Ray Charles Atlantic Box

[Dave James]

I just bought the new Ray Charles Atlantic box yesterday. Interesting packaging to say the least. I'm deliberately not listening to any of this until I leave on vacation a week from tomorrow, but I did peruse the book (and I do mean book) that comes with the set last night. If I'm reading the tune listing correctly, they've pulled the singles from the rest of the tunes on a given album and programmed them seperately. My preference would have been that they just reproduce the albums as they were released. Maybe I'm being nitpicky...I should just listen and shut up, but preferences are preferences.

Up over and out.

[mikeweil]

This will always be something to debate - recording order vs. album sequence. But: The first issues were singles, so programming after A and B sides would be just as plausible. Consider recordings first issued on 10 inch LPs - hardly anyone has them, but often they were the first albums and tracks re-sequenced for 12 inch LP issue.

I think there are two types of buyers: Those who want to re-experience something connected to the album they first bought, and those with a more systematic or curious approach.

I once listened to Charles recordings in recording order, no matter whether it was R & B or Jazz, and his development as an artist in these parallel artistic streams seemed more clear to me in chronological order.

The feeling of the sessions with Milt Jackson, e.g., comes through better with the sesions intact with stable rhythm sections.

What I was more concerned about when I saw that box in a shop earlier this week was whether that record player actually worked. The guy in the shop told me that you could cook your meals on it, too .....

Edited September 22, 2005 by mikeweil

[Dave James]

The guy in the shop was right. This morning I had bacon and eggs for breakfast. I cooked them on the Charles box. Just make sure the lid is shut all the way so the grease doesn't splatter. Right now, the box is out in the garage changing the oil in my car. It's really quite remarkable.

Up over and out.

[Harold_Z]

Dave - are the recordings originally released in Mono still in mono on this set?

On the old 3 cd set there were quite a few tracks where I really didn't dig the stereo. I was totally used to to the mono on the old early Atlantic lps - which (if I remember correctly) weren't available in stereo

Edited September 23, 2005 by Harold_Z

[mikeweil]

I only had a brief look at the track list, but remember there were mono and stereo versions of some titles, probably because they were from different sessions.

[Dave James]

I looked this over pretty carefully and I don't see any references to stereo or mono versions. They are careful to provide you with the master number of each take, but the word "mono" only came up once and "stereo" not at all. Maybe someone who's more familiar with Charles' material (this is the very first Ray Charles I've ever owned) could comment, but I'm of no help at all here. Sorry I can't shed any more light on this for you guys.

Up over and out.

[desertblues]

I saw this box today at a local store and it sure looks cool! I would be most interested in your opinion of the contents after you check it out...

[mikeweil]

Same here - I'm curious how the previously unissued material is.

Buyers - listen and post!!

[Jazzmoose]

The guy in the shop was right.  This morning I had bacon and eggs for breakfast.  I cooked them on the Charles box.  Just make sure the lid is shut all the way so the grease doesn't splatter.  Right now, the box is out in the garage changing the oil in my car.  It's really quite remarkable.

Up over and out.

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Before I pony up this much money, are the oil changes in Mono or Stereo?

[J.A.W.]

The guy in the shop was right.  This morning I had bacon and eggs for breakfast.  I cooked them on the Charles box.  Just make sure the lid is shut all the way so the grease doesn't splatter.  Right now, the box is out in the garage changing the oil in my car.  It's really quite remarkable.

Up over and out.

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Before I pony up this much money, are the oil changes in Mono or Stereo?

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Surround.

[Chuck Nessa]

The guy in the shop was right.  This morning I had bacon and eggs for breakfast.  I cooked them on the Charles box.  Just make sure the lid is shut all the way so the grease doesn't splatter.  Right now, the box is out in the garage changing the oil in my car.  It's really quite remarkable.

Up over and out.

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Before I pony up this much money, are the oil changes in Mono or Stereo?

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Surround.

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I hate it when that happens.

[jazzbo]

Especially if it's DTS.

[jazzbo]

Such great music in this set. I listened to some of the Atlantic stuff today. Man oh man. . . it's so good.

[Chuck Nessa]

Are we talking about the blind guy or the choral director?

