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Ray Charles - The Birth of Soul Volume One (1952-1954) (1954)

Track listing:
  1. The Sun's Gunna Shine Again 2:39
  2. Roll With My Baby 2:37
  3. The Midnight Hour 3:01
  4. Jumpin' In The Morning 2:47
  5. It Should Have Been Me 2:44
  6. Losing Hand 3:13
  7. Heartbreaker 2:52
  8. Sinner's Prayer 3:24
  9. Mess Around 2:41
  10. Funny But I Still Love You 3:15
  11. Feelin' Sad 2:50
  12. I Wonder Who 2:49
  13. Don't You Know 2:57
  14. Nobody Cares 2:40
  15. Ray's Blues 2:55
  16. Mr. Charles Blues 2:48
  17. Blackjack 2:17

Notes

The title isn't just hype — this absolutely essential three-disc box is where soul music first took shape and soared, courtesy of Ray Charles' church-soaked pipes and bedrock piano work. Brother Ray's formula for inventing the genre was disarmingly simple: he brought gospel intensity to the R&B world with his seminal "I Got a Woman," "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "Leave My Woman Alone," "You Be My Baby," and the primal 1959 call-and-response classic "What'd I Say." There's plenty of brilliant blues content within these 53 historic sides: Charles' mournful "Losing Hand," "Feelin' Sad," "Hard Times," and "Blackjack" ooze after-hours desperation. No blues collection should be without this boxed set, which comes with well-researched notes by Robert Palmer, a nicely illustrated accompanying booklet, and discographical info aplenty.