Ray Stevens: 9 Days and counting until New Album...

We're approaching release day for the upcoming Ray Stevens album!! It's set to release on April 10th so we're 9 days and counting. The album is available to pre-save on several digital music sites and physical copies will be available, too. I remarked a couple of days ago that I was under the impression that the album was going to be a collection of new songs and re-recordings of some of his older songs. I was surprised when I visited Spotify and saw the track list!! There are 13 tracks on the album and only one song had previously been recorded by Ray at least that's what I think regarding the song, "Something". There are no songwriter credits so it's hard to tell if it's the classic song penned by members of The Beatles or if it's an entirely different song with the same title. Curb Records will be handling the distribution and with the album 9 days away I'm guessing that there will be some publicity on social media ratcheting up. As of this writing the only song from this album that's been officially released came in the form of "Savannah". As mentioned there are 13 tracks on this release. In addition to "Savannah" and "Something" you'll hear songs titled "It Had to Be You", "Parakeet Motel", "Time Machine", "The Look of Love", and "Roger" plus several more. When I saw the track list and saw a song titled "Roger" it had me wondering if it'll be a salute to Roger Miller. We shall all find out 9 days from now!!

Ray Stevens: "Say Whut?" and More...

Hello once again all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! By now I'm sure you've gotten your copies of the current Ray Stevens album, Say Whut?. I don't know if you prefer to purchase physical copies of a CD or if you prefer purchasing digital downloads. I used to prefer having a physical copy of a CD but as time has gone on I've distanced myself from that point of view. Does this mean I no longer care if a CD is available? No, I always hope that a CD of music is available simply because I like the data that comes along with the CD. With a CD you get a compact disc, of course, but you also receive printed information such as musician, songwriter, and publisher credits which usually do not accompany your standard digital download. 

As I touched upon in a few blog entries prior to this one this is what you might consider a modern-day classic album from Ray Stevens. It has 11 tracks and although it's widely being promoted as a comedy album there are a couple of songs on here that I wouldn't categorize necessarily as 'ha! ha! laugh out loud' comedy. Some people may define those particular songs as social commentary. What are those songs? Well, from my perspective, I'd define "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?", "Everybody's On the Telephone", and "Don't Be Woke" as social commentary. The main track, as I call it, which debuted as a music video blends comedy and social commentary, "Since Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". The songs strike a chord with a common sense crowd and with those who simply want to laugh or forget their own problems and concerns. The album, in CD format, can be purchased on Ray's official website. The majority of music consumers/listeners no doubt have already added the album or tracks from the album to their online music libraries. YouTube remains the most easily accessible online platform to hear his music. By easily accessible I mean you don't have to be word specific in search engines as you do at Amazon. After a month of availability, for example, you go to Amazon and type in Ray's name and the title of the album and you won't get an accurate search result until you click additional information. As of this writing if you type in 'Ray Stevens Say Whut' over on Amazon you're going to get a result page that shows his Frank Sinatra tribute album. That one is called Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?. What Amazon customers/visitors will have to do is click the fine print that says 'search instead for Ray Stevens Say Whut?'. When you click that secondary link it's only then that Ray's current album will show up in the search results over there. Fear not, though. For those that prefer to listen to their Ray Stevens songs on Amazon here's a link to the music player page for Ray... when you click HERE it'll take you to Amazon where you'll see all of the digital albums by Ray that are available. You'll see Say Whut? among the selections. If you're new to Ray you'll be able to get to know his unique style rather quickly given the decades of songs/albums available. 

Meanwhile, over on YouTube, the organic views of the audio tracks from Ray's current album indicate that they're reaching people without much advertising. One of the tracks, "If It Walks Like a Duck", has more than 3,000 unique views with absolutely no publicity. The same can be said for the track "I Dropped My Wallet in the Toilet" which has more than 2,000. One of my favorites from the album, which hasn't gotten as much response so far, is "The More You Cry". Yes, I admit that what makes it one of my favorites is the traditional country music flair heard throughout the music arrangement but it's also a very funny story song. As is the case with most, if not all, comedy albums from Ray it has a diverse cross section of comedy...from the observational humor of "Everybody's on the Telephone" to the absurd humor of "If It Walks Like a Duck" to the laugh out loud comedy of "The More You Cry" and "Put Your Old Boyfriend's Name Right Here". There are a couple of songs on here that don't fit comedy or social commentary... those are "Cupholders" and the audio track below, "A Boy Fell from a Tree", which features, to my ears at least, a smooth jazz music arrangement.  

Closing out this blog entry is the audio track, "The More You Cry".

