During his rehab-year off - without any live gigs to speak of - in 1965, Ray spend a lot of time in his studio. These sessions resulted in an avalanche of singles and three albums, each - seemingly - with a random distribution of songs*: Country & Western Meets Rhythm Blues a.k.a. Together Again (1965), Crying Time (Jan. 1966) and Ray’s Moods (Jul. 1966), and a slew of songs that only were issued as singles.
*As observed by Joël Dufour.
- Together Again
- I Like To Hear It Sometime
- I've Got A Tiger By The Tail (Swingova)
- Please Forgive And Forget
- I Don't Care
- Next Door To The Blues
- Blue Moon Of Kentucky (Swingova)
- Light Out Of Darkness
- Maybe It's Nothing At All
- All Night Long
- Don't Let Her Know
- Watch It Baby
This was the first album to come out with a number of tunes recorded at RPM, Ray's own studio at West Washington Boulevard in Los Angeles. The 4-track console was built by Tom Dowd.Tunes #1, #4 and #8 were recorded at the United Studios in Hollywood in January 1965. Song #10 was recorded in February 1965 at the same studio. These four tracks had Rene Hall on guitar, and Earl Palmer on drums.
Tracks #4 and #8 were originally written for Ballad In Blue. I don't know if the different, string-less versions used in the film were also recorded at United.
The Jack Halloran Singers and The Raelettes took care of the backing vocals.
Tracks #3 and #7 were done in Ray's Swingova rhythm. The term had been invented by arranger Sid Feller when Ray resurrected R&B bandleader Buddy Johnson's 1943 hit Baby, Don't You Cry, to emphasize its hybrid swing/bossa nova style (at that time the bossa nova was 'sweeping the nation')*.
Arrangers: Sid Feller (#1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8,10, 11), Onzy Matthews (# 2, 6, 9), and Gerald Wilson (#12).
The album had the first in a series of tasteless album cover designs, a new responsibility of Ray's second man at Ray Charles Enterprises, Joe Adams.
* A fourth Swingova arrangement was Love's Gonna Live Here.
ABC/Paramount 520, August 1965.
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