Ray Stevens: Last Chance at 40...

Hello once again all you fans of Ray Stevens!! I'm spotlighting an album that Ray Stevens released in 1981 which reaches 40 this year. That year in country music was dominated by the Urban Cowboy influence...the Urban Cowboy movie had been released in 1980 and it set off a massive explosion of country music appeal to a wider pop audience. Country music had adopted pop sensibilities prior to 1980 when you consider the fact that the concept of the syndicated television show, Pop! Goes the Country, was centered around the pop influences in country music...and that series debuted in 1974...so by 1981 there had been a gradual shift in how the music was being marketed. Pop! Goes the Country, by the way, was hosted by Ralph Emery (1974-1980) and then Tom T. Hall (1980-1982). The Urban Cowboy movie and everything that followed was in it's prime, you might say, into 1981. A lot of country music artists were going places that country singers hadn't been before...it catapulted Mickey Gilley, a country singer who'd had a string of hits since the early '70s, into super-star status. His honky-tonk bar, Gilley's, was the main setting for the Urban Cowboy movie and he had several scenes in the film as did Johnny Lee and other country music artists. The album cover can be found in my pictorial time-line off to the side of the blog page.   

Ray Stevens adapted to the Urban Cowboy craze, a little bit, and this album is one that I've always referred to as his contribution to early '80s Urban Cowboy sentiments. The music is wonderful but so is the photography on the album and the design. The visuals, as you can see, fit in perfectly with the honky-tonk, cowboy, bar room romanticism that was taking place in the aftermath of the Urban Cowboy film. Although this fine, ballad heavy album emerged in 1981 it included a song that had already been released as a single by Ray in the fall of 1980...a single that climbed into the Country Top-20 in the latter half of 1980, "Night Games". The hit song is all about a couple who meet in a single's bar and decide to have a one-night stand...but there's no love or passion between the two come the dawn. Ray tells us that in spite of the couple having fun, and being lost in the thrill of what the night would bring, we're told it's simply part of the routine...the couple go their separate ways with the hope of finding the right person back inside the bar where all the 'grown-up kids' play their "Night Games". The steel guitar players on this 1981 album are Larry Sasser and Hal Rugg. However, the two legendary steel guitarists aren't specified as to which songs they played the steel guitar on...the mystery thickens as this album included a lot more steel guitar than any previous or any upcoming Ray Stevens album. "Night Games" featured steel guitar as did the title track, "One More Last Chance", and "Let's Do It Right This Time". The love ballad title track features a great combination of steel guitar and electric guitar taking turns with lengthy instrumentation. 

That's the photo of Ray Stevens that appears on the back of the album for those that aren't familiar with this 1981 release. I've often half-jokingly suggested that Ray's plea for "One More Last Chance" must've been rewarded because he's giving us a big grin and he's wearing the cowboy hat that the woman was wearing on the front of the album. Did you know that Ray recorded his version of a pop classic for this album? The song, "Pretend", had previously been recorded by a whole host of recording artists. Nat King Cole had a big hit with it as a ballad. Carl Mann had a hit with a rock and roll version. Ray's take on the song is partially up-tempo like Carl Mann's but instead of having a distinctive rock and roll sound to it, like Carl's, the Ray Stevens arrangement features a lot of trumpets...a whole lot of trumpets. Ray put a lot of life into his rendition of the song. Once "Pretend" reaches it's end you'll think you just left the bullfights in Madrid, Spain. I wish there was an audio clip of Ray's version of the song on-line so I could share the great rendition with those that more than likely haven't heard it. This 1981 album was issued on RCA Records. "Night Games" closes out the album while the title track, "One More Last Chance", opens the album. The title track hit the Country Top-40 early in 1981...but for the rest of the year no other songs from the album were issued as singles. Ray was keeping busy as a touring artist and appearing on numerous television shows. It was in 1981 that Ray guest starred in several episodes of the soap opera, Texas. He played himself and in one of the episodes he sang "One More Last Chance". The video footage of his soap opera appearance used to be on-line in the mid 2000's but it's long since been taken off-line. I used to have screen-caps but those were on a different computer. I think his Texas guest appearance was the only time Ray Stevens sang "One More Last Chance" on television. In addition to his guest appearance on the soap opera he also lent his talents to the movie, Cannonball Run. Ray wrote and sang two songs for the movie: "Cannonball", the movie's theme song, and the love ballad, "Just For the Hell Of It". The 1981 One More Last Chance album contains 10 songs...as mentioned earlier it's a ballad heavy album. There is only one song that would qualify as legitimately up-tempo. There are a couple mid-tempo songs but the rest are ballads. The album is outstanding but it remains only available on eBay in vinyl format and once in awhile it'll become available in cassette format on eBay but it's never been issued on CD or on any on-line digital music store: 

1. One More Last Chance

2. Just About Love

3. Certain Songs

4. Melissa

5. I Believe You Love Me

6. Pretend

7. It's Not All Over

8. Let's Do It Right This Time

9. Take Your Love

10. Night Games

Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Eleven...