Ray Stevens: Year-End Spotify Stats...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! I usually try to spotlight this each year and with my busy work schedule this time of the year I don't know if I've mentioned this bit of news, yet, but I'm making mention of it now. Several days ago the music streaming service, Spotify, released their annual statistics on all of the recording artists on that platform. It's officially called Spotify Wrapped but I choose to describe it with simpler terminology and call it the Year-end Spotify Stats. I don't know if you're like I am but I don't get specific when it comes to online music. Some people are very precise in their definitions but I use words interchangeably. For example: I often use the phrase 'online music' to describe any type of audio that's available to be played online. Now, other people out there, may get more specific and use phrases like 'streaming music', 'digital downloads', 'audience impressions', etc. Whatever word or phrase you use it's all the same to me...and on Spotify it's rewarding to see that Ray continues his consistent pattern and in fact gets a lot of exposure by way of modern technology. I point that particular fact out because it's very easy, or I should say, for a lot of people it's easy for them to push Ray into some sort of pre-determined category and ignorantly declare that the only people who listen to his music are those who "cling to vinyl, guns, use rotary phones, have rabbit ears on their TV sets, and haven't ventured into the current century". Yes, believe it or not, there are some snide, crass critics (both professional and self-appointed) who are prone to making those kinds of ignorant, loathsome remarks and so when Spotify releases the year-end review, and being a big fan of Ray Stevens as I happen to be, it's fun to take the attitude of 'Ha! Ha! In your face, critics!'. This particular year-end Spotify stats show us that Ray's songs received 5.5 million streams. In the listeners category they have Ray with 990.4K (in the range of 990,400 +). Hours spent listening, total, to Ray's songs in 2023 on Spotify is 287.9K (that's nearly 290,000 hours!). A total of 178 countries accessed the music of Ray Stevens on Spotify in 2023. Now, then, how's all of that to bring a year to a close? Also, don't forget, there are still Christmas at the CabaRay concerts going on for the rest of the month. There are concerts on Thursday and Saturday. Search online for 'Ray Stevens CabaRay' for more information. 

Ray Stevens: Audio Diary 1

Hello Ray Stevens fans! I'm not too sure if I'm going to keep the title of this blog entry as a series or not. I've titled it as such because it's the first where I highlight/spotlight an audio track from Ray Stevens. The title, Audio Diary, makes it sound as if I'm going to be sharing deep thoughts in some sort of online diary but if you're familiar with this blog page you'll know that I don't necessarily get too deep in my analysis. Some may challenge that statement. It's possible to be thorough and strive for accuracy and yet not get so wrapped up that you come across as somebody laying on a couch speaking to a doctor. So, there's no deep, deep thoughts expressed here on the blog page. It's simply a fan created blog page all about the legendary Ray Stevens...with emphasis on accuracy and enthusiasm and absolutely no criticism. Criticism of Ray isn't tolerated here. Fun, accuracy, and education about all things Ray is what I strive for. Maybe I should title this blog series Audio Track of the Day? 

Music listeners are getting their music through online platforms...and Ray Stevens has long been active on the internet with his music. There are all kinds of online music sites...streaming platforms...where the music of Ray Stevens is easily accessible. 

The thing about online music/streaming music is there's no longer an excuse for somebody to not be able to hear Ray's songs. Once upon a time there used to be a series of excuses given by people anytime a new song or album was released: "the album costs too much for just one song", "I can't find the album in my store", "how come there's no single release?", and one of the more inventive excuses I'd come across was "I can't afford it..." even though an album that's streamed on an online platform like Spotify is essentially free. All a person needs to do is create a free account and create a username/password...and just like that you'll be able to hear all the Ray Stevens songs you want. 24/7...anytime...anywhere there's online access. 

I singled out Spotify but you could just as easily listen to Ray's songs on YouTube or watch music video content from Ray on YouTube, too. The bottom line is there's no excuse not to be able to listen to Ray's songs on various streaming platforms...the financial burden on the listener isn't part of the equation anymore UNLESS you choose to purchase Mp3's at Amazon or download an album digitally on Amazon. CD copies of his recent albums are available on Amazon as well as his online music store at his official webpage. 

The audio track I'm focusing on today is "Idaho Wine" from the 1973 album, Losin' Streak. The album, as you can see, turns 50 this year. A YouTube member named Randall Hamm uploaded the audio tracks from that album 10 years ago. Losin' Streak is the only studio album Ray Stevens recorded for Barnaby Records that didn't get a CD re-issue on Collectible's Records back in the mid 2000's. One reason, from my perspective, as to why it was not re-issued is that the Collectible's Records series was doing 2 albums on 1 CD reissue projects and with Ray having recorded 7 studio albums for Barnaby during the 1970-1975 time period Collectible's Records chose to omit Losin' Streak because it didn't have any chart hits on it. Barnaby issued the title track, "Losin' Streak", as a single and later one of the album tracks, "Inside", become a B-side tag-a-long in 1974 with the single-only "Everybody Needs a Rainbow". So, technically, "Inside" did reach the charts as a tag-a-long...but apparently it wasn't enough to merit a re-issue. Now, that's my opinion as to why the Losin' Streak wasn't re-issued along with the other studio albums he recorded at Barnaby. If you want a vinyl copy you can find some over on eBay. I have a vinyl copy of the album in my personal collection. 

