20. Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)

1. Let The Good Times Roll
2. It Had To Be You
3. Alexander's Ragtime Band
4. Two Years Of Torture
5. When Your Lover Has Gone
6. Deed I Do
7. Just For A Thrill
8. You Won't Let Me Go
9. Tell Me You'll Wait For Me
10. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin'
11. Am I Blue
12. Come Rain Or Come Shine

You can tell that Ray Charles got to name his own albums, because the word "genius" pops up about 50 times. One thing working in the music industry does not teach artists is modesty. Except for that one part in 'Fuck wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')' where Dr. Dre says "gap teeth in your mouth so my dick's got to fit". I never quite got that lyric, unless he thinks Eazy-E is going to be intimidated by him having a small dick. I mean, I realize the rap game was pretty different in 1992, but


I have to admit, this is definitely my favorite Jamie Foxx alb


Finally, some soul on this list! On the surface, this album sounds like the 20,000 other vocal jazz pop albums, this album has a clear difference in that this man got pipes. After listening to album after album of pleasant sounding but fairly straight laced rendition, this album came as nothing but a relief. Ray Charles sings the hell out of every song on here, particularly the exciting opening numbers. If 'Let The Good Time Roll' doesn't make you want to go out and party, I have sincere doubts about your possessing a soul.

One of the cool things about this album is that it's the first on the list to actually change up the format of the album! While side A consists of more jazzy uptempo tunes, the B side has a bunch of slow ballads. Not exactly the most groundbreaking stuff by our standards, sure, but this is 1959! This was an era where Frankie Avalon was the hottest new talent, so you can't exactly expect innovations in the field of albums when there were communists to be fought.

Though the orchestration sounds pretty much the same as it does in all these other albums, Ray Charles' soulful voice made it that much more listenable. I have to admit, so far on this list black people are kicking our asses. Step it up, white people!

While this album wasn't exactly mind-blowing, in my heart I'm giving it a ten simply for not being Ella fucking Fitzgerald. 8/10