Here we are in Part Eleven and we're in the latter half of 1979 in the career of Ray Stevens. If you do the math that's 22 years into his professional recording career...and if you do even more math 1979 was 40 years ago...so we've got a lengthy road left to travel as we make our way to 2019.

Warner Brothers issued a follow-up single from Ray in the summer of 1979 on the heels of "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". It was more of a re-release...they brought back Ray's 1977 single, "Get Crazy With Me", and issued it with "The Feeling's Not Right Again" as the B-side. Those two recordings happened to be part of the 1979 compilation album, The Feeling's Not Right Again, that Warner Brothers issued on Ray in the aftermath of "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" becoming a hit single. "Get Crazy With Me", originally backed with "Dixie Hummingbird" in 1977, has a catalog number of WBS-8318. The re-release in 1979 has a catalog number of WBS-8849.

The 1977 and 1979 issue

Technically some may not consider the 1979 copy being a re-release because of it having a different B-side, different art work, and a different catalog number but yet it's the same recording on both single releases. Anyway, upon the release of this single, not too long afterward Ray signed a recording contract with RCA Records. This was another high profile record label, like Warner Brothers, when compared to Barnaby Records and in some cases Monument Records. One of Ray's long time friends in the music industry, Chet Atkins, was not only a legendary guitar player but was also one of the top producers at RCA and was eventually given the title of Vice President of the record label...and during Ray's early years in Nashville it was usually Chet that hired him for numerous recording sessions...so their friendship went way back to the early '60s. In addition to Chet's presence at RCA one of Ray's other long time friends, Jerry Reed, had been on the RCA roster for a number of years and so the two of them became label mates. I don't know who officially signed Ray to the RCA label but by the fall of 1979 he was performing an unrecorded song in his concerts and he performed it on television a couple of times as well. In a television movie that aired in October of 1979, Concrete Cowboys, there's a brief clip of him performing this song and in an episode of Pop! Goes the Country from 1979 he performed the song in it's entirety and spoke of it's origins.

The song was comical...not necessarily a song...it was a narration almost. The title being "Shriner's Convention" Ray told the tale of an unorthodox Shriner named Noble Lumkin being scolded during a telephone conversation by head Shriner, the Illustrious Potentate. It's a one-sided conversation and all we hear is the head Shriner giving orders and then reacting to what he hears on the other side of the phone. There are three separate phone conversations between the two Shriner's...in the first conversation the Illustrious Potentate calls Noble Lumkin but the Noble has no idea who this 'Illustrious Potentate' happens to be. Potentate rather quickly grows frustrated within the first several seconds and drops the formalities and angrily replies "Coy!!! This is Bubba!!!". The satirical lyrics and the kind of humor presented throughout the recording was risky...meaning that it's a type of song that perhaps is only appealing to those within one of those fraternity organizations and therefore will get the humor and understand the nuances of the lyrics more so than a general audience might. Fortunately, though, a general audience loved "Shriner's Convention" when RCA released it as a single in February of 1980. The antics of Coy and the annoyance of Bubba tickled the funny bone of those that heard the recording and those two fictional characters became just as synonymous with Ray as Ahab, Fatima, Clyde, Gitarzan, and Ethel had become in the past. Coy loved motorcycles, for example, and in one phone conversation Bubba memorably asks how Coy was able to get the Harley on the high dive of the motel's swimming pool. The song was inspired by an actual Shriner's convention that was taking place and while Ray was on the road in the middle of a tour one of the hotels he was staying at included rooms being occupied by several boisterous Shriner's that, according to Ray's recollections, "were having way too much fun...carrying on all night long..." and so he created a story of a boisterous Shriner and how his behavior is frowned upon by the more senior members of the fraternity.