"Idaho Wine" is a clever song about a couple who aren't compatible with one another. It's not a long ballad but rather a mid-tempo song. It'll become a sing-a-long once you start to remember the lyrics. There's a song on there called "This Is Your Life" and I've often felt that the cover photo of Ray belting out the lyrics into the microphone is a reference to that particular song. If I don't spotlight "This Is Your Life" in this audio track series make sure you search for Ray and the song's title on YouTube. 

In the meantime, though, click the link to hear the audio of IDAHO WINE

Ray Stevens: Revisiting the Album Discography

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! If this is your first time seeing this blog page it's been in existence for more than a decade. It's a fan created blog and within the various blog entries I've written I try and convey information, opinion, and facts balanced with video performance embeds and photographs. Now, at the center of this blog, is legendary Ray Stevens. This, as mentioned, is a fan created page and it has no direct involvement from, or interaction with, Ray, and so whatever you read is of my own creation. In other words the commentary and thoughts shared throughout my blog entries should not be taken as any kind of official representation of Ray. I was looking in my blog statistics earlier and seen where I got some traffic for a blog entry I wrote quite a number of years ago focusing on Ray's album discography. I didn't go back and read what I previously wrote but I think I made mention of the fact that it's very difficult to have a full, 100 percent accurate showing of an album discography on Ray Stevens. I say this because of the many compilation albums that have been issued on Ray not only in the United States but overseas throughout a 40+ year time frame. Ray's official website contains one of the most comprehensive album discographies and there's also a couple of online sites that contain a singles and album discography and they're just as detailed as the one on Ray's website. Since this is a blog page all about legendary Ray Stevens I've included discographies of Ray in the past...and now I'm going to provide an updated list of albums. My list will contain all of his studio albums and select compilation albums that I feel should be in any fan's collection. A lot of these albums, fortunately, are available to listen to online. Well, I should say a lot of his recordings are available...some of his actual studio albums have never been officially converted onto the digital/streaming platforms. Ray has an active YouTube channel and an active Spotify page...those two online platforms are what I'd seek out when you're searching for the music of Ray Stevens. Oh, of course, he has an official webpage that I often provide links to and you can find his songs on Amazon and other online places; however, YouTube and Spotify offer his music on demand and those two sites don't suppress his contemporary recordings like some online music sites, I've noticed, have been doing. This album discography is intentionally incomplete as I'm not striving for a complete list. I'm only spotlighting the official releases (studio albums) and select compilations. 

1962: 1,837 Seconds of Humor  {Mercury Records}

1963: This Is Ray Stevens  {Mercury Records}

1968: Even Stevens  {Monument Records}

1969: Gitarzan  {Monument Records}

1969: Have a Little Talk With Myself  {Monument Records}

1970: The Best of Ray Stevens  {Mercury Records}

1970: Everything is Beautiful  {Barnaby Records}

1970: Unreal  {Barnaby Records}

1971: Greatest Hits  {Barnaby Records}

1972: Turn Your Radio On  {Barnaby Records}

1973: Nashville  {Barnaby Records}

1973: Losin' Streak  {Barnaby Records}

1974: Greatest Hits  {re-issue of 1971 album; Barnaby Records}

1974: Boogity Boogity  {Barnaby Records}

1975: Misty  {Barnaby Records}

1975: The Very Best of Ray Stevens  {Barnaby Records}

1976: Just for the Record  {Warner Brothers}

1977: Feel the Music  {Warner Brothers}

1978: There is Something On Your Mind  {Warner Brothers}

1978: Be Your Own Best Friend  {Warner Brothers}

1979: The Feeling's Not Right Again  {10 song collection, 1 new; Warner Brothers}

1980: Shriner's Convention  {RCA Records}

1981: One More Last Chance  {RCA Records}

1982: Don't Laugh Now  {RCA Records}

1983: Greatest Hits  {RCA Records}

1983: Me  {Mercury Records}

1984: He Thinks He's Ray Stevens  {MCA Records; Platinum Record}

1985: Collector's Series  {RCA Records}

1985: I Have Returned  {MCA Records; Gold Record}

1986: Surely You Joust  {MCA Records}

1987: Greatest Hits  {MCA Records; Platinum Record}

1987: Crackin' Up  {MCA Records}

1987: Greatest Hits, Volume Two  {MCA Records; Gold Record}

1987: Get The Best of Ray Stevens  {Direct-market double album; MCA Records}

1988: I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like  {MCA Records}

1989: Beside Myself  {MCA Records}

1990: His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits  {Curb Records; Gold Record}