[JSngry]

You mean they weren't the same guy?

[Michael Fitzgerald]

The blind one and the deaf one.

[Soulstation1]

costco has this set for around $95...

i gotta get that jj set first...

[Kalo]

What I was more concerned about when I saw that box in a shop earlier this week was whether that record player actually worked. The guy in the shop told me that you could cook your meals on it, too ..... 

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Can you play it through the Charlie Christian Box "amplifier"?

That is one goofy package.

You mean they weren't the same guy? 

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They don't sound like the same guy.

The blind one and the deaf one.

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Wish I'd thought of that one!

[desertblues]

Got this set (quite unexpectedly) as a birthday gift from my kids last week; I would not hesitate to recommend it! The music is fantastic, I guess I had forgotten how much jazz Charles recorded during his years with Atlantic (1952 - 59). Included in the set are the two albums with Milt Jackson & Fathead Newman's first lp as well as other outstanding tracks with Billy Mitchell, Oscar Pettiford, guitarists Skeeter Best and Kenny Burrell and other greats. There is also a dvd from 1960 when he was still performing his Atlantic material with that bootin' septet featuring Fathead. The biggest surprise to me is disc 7 which is a previously unreleased rehearsal session recorded in a NYC hotel room in 1953 - just Charles and his piano with label owner Ahmet Ertegun. These are not just the usual breakdowns and false starts, Charles runs through a number of tunes and improvisations and at one point tells Ertegun he used to be in a "hillbilly" band and does an instrumental "Little Rock Getaway" and sings "Kentucky Waltz"! The sound quality is excellent throughout the set (the dvd is a bit grainy, but who cares). I think this was mastered by the same team as Rhino's Charles Mingus Atlantic box.

No one has ever done it all (blues, r&b, jazz, pop, country) like Ray Charles!

[medjuck]

I looked this over pretty carefully and I don't see any references to stereo or mono versions.  They are careful to provide you with the master number of each take, but the word "mono" only came up once and "stereo" not at all.  Maybe someone who's more familiar with Charles' material (this is the very first Ray Charles I've ever owned) could comment, but I'm of no help at all here.  Sorry I can't shed any more light on this for you guys.

Up over and out.

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There are a couple of references to Stereo versions of songs (eg. 2 versions of What'd I say-- recorded at different sessions).

[king ubu]

I've posted this in the other thread already, but I figure it may actually belong in this forum, and this is the only thread here... albeit with a bit of a peculiar subtitle... here comes my post from the other thread again, then:

I picked up this box while doing some frustration-shopping (having lost at 120GB drive containing around 95-100 GB of FLAC-compressed and not yet backed-up music files...). Discs 1-4 I have listened to, so far, and wow!

I knew the sides from "The Great Ray Charles" and the sessions with Milt Jackson (I *love* Billy Mitchell! He's one of the reasons why the Thad Jones Mosaic is so tasty!), but most of the rest was new to me.

I loved the early sessions on disc 1, and of course I love the jazz sides. It's a kind of jazz that you won't hear elsewhere, very soulful (yet not in the groovy, finger-poppin' style, rather soulful and bluesy), and no one is showing off here.

Same applies to the Fathead album (which I've heard for the very first time on Saturday).

Another terrific set new to me is the Newport appearance - love "In a Little Spanish Town"!

Sound is terrific, beginning with the 1952 sessions. I'd dare to say that there are not many sessions from '52 that sound so good!

The book is very nicely done, too. The only thing I miss there is some short descriptions going with the photos.

As for the programming/sequencing, I don't care it's not in album sequence. The only album I had before, that I assume being a "typical" Charles fifties Atlantic album is "The Genius of Ray Charles."

Still my guess is that even if I knew more of the original albums, I don't think the chronological sequencing could be bettered by any alternative.

The only thing I don't enjoy is an aspect of the packaging: if you put the discs into the box as I figure they should be put in (they were all loose when I picked it up, so I don't really know), you have trouble getting the ones lying lowest out (discs 4 and 8, I assume, rather than 1 and 5, but as I said, I took them all out and had to figure out first how to put them in properly).

All in all, though, this set is a definitive winner!