"Shriner's Convention" became a big hit for Ray early in 1980. It made it into the Country Top-10...and while all of this was going on he was working on a Shriner's Convention album. RCA issued two versions of the single. There is an edited version for radio that has a running time of 4 minutes and 10 seconds. There is also an unedited version with a running time of 5 minutes and 33 seconds. RCA issued a promotional single featuring the Edited copy on one side and the Unedited copy on the other side. The commercial release featured "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me" on the B-side. Ironically, in the United Kingdom, RCA released a different single on Ray...his comical approach to the pop love ballad, "Hey There". The B-side remained "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me". I'm assuming RCA felt the humor of "Shriner's Convention" wouldn't play that well to an international audience. In Canada "Shriner's Convention" hit the runner-up position on their Country chart. The album's cover, as you can see, depicts Coy on his motorcycle with the waitress he picked up when he visited the motel's swimming pool. In the background are angry Shriner's and on the back of the album there's a couple of comic strip panels focusing on the plot of the song with Bubba growing annoyed, panel by panel, over Coy's antics. The album reached the Top-10 on the Country Album chart in the spring of 1980. The entire first half of 1980 for Ray Stevens was all things Shriner, Coy, and Bubba. The album features nine novelty songs...some of them are "Coin Machine", "The Last Laugh", "The Watch Song", and a song that's become popular among his fans, "The Dooright Family". Ray performed "Shriner's Convention" and "Love Me Longer" on an episode of Hee Haw...the episode originally aired on February 16, 1980...which was right around the time the "Shriner's Convention" single was just starting to take off. By the middle of 1980 Ray was distancing himself once again from the comedy and along came a bouncy bar room ballad titled "Night Games" from the pen of Buddy Kalb. This single was backed with another Buddy Kalb composition, "Let's Do It Right This Time". An article in Country Song Roundup featuring Ray on the cover hit the market in September 1980. The name of this article is More Than Meets the Ear and it's an article that puts a spotlight on his serious side and how the comedy records overshadow the serious material.

"Night Games" reached the Top-20 on the Country chart in the fall of 1980...fitting right in with the national trend taking place in the wake of the Urban Cowboy movie...where all walks of life were dressing up in Western attire and acting as if they were real cowboys and cowgirls. Not only that but radio stations were flipping their formats from Adult-Contemporary and pop music to country music. The trend took over the Country Music industry for a solid three years...at least. The film made it's debut in June of 1980 and it catapulted Mickey Gilley, already a successful Country music singer, into a superstar and his night-club, Gilley's, became an international tourist attraction (the bulk of the movie took place inside Mickey's famous, former night-club). A second 1980 appearance on Hee Haw which aired on October 11, 1980 featured Ray performing "Night Games" as well as "You've Got the Music Inside". RCA didn't issue any further singles from Ray in 1980 following "Night Games". The year featured a couple of recognition's for his career in the form of induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. RCA released a follow-up to "Night Games" early in 1981...as it turned out "Night Games" was the first single release from a forthcoming studio album from Ray. The title track of this forthcoming album turned up in single form early in 1981. The lover's plea "One More Last Chance" is a ballad overflowing with all kinds of energy...not necessarily a power ballad...but the song kicks off with an electric guitar and the music swells up during a brief intro prior to Ray delivering the first words of the song. The song hit the Country Top-40 and it was followed by the album, One More Last Chance. It's such a wonderful collection of mostly love ballads...with heavy use of steel guitar on several songs...and on the album's cover there's Ray dressed up in his Western/casual attire...showcasing the trend of Urban Cowboy for one and all to see...

One of the unfortunate things surrounding this album is that RCA nor Ray explored anything else from the album. "Night Games" is on this album but it's more of a 1980 hit single while the title track hit early in 1981...and was climbing the Country chart at the time of the album's release. Upon the peak of the "One More Last Chance" single there would be the entire calendar year of 1981 remaining but as it turned out RCA never released any further singles from this album. Ray, in the meantime, was still touring heavily and his television appearances were just as steady. He guest starred for several episodes on the soap opera, Texas, and performed several songs...including "One More Last Chance". The film, The Cannonball Run, starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, became a gigantic movie in the summer of 1981 and beyond. Ray wrote and performed the movie's theme song, "Cannonball". Ray was also heard singing a love ballad he wrote, "Just For the Hell Of It", in the 1981 movie. Some of the songs on One More Last Chance include "I Believe You Love Me", "Melissa", his uptempo arrangement of "Pretend", "It's Not All Over", and the beautiful "Just About Love". Don't quote me on this but I think this is one of the first studio albums or possibly the only studio album in his career in which he didn't write or co-write any of the songs. He was still the producer and arranger and he played piano/keyboard/synthesizer as well as the horns heard on "Pretend" but as a songwriter he didn't contribute any of the songs. Regardless of this all of the songs on the album feature his personal stamp given that he musically arranged every song...and music arranging is something he'd been doing on all of his albums and singles going back to the early '60s. In part Twelve we'll be heading into 1982 and 1983 and during those particular years Ray was coming to something of a crossroads in his career.