1990: Lend Me Your Ears  {Curb Records}

1991: Greatest Hits  {Curb Records}

1991: Number One with a Bullet  {Curb Records}

1993: Classic Ray Stevens  {Curb Records; new, original recordings in spite of it's title}

1995: Cornball  {compilation album; Warner Brothers}

1995: Do You Wanna Dance?  {compilation album; Warner Brothers}

1995: The Serious Side of Ray Stevens  {compilation album; Warner Brothers}

1996: Great Gospel Songs  {compilation; Curb Records}

1997: The Best of Ray Stevens  {Rhino Records; Dr. Demento liner notes}

1997: Hum It  {MCA Records}

1997: Christmas Through a Different Window  {MCA Records}

1998: The Country Hits Collection  {compilation album; Varese Sarabande}

2000: Ear Candy  {Clyde Records}

2001: All-Time Greatest Hits  {Varese Sarabande; booklet liner notes}

2002: Osama Yo' Mama  {partial re-issue of 'Ear Candy'; Curb Records}

2004: Thank You  {Clyde Records}

2007: New Orleans Moon  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2007: Hurricane  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2008: Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2009: One for the Road  {Clyde Records}

2009: Ray Stevens Christmas  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2010: We The People  {Clyde Records}

2011: Spirit of '76  {Clyde Records}

2012: Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music  {Clyde Records; 9-CD box set}

2014: Gospel Collection  {Clyde Records/Gaither Music Group}

2015: Here We Go Again!  {Clyde Records/Player Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2016: Just a Closer Walk With Thee  {Clyde Records/Gaither Music/Springhill}

2016: Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me  {CabaRay; re-issued on Curb Records}

2021: The Iconic Songs of the 20th Century  {4-CD box set; Curb Records}

2021: Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore  {Curb Records}

If you notice there's a lot of Clyde Records releases that were later re-issued by Curb Records. Most of the time those re-issues are for the online/streaming availability on sites like YouTube and Spotify. Ray's 9-CD box set from 2012 has also been re-issued by Curb Records...they've uploaded the audio tracks onto YouTube. I don't have it listed but Ray issued a multiple CD collection simply called Box Set on his own Clyde Records label. This project was later re-issued by Curb Records, too. In the few years leading up to 2020 Ray was issuing music on a new imprint, CabaRay Entertainment. He had retired his long time imprint, Clyde Records (which made it's debut in 1988). A music video and single-only release of "Dear America", from 2016, featured the CabaRay Entertainment imprint as did his Christmas album that year, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. However, in 2020, Ray signed with Curb Records once again and they issued 5 albums on him in 2021. Those 5 albums followed the 2020 single/music video release of "Everything is Beautiful - 50th Anniversary", a re-recording of his 1970 song accompanying a brand new music video. 

2020 also saw the music video release of "The Quarantine Song" in which a separate audio recording has since been placed on 2021's comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. 

In between 2015 and 2021 Ray was keeping himself busy recording episodes of his syndicated television series, Ray Stevens' Nashville, later re-titled Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. He was also working on the music that would eventually get released on the 4-CD box set in 2021. Ray had planned on having his CabaRay showroom open by the latter half of 2016 but, not long after a news conference announcing the ground breaking of the music venue, Ray ran into bureaucratic red tape, building permit delays, and construction delays. The CabaRay showroom eventually had it's grand opening early in 2018. 

The hectic, busy schedule of television show production and getting a state of the art concert venue built left him little time to release full-length albums every year. Ray will be releasing new projects this year...nothing is known about the style of songs or if they'll be available in CD or only in digital download format. In addition to that bit of news Ray Stevens celebrates a birthday tomorrow (January 24th). I'll be writing a birthday blog entry early Tuesday morning.  

Ray Stevens: Year End Spotify Stats

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! The year-end Spotify statistics were revealed several days ago. The legendary Ray Stevens enjoyed another massive year on Spotify. The stats show that Ray received 6.1 million streams on the platform with 1 million listeners for the year. Spotify also provides hour data...according to their stats the music of Ray Stevens accounted for 321.8K hours. I have no idea how they come up with that type of statistic but it's posted on Ray's year-end numbers for the Spotify site and therefore I'm sharing the stats here in this blog entry. Also, the music of Ray Stevens was accessed on Spotify by people in 175 countries. The year-end numbers are officially billed as Spotify Wrapped and are revealed in early December. Some more stats for Ray is the amount of times people have saved his songs. His songs have been saved by Spotify listeners more than 270,000 times. The top track of Ray's on Spotify is "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". When the numbers were revealed for 2022 the track was revealed to have been played 1,190,468 times. Some of the lesser reported stats are less about streaming and more about artist ranking. For example: 1,565 people voted Ray as their Number One Spotify Artist. 7,393 people placed Ray among their Top-5 Spotify Artists. 14,558 people had Ray among their Top-10 Spotify Artists. Spotify listeners added Ray's songs to 110,230 playlists in 2022. You can visit Ray's Spotify page by clicking HERE. Once there you'll find many, many songs...including some fairly recent songs Ray performed on the television show, Larry's Country Diner. Take a listen to all kinds of Ray Stevens songs on Spotify. You'll be thoroughly entertained. 

