Ray Charles
Genius & Friends

Unfortunately, the years pass for everyone, and our Ray must also endure the consequences. Here he is, fatigued and tired, behind the inseparable piano, trying to hold together an album that, despite the marketing hype, is not this touted masterpiece.
Here he is displaying the great skill he has honed over the years, with colorless and bland semi-soul pieces ("All I Want To Do") heard at least two million times, or the "usual" "You Are My Sunshine," nice but nothing more, and so on in a melange of easy-listening clichés heard over and over again without a shred, not even one shred, of novelty. You might say: the Genius is the Genius and woe betide anyone who touches him, or that at 74 years old, what more could you want from his life with what he has given (watch the film Ray about his life). The point isn't about the music, which you can listen to and appreciate, the point is "but who made him do it"... passion for music? The desire to still say something? For me, it is ONLY a gigantic marketing/promotion machine and more, put together deliberately, coincidentally close to his death just a few months ago.

And so what do our people do? add Angie Stone, two ounces of Diana Ross, a pinch of George Michael, and a shot of Laura Pausini who has sold a lot, mix it all up hoping that the sum of the individual fortunes (in terms of sales volume) will boost the sales of this zombie-CD, dull and weak (aside from a few tracks, see Imagine by J. Lennon and little else, but here the highlight is the Gospel voices supporting the grandfather...), only good enough for my mother to buy, who is his age (and she knocks on wood every time I mention him) or for some nutcase who will purchase it convinced they are holding a shred of his musical legacy...

Shall we bet that after this album "Ry Live" will arrive (I can already see it), "Genius & Friends 2", "Good By Ray" and a whole slew of products scraped from the bottom of his vast production: in short, nothing new... it's a film we've already seen with Hendrix, The Doors, and the like. In short, a nice album but nothing more!
And now, please, as scripted, attack me because I've "dared" to criticize an icon like Charles...