Ray Stevens: Vintage Visuals early 1980s...

Oh yes I'm almost a week late in posting this image on my fan created Ray Stevens blog page. I wrote several blog entries recently centered mostly around Ray's participation in CMA Fest 2019 as well as his concerts at the CabaRay but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of sharing this particular photo...

I almost came close to titling this blog entry 'Georgia at Alabama' as if it were a College ball game. It's Ray Stevens on stage with Alabama, of course. When the photo was posted this past Tuesday on his social media sites I remarked that Ray's belt buckle and vest cry out Urban Cowboy and that the photo has to be from somewhere during the 1980-1982 time frame...maybe 1983. Ray and Alabama were label mates on the RCA roster during that point in time. The label was also the home to Ronnie Milsap, Charley Pride, as well as the label that kept the catalog of Elvis Presley in print. Chet Atkins, one of Ray's closest friends in the music industry, had long been a recording artist (instrumental albums) as well as a record producer for RCA and later an executive at the label but he stepped down as an executive at some point in the late '70s. I'm pretty sure Chet was responsible for guiding Ray to the RCA roster in 1979 once Ray's contract with Warner Brothers expired but I don't know if Chet, himself, signed Ray to RCA in 1979 or if someone else happened to. Ray's debut album for RCA was released in February of 1980 shortly after the release of the album's title track, "Shriner's Convention". Ray recorded three studio albums for RCA: Shriner's Convention (1980), One More Last Chance (1981), and Don't Laugh Now (1982). The label released two compilations on Ray during the 1980s: Greatest Hits (1983) and Collector's Series (1985). The latter was a general release in which artists both past and present for RCA were each given their own Collector's Series spotlight release. Ray had joined MCA Records by the time RCA began issuing the Collector's Series compilations so he was considered, obviously, a former RCA artist. Each release consisted of eight songs. Chet Atkins, in the meantime, had departed from RCA in 1982 after a decades long run. He joined the label in 1957 and so he spent 35 years on their roster as a recording artist and music executive before departing for Columbia Records. I imagine it's pure coincidence that Ray's third and final studio album for RCA arrived the same year Chet departed from the label: 1982.

Now...about that photo...

Ray, as you can see, is in the early '80s country music attire...casual clothing with a decidedly western flavor (Urban Cowboy). The next thing that caught my eye is the wild hair of their drummer but then the third thing that caught my eye is Jeff Cook's shirt!! Does it look familiar? If you're a Ray Stevens fan the shirt should be very familiar to you. In addition to it's appearance on 1983's Greatest Hits (released on RCA) Ray also wore the shirt (or one very similar) in a television appearance in an episode of The Fall Guy. He appeared in the episode 'The Pirates of Nashville' and during a performance scene of "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee" he wore one of those flowery black button up shirts. The episode originally aired November 23, 1983. Ray Stevens, Dottie West, and The Charlie Daniels Band appear. Dottie and Charlie appear as themselves, though, while Ray plays a fictional character essential to the episode's story-line. The irony, though, is at the time of Ray's appearance on The Fall Guy he had signed with Mercury Records and had issued a studio album, Me, and so he wasn't on the RCA roster when his episode of The Fall Guy premiered; and yet another irony is one of Ray's RCA recordings is heard in the background, 1982's "Country Boy, Country Club Girl", during the show's opening scene. I have no information on the production details of Ray's episode of The Fall Guy. It was taped at some point in the latter half of 1982 or sometime in the first half of 1983 given that it's an episode of the show's 1983-1984 season.  

Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series Extra...1992...

In this Golden LP Series extra we take a look at collection that became available in 1992. Collector's Series had quite a history through the years. It was originally a project released in 1985 by RCA showcasing eight recordings that Ray Stevens did for the label in the early '80s. That collection was re-issued in 1987 with a different album design and a slight change in song selection. The 1987 Collector's Series joined the CD market in 1992. The differences between the 1985 original and the 1987 re-issue was simply a matter of 1 song being replaced by another. In the 1985 collection it features, among it's 8 songs, his 1981 hit single during the Urban Cowboy era, "One More Last Chance". In the 1987 re-issue that song is left off while a novelty from 1980, "Put It In Your Ear", joins the collection. So, what we have in this 1992 CD are eight fabulous recordings from Ray Stevens during the early '80s. This Collector's Series is the only project to exclusively spotlight songs that he recorded for RCA. Unfortunately the series only featured 8 songs per artist. RCA artists both past and present were represented with a Collector's Series release. The songs featured on this obscure collection are: "Shriner's Convention", "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me", "Country Boy, Country Club Girl", "Where the Sun Don't Shine", "The Dooright Family", "Let's Do It Right This Time", "Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Make Love", and "Put It In Your Ear". Again, this project is the only release to feature RCA originated material and nothing more. Unless you have the vinyl albums that he recorded for RCA then this project is a must-have if you can track it down. It's been out of print for years and it's a great showcase of tragically overlooked material. The songs were recorded between the years of 1980 and 1982 and so we're talking about some very early '80s vintage Ray Stevens on this CD. It's a wonderful collection.

