I really don't know where to start with Charles' music. I don't like listening to greatest hits records before hearing what they sound like on studio albums.

Any suggestions? I heard True to Life and absolutely loved it.

It's a bit of a problem with Ray Charles because he did a wide range of albums in various genres. He did albums of soul music, big band music, jazz, ballads & standards, soul, gospel, and even country & western. So you may like a soul music album by Ray, but not like his big band music.

He did a two country and western albums in 1962 called Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Vol. I and II, which I really like even though I'm not particularly found of country music. I Can't Stop Loving You is from those albums.



From my perspective, it's best to get acquainted with an eclectic artist like Ray Charles by purchasing an anthology of his music. That way you can appreciate the full scope of his work and then decide which of his work in various musical genres you like best. Otherwise, you'd have to purchase 8 or 10 of Ray Charles' studio albums to fully appreciate his musical legacy.

The best anthology of Ray's music is the 2009 release, Genius- The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection for several reasons. The 21 songs on the collection really do span Charles' musical career highlights and will orient you to his wide ranging talents. All of the songs have been digitally remastered, which is good because many of Ray Charles' early studio albums have a poor quality analog sound. Finally the price of the album in both cd and MP3 formats is reasonable.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...ection2009.jpg
Genius- The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection

I like this guy、、、、

A Ray Charles album came out in 2006 that included previously unreleased live performances by Ray mixed with the contemporary Basie band. Awesome.