Ray Stevens: Hooks, Bait, and Streams...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! If you've taken notice I've been writing blog entries lately that center around the online presence of Ray Stevens. I'm not intentionally going by any kind of pattern...it just seems that way. I hadn't been promoting all of the various online ways you can hear the songs of Ray Stevens during the years that I've been writing fan created blog entries. Why? Well, I've always been a traditional consumer of music. I listen to it on vinyl and CD (my cassette player broke years ago) and since everyone that can see this blog is online, obviously, I didn't find it too appealing to promote readily available methods of music consumption like digital downloading and audio streaming. 

I wanted more focus on vinyl and CD back when I created this blog and I'd only mention digital downloads if it was necessary...like if Ray would release a new song through an online digital music platform...and there wouldn't be a physical copy of a CD available. In times like those I'd discuss digital downloads. Lately, though, I've been making up for lost time and relaying the various online sites where you can find Ray's songs. Now, I know you all don't need me to inform you of those music sites, you're all capable of finding Ray's songs on your own, but as a blogger I started to think that I hadn't done much to promote the online presence Ray Stevens has had for about as long as I've been writing this blog. 

I title this blog entry with such a unique phrase because songs have hooks, and some songs can bait listeners, and streams are how practically all music consumers hear the music. Streaming is the much preferred method because it doesn't require the downloading of audio files onto your computer. However, record companies prefer people paying a fee of some sort whether the music is being streamed or being downloaded in the traditional sense of the word. If you purchase music on Amazon in their Digital music store they still offer the traditional downloading...the audio files you purchase will be sent as a download attachment to your e-mail address and from there you upload the audio to your listening device. Going back to a previous subject matter in the above paragraph...another reason why I didn't promote the online music presence of Ray Stevens (originally) is because I couldn't show it off in a photo. You can't hold in your hand an audio file for the camera. 

Oh, yes, in case you're new to this fan created blog, I post a lot of photos of myself showing off all kinds of Ray Stevens vinyl singles, vinyl albums, cassette tapes, CD's, VHS tapes, and DVDs...so subconsciously I must've avoided promoting online music because I couldn't hold it in front of a camera and click...unlike here, where I'm showing off one of my Ray Stevens items. This is Funniest Characters which was released in 2000. It's a CD featuring the audio tracks from the VHS tape, Funniest Video Characters. The photo is a screen cap from the music video of "The Blue Cyclone". 

Usually my blog entries aren't text heavy on top...so this is unique. When writing the blog entries I often lay it out like a newspaper and have a photo posted on either the left or right hand side of the page (the kind you see for newspaper columnists) and then midway or at the end I embed a video if I happen to be writing about a song. Curb Records has been busy the last several months...they've taken over some more previously released Ray Stevens albums. I wrote about 2000's Ear Candy and the 1995 soundtrack of Get Serious! being uploaded onto YouTube by Curb Records. Curb has also uploaded to YouTube Ray's 2009 One for the Road album (July 18th) and the 2011 Spirit of '76 album. The interesting thing about these YouTube audio tracks is if you read the fine print Curb Records used the album's original year of release. So, instead of seeing Spirit of '76 credited as 2011 Clyde Records you're now going to see the credit as 2011 Curb Records. It's like a retroactive credit. 

Curb also took over online distribution for Hum It, a comedy album Ray recorded in 1997 for MCA Records, and Curb did the same for several other albums Ray originally released on his own Clyde Records label. I've made mention of that before in a couple of previous blog entries but it often bears repeating. It's a testament to how much Curb Records feels about Ray Stevens...that they've put their name on some of the albums Ray recorded for his own label more than a decade ago. 

So far this year Ray hasn't hinted at any upcoming albums. He signed to Curb Records in 2020 following the recording session he had with Jeannie Seely which produced the duet, "Dance Tonight". They promptly issued a newly recorded version of "The Quarantine Song" and then a special 50th anniversary recording of "Everything is Beautiful"...complete with a new music video. Ray also issued a medley, "Everything is Beautiful / United We Stand". Then, in 2021, Curb issued Ray's 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. This was followed up with the novelty single, "Gas", in the summer of 2021. Then, in the fall of 2021, Curb Records issued the comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. If you add in all of the previously released albums that Curb Records has re-issued this year and last year it adds up to well over a dozen releases by Curb Records of Ray Stevens audio content. If you're curious you can read my Amazon review of the 4-CD box set by clicking HERE. The review was posted on Amazon almost a year ago...in late July 2021. 