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

As we continue on with the Golden LP Series we're up to studio album eighteen in the career of Ray Stevens. This particular studio album arrived in 1981 after what could very easily be considered one of Ray's biggest years. The album also returned Ray to love ballads once more. Titled One More Last Chance, the 1981 album was heavy on slow ballads but it did feature some uptempo selections as well. In a few of Ray's interviews in the latter half of 1980 and into 1981 he expressed his continued desire to have music consumers be as familiar with his love ballads and non-comical recordings as they happened to be with his comical songs. This desire had been a recurring scenario throughout most of Ray's career and it seemed like each time he'd have a huge commercial hit with a comedy recording he'd be determined to follow it up with something extremely serious. A lot of the time the serious works, believe it or not, actually performed quite well on the charts but only a few managed to perform at the same commercial level of his comical releases.

One More Last Chance contained only two single releases, though. The first single emerged in the latter half of 1980, "Night Games", a bar room ballad about the fictional happenings in single's bars across the country. The song became a rather successful release late in 1980 as country music, and for a brief period of time, popular culture, was caught up in all things cowboy and western. Country music, specifically, adopted a commercially successful formula following the success of the Urban Cowboy movie where younger and newer artists were igniting their careers and some established artists shed their '70s fashions in favor of a new look: tight blue jeans, fringe filled suits and vests, and the ever popular cowboy hat. Some established artists didn't adopt this new look but they did alter their fashions a little bit with a more casual look rather than the businessman approach with suit and tie. "Night Games", written by Buddy Kalb, reached the Top-20 on the country charts in late 1980. Ray, in the meantime, was one of the artists who adopted that cowboy look in a few of his appearances. Although he didn't go all out and become a visual replica of any member of The Riders in the Sky he nevertheless, at times, wore the fringe vests and cowboy hat.

After the Top-20 success of "Night Games", Ray spent most of 1981 appearing on numerous television programs, country music related or otherwise. One of his more surprising appearances took place on the daytime soap opera, Texas. Ray appeared as himself during several episodes that took place within a fictional night-club and he performed on the soap opera during his final episode. What song did he sing? "One More Last Chance"...which happened to be his current single and the title of his 1981 studio album. The title track features a heavy dose of the steel guitar and it's a lover's plea of forgiveness. The single reached the Country Top-40 but it's sound wasn't as catchy as "Night Games" happened to be but it's a great performance all the same. The album features 10 songs, the standard number of selections on most albums of the time period. The two singles open and close the album...with "One More Last Chance" kicking things off and "Night Games" wrapping things up. Sandwiched between those two recordings are 8 immaculately produced love ballads of varying tempo. By now you know that I don't pick favorites when it comes to Ray Stevens recordings...they're all good...some stand out more than others but as I've often said there's typically something great that can be taken away from any Ray Stevens recording in my opinion. One of the few uptempo songs on this particular LP is his cover of "Pretend". Traditionally performed as a slow ballad, Ray's take on the song transforms it from slow ballad to rollicking joy with a Mexican-Spanish flavor in the instrumentation. "I Believe You Love Me", a love ballad performed in part mid-tempo, tells the story of a relationship falling apart but the man thinks the woman still loves him regardless. One of the slowest ballads on the LP is "Just About Love"...it starts out slow and it slowly builds up to what one may think will be a powerful climax only for the tempo to fall back down abruptly to a crawl as the song comes to it's conclusion. It's a great performance about a man whose facing the facts that his relationship with a woman is coming to an end.

