RAY CHARLES GENIUS SINGS BLUES RARE ORIG '60 ATLANTIC MONO LP BLUES CLASSIC EXC

$

54

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  MORE THAN 400  LISTED ITEMS

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·       RAY CHARLES - THE GENIUS SINGS THE BLUES – ORIGINAL ATLANTIC RECORDS 1960 MONO LP 8052

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

*** INSANELY RARE STILL SEALED GUARANTEED ORIGINAL FIRST MONO PRESSING ***

·       GUARANTEED ORIGINAL  PURPLE AND PINK ATLANTIC MONO LABEL WITH WHITE "FAN" LOGO  , SUCH AS THE ONE SHOWN BELOW, FROM OUR PREVIOUS AUCTION

·       EXTREMELY RARE MONO PRESSING, MANY TIMES RARER THAN FAKE (“ELECTRONICALLY RECHANELLED”) STEREO

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       THICK CARDBOARD COVER, AMERICAN STYLE.

·       ORIGINAL TEXTURED (NIBBED) COVER

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

 (►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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Ray Charles was a master interpreter of virtually any style he attempted. Jazz, soul, country, pop, and blues: He recorded classics in each field. "The Genius Sings the Blues" is the best example of his blues output, some of the recordings considered the definitive performances of the songs featured. While most are slow and moody to fit the genre, the rocking "Night Time is the Right Time" provides a brief respite with its raunchy saxophone playing of "Fathead" Newman, and the show-stealing support of the Raelettes (Charles's female backup singers). The Raelettes are conspicuously absent on "I Believe to My Soul," another classic, with Charles this time providing falsetto backup singing for himself. Charles feels absolutely at home singing these blues standards and a few of his own compositions with his rare combination of soul and chops.

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY KENNETH BRIGHAM, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

Make no mistake: what ‘Nightbeat’ is for Sam Cooke, what ‘Otis Blue/Otis Redding sings Soul” is for Otis Redding and what “Tell Mama” is for Etta James, ‘Genius Sings the Blues’ is for Ray Charles – simply his most brilliant artistic statement, his shining hour,  the resplendent showcase for his vocal and instrumental talent, which – on this album – is on abundant, almost overpowering, display – and the crowning achievement of his 50-year career. 

By far the least commercially successful of all Ray Charles' Atlantic albums – and, as a result, one of the hardest-to-find - this 1960 album is (in our humble opinion) ALSO by far Brother Ray’s best… released almost as an afterthought by Atlantic to capitalize on Ray Charles’ newly found fame and fortune after Brother Ray signed up for ABC-Paramount and abandoned Atlantic in 1960, this gorgeous collection compiles his seminal early Blues, Soul and R&B sides recorded for Atlantic between 1952 and 1959. The tracks vary between straight blues (Feelin' sad - Nobody cares - Some day baby) to bouncy, jumpy R&B Kansas City-style vocal Jazz (Early in the morning) to straight Rock & Roll (Ray's wonderful cover of Hank Snow's "I'm movin' on" which shows his early proclivity for country music and even Rockabilly).  Songs on this album have been covered by anyone and everyone in the universe. Just one of the tracks - the incredible "I believe to my soul" must have been covered by more than 30 artists - both black and white - over the past 50 years, including Joe Cocker, Humble Pie. Donny Hathaway and many, many, many more.  You are looking at what surely must be one of three or four defining moments of Soul Music. Period, end of the sentence, end of the story, case closed.

For its extraordinary contribution to the modern music, superb production, craftsmanship, fine musicianship, revolutionary significance and influence it exerted on numerous generations of musicians, writers and general public, or for some other innate quality, this album was voted one of top-200 albums of all time in one of the largest poll of critics, music reviewers, professionals and producers ever organized: the poll, which was conducted by Paul Gambaccini, legendary BBC Radio A&R man, surveyed more than 50 top music professionals (including Roy Carr, Jonathan Cott, Robert Christgau, Cameron Crowe, Chet Flippo, Ben Fong-Torres, Charlie Gillett, Greil Marcus, Murray the K., Lenny Kaye, Bruce Morrow (a/k/a "Cousin Brucie"), Tim Rice (of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" fame), Lisa Robinson, Robert Shelton (who wrote liner notes for Bob Dylan's first album), Ed Ward, Joel Whitburn, Pete Wingfield, etc.). For more details, see: "Critics Choice: Top-200 albums" compiled by Paul Gambaccini, Omnibus Press, Library of Congress Catalog No.7855565 (or ►click here  for complete album listing)

And, finally, if this is of any relevance (and we do not claim that it is) "Genius sings the Blues " is an important  entry in ►my personal top list. Other entries on our top-15 list (in no particular order) include Otis Redding, Love, Sam Cooke,  Can, Tim Buckley, Byrds, James Carr,  Stooges, Five Royales,  Everly Brothers, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Richard and Linda Thompson and  Muddy Waters)

For additional historical or discography information on this album, including track listing ►click here

TO SEE IF WE HAVE OTHER LISTED ITEMS BY THIS GROUP OR ARTIST ►  CLICK HERE

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·                               CONDITION:

·                               THE RECORD

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)           Mono pressing of this title is much rarer, and by far more  preferable to its FAKE ("electronically rechannelled") stereo counterpart. We estimate that FAKE stereo copies of this album outnumber monos by a ratio of at least 5:1.

(d)          The record comes in the original stock inner sleeve.

(e)           True Stereo copies of this album are NOT known to exist.

(f)            Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·                               THE COVER

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT VERY GOOD++ (VG++).

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has some light ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 3

-        The  cover has circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

-        Cover shows some light yellowing on both sides, apparently from aging.

-        Cover has some writing on its back side (name of the previous owner written in blue ballpoint pen, about 1/4 x 2 inches in size)

-        Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine   (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

-        Visible shelf wear noted on the seams

-        Cover has all four corners slightly worn / dinged (nothing significant)

-        Tiny coffee stain noted in one corner on back side (less than ¼ square inch in size)

-        Cover has a light "wrinkle" (crease)  in one of the corners.  (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

We offer THREE postage rates for both Domestic and International Mail: Media Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail for domestic, and First Class, Priority International Mail, and Express International Mail for international orders. INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND that you pay for USPS International Priority Mail OR International Express mail when making a payment in order to obtain tracking information, which is NOT available for First Class International shipments.

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from country to country. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates ►click here. While you can be rest assured that ►our packaging is careful, sturdy and impact-proof, please note that damage, loss or theft in transit is always possible, and in the case of some countries even PROBABLE. To discuss this potential problem and ensure flawless delivery, please contact us thru eBay BEFORE placing a bid.

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