One of the CDs in the box set from last year is titled Melancholy Fescue (High Class Bluegrass). Ray had the concept of this album all the way back in 2013...he put out a music video for "Unchained Melody" that year. He sang the song and a Bluegrass rendition of "Oh, Pretty Woman" during a guest appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in 2013...but following this nothing more was said about the potential Bluegrass album. In Ray's 2014 memoir he mentions future album concepts he's working on with titles such as Melancholy Fescue...so the albums in the 2021 box set were nearly a decade in the planning stages. Ray is quoted as having said that he plans on releasing sequels to his 9-CD Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music and his 4-CD Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. I have no doubt that he's racked up a lot of recordings over the last number of years...but figuring out when to release the music, plotting a marketing strategy, etc. is probably the reason why there hasn't been any news release hinting at new music. The "Unchained Melody" music video is inching closer and closer to the plateau of 1,000,000 unique views on YouTube. As of now it's sitting at 998,044...all it needs is 1,956 unique views to reach an even 1,000,000. I'm embedding the music video below...if this is your first time seeing the video, watch it, and share it with your friends...

Ray Stevens: The Online Presence...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! Awhile ago I wrote a blog entry about the availability of Ray Stevens songs on various online sites. Ray himself has promoted his presence in digital download, streaming media. In earlier blog entries I mentioned that I prefer to listen to audio tracks by Ray Stevens on YouTube but as most of you are well aware there are numerous online music sites to listen to Ray. A few days ago Ray uploaded a Spotify playlist titled The Complete Ray Stevens. It's a playlist of more than 100 Ray Stevens recordings (specifically 115) from all time periods. Ray's Spotify account gets nearly 200,000 monthly listeners. Four of his recordings have racked up more than 2,000,000 plays. As of July 14, 2022 the Top-6 most played Ray Stevens songs on Spotify are:

1. The Mississippi Squirrel Revival (1984 recording)  5,585,530

2. The Streak (1974 recording)  4,784,167

3. Misty (1975 recording)  4,555,687

4. Everything Is Beautiful (1970 recording)  2,308,552

5. It's Me Again, Margaret  (1992 recording)**  1,124,357

6. Ahab the Arab  (1995 recording)**  1,046,005

Some explanation is in order, not necessarily about the photo of Ray Stevens that I decided to use, but about audio tracks 5 and 6. Although Spotify features the original 1984 recording of "It's Me Again, Margaret" by Ray Stevens, very interestingly, his 1992 re-recording for the music video is the one that's gotten more than 1,000,000 plays. This 1992 re-recording later surfaced on Ray's Curb Records Box Set release in 2005. The 1962 original of "Ahab the Arab" is also on Spotify but yet it's the re-recording for his 1995 music video, found on the VHS Get Serious!, which has gotten more than 1,000,000 plays. I don't know if those audio tracks at 5 and 6 are the ones that listeners find first in Spotify search results but it's unique for re-recordings to out-perform original recordings. I'm a Ray Stevens nut/fanatic and I like each rendition of "Ahab the Arab" that I've heard Ray perform: there's the 1962 recording, a 1965 recording featuring an introduction from Ralph Emery, the 1969 recording which has gotten a lot of exposure on various compilation albums, and the 1995 recording for the music video. If you're not on Spotify and want to be you can create a free account. If you're already on Spotify but have never thought to look to see if Ray Stevens is there do a search for him and then start listening. I say that because I believe there are some people out there who automatically think that because Ray is of the well-established age group that he doesn't have his music available on contemporary online music sites but he actually does. Whenever you visit Spotify, since that's the site I'm spotlighting in this blog entry, do a search for Ray Stevens if you've never thought to do one before...you'll be amazed at just how many recordings of his that you'll have at your fingertips.   

Ray Stevens: The Online Valentine's Discount Sale...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! Have you been shopping on Ray's online store? The Valentine's Discount Sale is currently underway...it began on February 4th and runs through February 14th. There's a 15 percent discount on all items...this includes CDs, DVDs, clothing, hats, T-shirts, books...any item for sale at his online store will be marked down 15 percent. Some of the items, in my opinion, may become unavailable for purchase as the year moves on as I think Ray will add in a lot more merchandise. Sometimes these discount sales lead to an overhaul of the inventory. Some items that have been a feature in the online store may make way for all new products. One never knows. As of now there's a wide variety of items to choose from. Some people wait for these kinds of discount sales to take place so they can purchase some of the more expensive items at a discount price. The 9-CD Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music, for example, is an item that's available but the sales price is no longer visible. When you visit his online store you'll see that there isn't a list price. A price will appear once a customer adds it to their shopping cart. I purchased my copy in 2012. This marks the 10th anniversary of that mammoth box set's release. Time flies!! You can access Ray's online store by clicking HERE. 