In the mid-tempo range comes "Let's Do It Right This Time" which tells the tale of a relationship on the verge of collapse with the man in the song urging for a do over, in other words: a second chance...which keeps in step with the overall theme of the LP. Much of the subject matter in the songs deal with marital strife, relationship misery, love gone sour, and optimistic hope for reconciliation. It's one of the more country music flavored LP's from Ray Stevens in his vast catalog of studio albums. "It's Not All Over" carries a sense of denial in that the guy refuses to accept the realities of a bad relationship and instead tries to talk himself into believing that things can be worked out. One of the most unique songs, "Melissa", is about a guy who meets up with a woman and apparently falls madly in love with her. The two are complete opposites of each other when it comes to social, economical, and culture backgrounds and yet he can't get over that one time encounter. While most of the songs deal with love gone wrong, there's one song on here that deals with love prevention and that's "Take Your Love". In it, Ray sings about the concept of pushing away a woman who gets too close because everyone the guy's had a relationship with always ends up leaving him and so he doesn't want to go through it all over again.

Studio album eighteen was a love ballad feast and an LP that was extremely serious...once again showing how multi-talented Ray Stevens happened to be vocally. This was his second studio album for RCA and the third studio album from 1982 was nothing to laugh at, either. In the meantime, Ray was revving up his engine vocally in the summer of 1981 as his voice was heard all over the world performing the theme song for the huge hit film, The Cannonball Run, starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise with an all-star supporting cast. The theme song's chorus was heard at various times throughout the film anytime there were far shots showing the progression of the auto race. Ray was also heard performing a love ballad titled "Just For the Hell of It" during a love scene. Coming up we take a look at studio album nineteen in the career of Ray Stevens...be on the lookout for it!

Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 24...

The latest music video from Ray Stevens, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has risen to 111,038 unique views...this is an increase of 2,436 views in a couple days time.

We take a trip back 30 years to 1981 to highlight another great album from Ray Stevens. It's an album that I can write things about without getting tired of doing so. So far I think I've written 3 or 4 other blog entries about this unheralded gem of an album...the title of which is One More Last Chance.

Unheralded may be an exaggeration but based upon the passage of time it's clearly become an obscure album even though at the time of it's original release it boasted two major country hits for Ray in the form of the title track, "One More Last Chance", which reached the country music Top-40, and "Night Games", which had reached the country Top-20 late in 1980. Based on the fact that it's first single hit late in 1980 and the title track hit in the early half of 1981 and no other singles were released means that for the bulk of 1981 there wasn't anything new being promoted on Ray Stevens in relation to this album. An unconventional source of publicity, however, came along later in 1981 when Ray made a guest appearance on the soap opera, Texas. Ray had some dialogue in the soap opera and he was written in as the celebrity appearing at a fictional night-club. Ray performed "One More Last Chance" in the show.

The albums first single, "Night Games", dealt with singles bars and it fit in perfectly with the Urban Cowboy craze in country music during that time period. Those not familiar with the phrase "urban cowboy" need to read up on the movie starring John Travolta and it's impact on country music sales and mainstream popularity during 1980-1983.

Ray, as some outside of the loop may not be familiar with, used to appear in concert wearing a cowboy hat during the early '80s...and the Western fashions that you see him wearing on the 1981 album was commonplace for nearly all country singers who were affiliated with, or supported, the Urban Cowboy trend.

Depending on who you ask there's all kinds of opinion on the fad...the more devout traditionalists in country music have nothing but contempt for Urban Cowboy while the more commercially aware country singers credit the craze with either boosting their careers or affording them some publicity outside of country music. There's a popular misconception that if a singer is commercially aware, or trendy, that they're not a legitimate "artist". This belief is something I don't agree with...but it's a belief that's popular nonetheless. The way I see it, a singer can be in it for the music but still have the desire to want their music to be commercially successful, too. Some people out there take the attitude that singers must be in it "for the love of the music" and any hint of commercial aspirations from a singer will result in that singer being treated like the plague. I know that sounds harsh but I've read commentary for years from those who hold those similar kinds of views so I know what I'm writing about.

Ironically, "Night Games" closes out the 1981 album. "One More Last Chance" opens up the album. In between those two songs lay a wealth of country ballads and mood music. In hindsight one of the songs that should have also been issued as a single is "Let's Do It Right This Time". When you hear it you'll wonder why it wasn't a commercial single, too. Perhaps this is why it was chosen in 1985 to be part of RCA's Collectors Series release that they did on Ray. "Certain Songs" has a power ballad feeling...the arrangement is similar to the style popularly associated with Barry Manilow. Elsewhere on the album is the slow ballad "Just About Love" as well as "Take Your Love", another song that should have been a commercial single in my opinion!! "It's Not All Over", a song about a man who won't let a woman leaving him confine him to loneliness, is another example of a song that should have been issued as a single.

