vinyl onto CD and then it can be uploaded onto a computer. As far as commercial albums are concerned, though, "Laughing Over My Grave" has yet to make an appearance. The song is about a man who's been abusive to a woman and he's afraid of what she may do to him as a result. A hook of the song is the almost witch-like cackling of the female voice...a voice I assume is Ray in falsetto. As you can tell from my mini-description it's a light-weight song but yet it has a twist toward the end.

The Best of Ray Stevens, issued in 1970 by Mercury Records, continues to be the best collection of Ray's material on Mercury Records. Unless you are able to come across an even more obscure collection on CD that features his first two albums in one collection, the best chances to have a good number of early '60s Ray Stevens is The Best of Ray Stevens that you see here. I have the collection in cassette format and I have the more obscure two album on one CD collection but I realize not everyone does. So, The Best of Ray Stevens is the best review of his 1961-1963 output. This collection kicks off with the version of "Ahab the Arab" that features Ralph Emery introducing Ray to a small crowd of people. When you hear him perform the song he adds in additional lyrics that aren't in the studio recording. Ralph makes a return appearance at the end when everyone's applauding...asking for even more applause. You'll know what I mean when you hear the song.

The illustrations on the album cover are caricatures of the characters in Ray's songs. Off to his left is "Speed Ball", the motorcyclist. The corner pictures are: up in the top-left "Bubble Gum the Bubble Dancer", the top-right is "Butch Babarian". In the lower corners we have "Ahab the Arab" and "Harry the Hairy Ape". Off to Ray's right we have "Jeremiah Peabody" and below Ray's picture there's "Santa Claus is Watching You" and "It's Been So Long". The two panels immediately above Ray's picture is "The Rock and Roll Show" and the other panel, through elimination, must be "Loved and Lost" or "Funny Man". The ironic thing is the collection has 11 songs but there's only 10 cartoon panels on the album cover. The cassette copy that I have contains six cartoon panels.

I've had this cassette for a number of years. Once upon a time it was the only collection of songs I had of Ray Stevens from the early '60s. As I mentioned above, there's 11 songs on here. The recordings were all produced by Shelby Singleton and all the songs were written by Ray. There are liner notes that accompany the collection. The author comments on the recent serious material of Ray's, including name-dropping "Mr. Businessman", but the author reminds consumers that Ray had always sang non-comical songs long before he gained national success with serious works. Naturally there is no reference to Monument Records, the label Ray was signed to throughout the mid to late '60s...and the label in which Ray experienced his first major successes with serious works like "Unwind", "Mr. Businessman", and "Have a Little Talk With Myself".

These are not sunglasses that I'm wearing. My glasses tint in the sunlight and I brought my vinyl album of Ray's, Losin' Streak, to a house my sister lived in at one time. I had my picture taken with the album using my digital camera as you can tell. It must have been as an experiment as I hadn't had the camera that long. I now take my own pictures using that same camera or I use my web-camera if I want to take a picture quickly without dragging out the USB cord and digital camera. I've used this picture as an avatar on message boards and I think I had the picture here on the blogger site as my profile image before changing it to the one I currently use.