In the CD section you'll see the releases listed from most recent to oldest. Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore is his most recent album...preceded by Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, a 4-CD box set. Ray returns to the concert stage next month...the CabaRay will kick off it's 4th season. I don't know what the rest of this month holds in store. I don't know if Ray will put out any new recording, music video, or release any news concerning upcoming album releases or if he'll wait until the day of the CabaRay's first concert of the new season to release that kind of information. The moment I hear of upcoming music or appearances from Ray Stevens I'll be blogging about it. 

Ray Stevens: The Upcoming Comedy Album Excitement...

I come across several websites promoting the upcoming Ray Stevens comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, and by that I mean I came across a Pre-order product page at Target. I also came across publicity from Ray's official representation, Absolute Publicity, and you can read their commentary by clicking HERE. When you open the link and read the write-up you'll also come across a link where, after you click it, you'll be given three options. You'll have the option to Pre-order from Ray's official webstore, Pre-add through Apple Music, or Pre-Save on Spotify. Keep in mind that you'll only receive an autographed copy of the comedy album if you purchase the compact disc format from Ray's official webstore. The other two options, as you know, are digital download/streaming services which send audio files to your listening device (phone, laptop, etc.). 

A few minutes ago I was attempting to post a comment on a social media site regarding Ray's upcoming comedy album. The site wasn't Facebook or Twitter...it was of lesser known stature but still a highly active site. I've been a member of the site for a lengthy period of time...and while I was able to click a heart symbol to show that I recommended/liked the story I was unable to submit my comments. I kept getting an error message stating that "it looks like you're not signed in", but I was, and so after re-submitting my comment I got the same error message. Instead of attempting a third time to submit my comments I erased them from the message box and left the site. It was an odd experience...signed in to a website and being able to actively recommend the story but unable to leave a comment and getting an error message that I'm not signed in. It had me thinking if this is a common occurrence with other people who attempt to leave comments on websites that they're signed in to but, for whatever reason, the comments aren't being posted due to some sort of malfunction on their end or whatever. The reason it had me wondering is because the story dealt with the upcoming comedy album from Ray Stevens...and if comments aren't able to be easily submitted on that particular site then anyone that comes across the write-up will see is a story with zero comments. It creates the perception that the story hadn't gotten any reaction or views. Anyway, as I've been writing this blog entry, I've changed my mind and will attempt a third time to leave a comment over on that website. 

In the meantime, as the title of this blog entry states, anyone else having any excitement over the upcoming comedy album? The October 8th release date is right around the corner...by the time we make it to this coming Friday we'll only have one more week to go before release day! Will Ray put out anything else from this album prior to it's release? We'll find out one way or another as we get closer to the album's release date!! 

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" latest News...

Well, well...the latest news surrounding the Ray Stevens 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, is that it's flew up the Country New Releases Top-100 on Amazon. On the Top-100 New Releases, CDs and Vinyl, for country music, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century had been moving it's way back down the Top-100 within the last week after having risen to the Top-40 half of the list. It fell out of the Top-100 the last number of hours but it made quite a comeback, yet again, by ranking this hour among the Top-40 Country New Releases in CDs and Vinyl on Amazon. Although Ray has an upcoming album in three weeks I don't want anyone thinking that I'm going to move on from the box set or from some of his other recent works and concentrate exclusively on the upcoming album. The thing I prefer doing is whenever Ray puts out something new within months of having released something else I pay attention to both releases for awhile...and then I slowly focus my attention on whatever the current release happens to be but I also periodically look at a previous release just in case something noteworthy pops up and I'll share it here on this fan created blog page. Iconic Songs of the 20th Century is also in the Top-40 New Releases in Soundtracks. On that list it's sitting at 32 this hour while, as you can see, it's sitting at 34 among the Top-100 Country CDs and Vinyl New Releases on Amazon. The 4-CD box set contains compact disc versions of Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. Each of those albums are available online for downloading/streaming in addition to being available in the box set as compact discs. Ray explains it all in this advertisement uploaded on YouTube back in July...

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" among Amazon Top-40...

I just returned from the Amazon website and I got a double surprise while I was over there!! I was looking at the Top-100 New Releases rankings among country music in the CD's and Vinyl department. Earlier today Iconic Songs of the 20th Century was ranked at 53. As of this writing the 4-CD box set is among the Top-40 New Releases on Amazon...as you can see in the image off to the left the box set is sitting at 38! This is a new peak position on this list...the collection had previously reached a peak of 48. Now, if that wasn't a fun surprise to see, I decided to go over and look on the Soundtracks list. I earlier reported that Amazon is placing this 4-CD box set in the Soundtracks category, too, due in part because of the album's secondary title which is called: The Soundtrack of Our Lives. The ironic thing is, over on the CD's and Vinyl department on Amazon, in the Soundtracks category, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century is ranked at number 30 among New Releases!! The phrase 'soundtrack of our lives', as you could imagine, has very little to do with movie or television show music. When one uses the 'soundtrack of our lives' phrase it's meant to be a general representation of songs that define periods of time or some place in history for either an individual or a collective society. The box set of 4 compact discs features 12 songs per disc...a total of 48 recordings...and they collectively represent the soundtrack of society's lives. 