The only song that breaks the slow to mid-tempo pace of the album is the wild, Mexican-Spanish arrangement on "Pretend", the slow ballad pop hit popularized by Nat King Cole. The atmosphere created by Ray successfully causes you to forget, during the course of the performance, what the original sounded like.

1. One More Last Chance
2. Just About Love
3. Certain Songs
4. Melissa
5. I Believe You Love Me
6. Pretend
7. It's Not All Over
8. Let's Do It Right This Time
9. Take Your Love
10. Night Games

Although I know that this 1981 album hasn't been issued digitally, either on CD or Mp3, I nonetheless am aware that vinyl copies still come up for sale at on-line auction sites. I purchased my copy of the vinyl album from an auction site.

Also, purchasing a turn-table isn't such a difficult thing to do, either. There's a couple of places on-line that sell record players and I'm sure you can find them in shopping stores around Christmas time as a "nostalgia" item from the very same companies who sell their items on-line during the rest of the year.

I got a turn table for Christmas this past year...right off the racks of a local shopping store! So, it's highly possible to come across turn tables if you look for them. eBay and other places enable a person to substantially add vinyl albums and singles to start their collection or add to their collection. Again...there are ways for people to get vinyl and to get record players and it's no longer an excuse for some out there to say "I can't find a record player anywhere!!". This sentiment was accurate maybe 20 years ago during the huge proliferation of the CD market but nowadays it's rather easy to find reputable on-line companies that offer record players. The brand name of two of my record players is Crosley. This marks the third record player I own. My first one was built into what appears to be a suitcase which is model number CR249 at Crosley's web-site. The second one I bought is from a company called Detrola and the third one in the picture you see above is from Crosley.

Each of the record players are still in working condition...the reason I wanted multiple record players is just to have them. You don't want to wear out a record player and then not have a back-up ready. A record player will last as long as it's taken care of...and you don't really want to wear one out from excessive plays...so what I do is use them sparingly. The image off to the right that shows the picture of Losin' Streak, a 1973 album from Ray Stevens, is an image of my Detrola record player with it'd lid raised. This particular record player comes with a cassette attachment, radio, and CD player.

Ray Stevens talks songwriting in 1982...

I do not know at what point in 1982 that this interview was conducted but it's a very good interview...it's an interview that sometimes plays out like one of those intimate 60 Minutes interviews and the reason I say this is because of the camera angles and the close-up's and the overall tone of the interview. There is some levity and jokes but for the most part it's a deadly serious discussion about songwriting. Ray talks about his inspiration for "The Streak" and "Everything Is Beautiful". Along the way Ray explains that he's been busy writing songs for what I assume is an upcoming album. If this is the case, depending on at what point in 1982 this interview was taped, Ray could have been talking about some of the songs he wrote for his 1982 Don't Laugh Now album or he could have been referring to the songs he wrote for his Me album, which was released in 1983.

The interview is conducted by the McCain Brothers and they ask about Ray's future projects. Newcomer fans of Ray Stevens who watch this may find it revealing that even in 1982 he was wanting to get into television regularly with a possible television program. This goal remained a constant throughout his career and it may have been fueled in the late '60s when so many pop/country singers were hosting their own television programs. Ray, in fact, became something of a regular on Andy Williams' show between 1969 and 1971...hosting the summer replacement show for Andy in 1970. In the early '90s Ray put together a pilot called Amazing Rolling Revue. It's long been out of print after initially being released on home video. The project was originally taped as a pilot for a television show. The title of the show referred to the way in which the comedy revue was presented. Based on the pilot, the show would feature skits and characters in addition to a special guest or two. Currently Ray sporadically tapes a series of shows called We Ain't Dead Yet which features a lot of country music personalities as regulars. It features a special guest each episode, too. This show is part of Ray Stevens Backstage, a subscription based service at his web-page.

Ray has appeared on countless television programs through the years. One of the things that I find interesting is back in the '60s and '70s the promotion departments of the various non-country music television programs would refer to Ray as composer/singer Ray Stevens. As the 1980's dawned, though, those same television shows would classify Ray as country artist/songwriter and then by the end of the decade he'd be referred to as a country comedian. Naturally, though, with the various style shifts in Ray's career through the years it makes sense.

Ray Stevens: Take Your Love...take it and go...

