Ray Charles Vinyl Records – Modern Sounds, The Best Of & Essential Albums on Vinyl

Ray Charles is the single most influential American musician of the post-war era. Born in Albany, Georgia in 1930 and raised in Greenville, Florida, blind from the age of seven, he taught himself piano as a child and spent his teenage years gigging across the segregated South before signing to Atlantic Records in 1952 — the deal that would transform popular music. By fusing gospel structure with R&B emotion, then folding in country, jazz, pop and big-band arrangements without ever pretending these were distinct genres, Charles essentially invented soul music. Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke all built directly on what he did first.

His most famous run came in the early 1960s after the move to ABC-Paramount: Hit the Road Jack, Georgia on My Mind, I Can't Stop Loving You and the album that broke the colour line of American popular music — Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962), which forced country onto Black radio and onto white American culture's conscience simultaneously. He continued to record and tour through fifty years of subsequent decades, increasingly as a national institution, before his death in Beverly Hills in 2004. His final album, Genius Loves Company, was released two months after he died and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Ray Charles on vinyl is essential — the Atlantic and ABC originals are some of the most carefully recorded American music of their era, and the recent 180g reissues are consistently strong.

Best Ray Charles Albums on Vinyl

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)
His masterpiece and one of the most important records in 20th-century American popular music. I Can't Stop Loving You, You Don't Know Me, Born to Lose, Hey, Good Lookin' — Charles applied his Atlantic-era soul phrasing to the country songbook and forced the integration of two musical worlds that had been kept apart. Essential.

The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)
His final Atlantic album and the record where he most fully integrated his big-band ambitions. Let the Good Times Roll, It Had to Be You, Just for a Thrill, Come Rain or Come Shine — side one is up-tempo big-band swing; side two is ballads with strings. A perfect crystallisation of what Charles could do.

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Volume Two (1962)
The same-year follow-up to the original Modern Sounds. You Are My Sunshine, Take These Chains from My Heart, You Don't Know Me — an arguably even stronger collection of country reinterpretations than the original. Frequently overshadowed by Volume One; rightly considered its equal by serious Charles collectors.

Ray Charles in Person (1960)
The live album recorded in front of a Black audience in Atlanta in 1959. What'd I Say (the eponymous extended Latin-tinged groove that he'd reportedly improvised on stage and turned into one of the defining rock and roll records), Drown in My Own Tears, The Right Time — a recording that captures Charles as a live artist with extraordinary fidelity.

Genius Loves Company (2004)
His final album, released two months after his death. Duets with Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, B.B. King, Diana Krall, Van Morrison and others. Won eight Grammys including Album of the Year. A genuinely fitting send-off and a beautifully produced record in its own right.

The Best of Ray Charles (Atlantic, various)
The compilation that introduces most listeners to the Atlantic-era catalogue. I've Got a Woman, Hallelujah I Love Her So, This Little Girl of Mine, Mess Around — the recordings that built the template for soul music. The Limited Clear Vinyl Edition is the current essential pressing.

If You Like Ray Charles vinyl records, check these out:

Stevie Wonder Vinyl Records – Songs in the Key of Life, Innervisions & Essential Albums on Vinyl Stevie Wonder Marvin Gaye Vinyl Records – What's Going On, Let's Get It On & Classic Albums on Vinyl Marvin Gaye Nina Simone Vinyl Records – Little Girl Blue, I Put a Spell on You & Essential Albums on Vinyl Nina Simone Miles Davis Vinyl Records – Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew & Essential Jazz Albums on Vinyl Miles Davis Johnny Cash Vinyl Records – At Folsom Prison, American Recordings & Essential Albums on Vinyl Johnny Cash

Browse Ray Charles by genre:

Jazz / SwingPopSoul, Funk & R&B