As you can see in the image over on the right Iconic Songs of the 20th Century sits at number 30 on Amazon in the CD and Vinyl Soundtracks department. In a previous blog entry I asked if any of you had purchased your box set yet. I take it that most of you have purchased your copy of the box set by now...with the 4-CD box set sitting among the Top-40 New Releases on Amazon it's clear that people are purchasing the box set through Amazon. Some people purchased it through Ray's own webpage...which is what I did. I wrote a review of the box set over on Amazon and posted photos of it...but because I didn't purchase it there it lacks the 'verified purchase' banner. I'll more than likely copy and paste my review over to Ray's website. My review of the box set lacks a lot of detail about the four compact discs because I've already written individual reviews of the four albums. I wanted my review of the 4-CD box set to focus just on the aesthetics and the technical information lacking on the digital albums but which is available on the CD copies. One of the songs Ray recorded, and one I'm going to heavily promote in future blog entries, is a fun little song called "Sophisticated Lady" on the Melancholy Fescue album. I've highlighted the audio track before but I think it deserves a whole lot more attention...the music accompaniment is impeccable as is Ray's vocal performance. The song has one of the most unusual melodies to sing against but that's why it's neat to listen to...so be on the lookout for future blog entries from me spotlighting the "Sophisticated Lady" audio track. 

Ray Stevens: "Slow Dance" in the Amazon Top-100...

Welcome, welcome...to all you fans of Ray Stevens and to those who come across this blog and discover the music of Ray Stevens! While looking over the digital Country Best Selling list on Amazon I came across Slow Dance among the Top-100. This is by far the digital album with the most appearances on this particular Top-100. I haven't kept count but Slow Dance periodically shows up within the Amazon Top-100 Country Best Sellers and almost without notice...and the reason I say that is because Ray, as you all know, released four digital albums this year and for Slow Dance to be the one that's made the most appearances in the Amazon Top-100 is not what this Ray Stevens fan expected. I was thinking either Melancholy Fescue or Great Country Ballads may be the one that would make the most appearances on the Country Top-100 simply because Ray is more connected, overall, to a country music format...and Melancholy Fescue is a bluegrass flavored album and Great Country Ballads is self-explanatory...so I was thinking either of those two digital albums may show up more frequently in the digital Country Best Sellers but it's Slow Dance which accomplishes this. Slow Dance is filled out with renditions of pop music standards by Ray Stevens which also include re-arrangements that he came up with...the song titles on that digital album being so iconic to a wider audience is probably why that particular digital album has made the most return appearances on Amazon's list. There's a medley on there called "Make Believe / It's Only Make Believe" which is great. Some of the other songs Ray updates include "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "The Great Pretender", "Unforgettable", and the title track refers to the song, "Slow Dancing". The fourth digital album, Nouveau Retro, has the unenviable task of following the first three...and while it's made appearances on that Top-100 list from time to time it hasn't made as many appearances as Melancholy Fescue or Slow Dance. I close out this blog entry with the audio track "Make Believe / It's Only Make Believe"...it's gotten over 3,400 plays on YouTube so far... 

Ray Stevens: The Online Music Outlets...

Ray Stevens: June 23, 2021

Hello all you Ray Stevens fans!! As we're entering the final days of June...yes, that's correct, the first of July is a week from today...but as we're entering the final days of June 2021 I'm spotlighting the promo video that appeared on Ray's social media yesterday. The promo pointed out various online sites where Ray's music can be found. Ray speaks of you being able to find his music on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, and other places. Here on this fan created blog page I give spotlight to where you can purchase or download his music, too. Ray's music is available everywhere...it isn't only available on CD or vinyl...and I think the reason for this promo was to emphasize that his music is just as readily available, online, as everybody else. 

Whenever he puts out a new song, for example, it never fails to elicit commentary from some asking: "when is the CD coming out?". It's as if some expect a CD copy of music each and every time...never thinking that practically everyone in the music industry releases music online and through streaming services. Do any of you listen to Ray's songs through a streaming service? Do you purchase digital downloads? Do you purchase Ray's music online as a digital download but also purchase a copy of it on CD if it's available? I'm part of the latter. I purchase his music on CD and I also purchase it online for my music library. I never transfer music from a CD onto my laptop. I know most of you listen to his music on YouTube. I embed a lot of audio of Ray Stevens from YouTube in my blog entries...just like I'm doing today...