One of my favorite songs on the 1981 Ray Stevens album, One More Last Chance, is "Take Your Love". It's a love ballad delivered with a sense of urgency and emotion not heard on previous love ballads by Ray Stevens. In the song, Ray sings about a life that's seen nothing but heartaches and trouble ever since he lost a woman he once was a companion with. This advise of "take your love..." is being directed at a new woman in the man's life. The man doesn't want to risk being hurt once more and so he tells her to go away and gives her warning that being with him wouldn't be a pleasant task. The song is ambiguous in that it doesn't really say where it takes place but judging by the lyrics it sounds as if it takes place at a bar...which would fit in with the overall theme of lonesomeness and heartache that this album projects. The album contains 10 songs...mostly all love ballads, or, ballads in general...the only time the album really kicks into high gear is on the trumpet heavy song, "Pretend", which was originally a slow ballad by Nat King Cole. "Pretend" in the hands of Ray Stevens is turned into a Herb Alpert-like number. It's a catchy performance. "Take Your Love" is on the opposite extreme. The title track, which hit the country music Top-40, features electric guitars as the lead instruments and it has a mid-tempo melody but it's still, of course, a love ballad.

1. One More Last Chance {mid-tempo}
2. Just About Love
3. Certain Songs
4. Melissa
5. I Believe You Love Me {mid-tempo}
6. Pretend {up-tempo}
7. It's Not All Over
8. Let's Do it Right This Time {mid-tempo}
9. Take Your Love
10. Night Games {mid-tempo}

Ray Stevens: For those curious...

For those curious, this is the back cover of One More Last Chance, Ray Stevens' 1981 album on RCA Records. As I touched upon in other blog entries, during this era in Ray's career he looked every bit the part of the urban cowboy. I saw him a couple of times on television during the early '80s...programs that were re-ran in the 1990's. On one such appearance he appeared on Hee-Haw in 1980 and sang "Shriner's Convention" and "Love Me Longer". The latter was a song he had recorded in 1973. Why he chose to perform that specific song instead of more recent recordings I don't know...but the lyrics do carry a sort of macho, one-night stand approach which fed into the urban cowboy movement in country music.

One More Last Chance...and the Urban Cowboy

Ahhh, this is the cover of Ray Stevens 1981 RCA album, One More Last Chance. I do not know who the people are in the picture except for Ray Stevens of course. The back of the album shows him grinning wearing the cowboy hat.

As I mentioned in one of my Ray Stevens career essay's, this album was released in 1981 at the peak of the Urban Cowboy movement that swept through country music. Urban Cowboy is a 1980 movie starring John Travolta. The movie took place mostly at country singer Mickey Gilley's bar in Texas, known as "Gilley's". The movement included many people outside of country music embracing the "country" image and wearing "country" apparel. Cowboy hats, boots, fringe vests, and anything else that would cry out "country" was bought up by those caught up in the Urban Cowboy movie. The movie's soundtrack was a huge success, too. Ray took on an Urban Cowboy look during this period...often appearing in blue jeans and those style of shirts. In one Hee-Haw appearance from 1980 he performs a love ballad wearing a cowboy hat looking similar to Johnny Lee, a country singer whose biggest hit "Lookin' For Love" was the theme song of the Urban Cowboy movie.

One More Last Chance featured a well-crafted line-up of songs running through a myriad of emotions. The album was ballad heavy with just a few songs making it to mid-tempo. "One More Last Chance" featured an electric guitar as it's lead instrument...but the steel guitar was prominent on the recording as well. "Just About Love", "Let's Do It Right This Time", "It's Not All Over", "Certain Songs" and "I Believe You Love Me" play on the album's concept of love gone wrong with the hope of another chance. "Melissa" is a deep love ballad that tells the story of a man who falls in love with a woman but the two of them have very different lifestyles and yet he still loves her. "Take Your Love" is a song that cuts to the heart and the man pleads with a woman to take her love and go because he isn't cut out for relationships due to all of the bad ones he's been in. "Pretend" is the only song that breaks the mood...it comes on with an urgent brass section and Mexican-flavored arrangements. It is the same song that Nat King Cole had a hit with as a ballad but Ray's version is up-tempo...it's sort of like Ray Stevens meets Herb Alpert, which may give you an idea of how the song sounds.

The album's closing song, "Night Games", was actually a Top-20 single for Ray in late 1980 but it never appeared on an album until this one was released. That song takes place inside a bar room where a story unfolds between a woman and a man who meet one another at a bar, perhaps Gilley's? Anyway, the song tells the story of the couple who find one another, have a one night stand, and wake up the next morning embarrassed and feeling awkward over what took place but because the two are hopeless romantics they'll leave each other and go out on the town later that night looking for love{?} and join everybody else who are out there playing night games.