Night Life
Ray Price
1963
Album Summary
Night Life is the sixth album by country western singer and guitarist Ray Price, backed by his regular touring band, the Cherokee Cowboys. The album was released in 1963 on the Columbia Records label. The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
WikipediaEvery night I feast in complete darkness. Once, I accidentally ate a Puerto Rican kid's ashes. His family were not happy.
It's hard for me to sometimes give such low scores to music that sounds so honest. But within the context of this list, where it's supposed to be about albums that are actually crucial to the history of modern music, or about albums that maybe weren't that influential but are notable by themselves, this one for me doesn't come as a member of any of these two categories. Is it good music? Yes. Is it something I had to listen to get something that I wouldn't be able to get from any other album? I hardly think so
The introduction really set the tone by making the album feel more personal. Can't think of a record that starts with one, but I love it here. This is some real tears-in-your-beer kind of music, but I am here for it. Lyrically, it's great, and vocally, it's superb. Ray Price is a hell of a singer, and really conveys those emotions directly into me. Also, holy hell, Willie Nelson on bass and backing vocals? Neat. Favorite tracks: "Night Life", "Sittin' and Thinkin'", "There's No Fool Like a Young Fool"
Whether you like country or not, there are some finely crafted songs on this album delivered by some magnificent musicians and Price, who is an engaging singer with a great voice. There’s an undertone of darkness and restlessness throughout and you can depict the seediness of the nightclubs Price frequents. Frankly, if you’re not enjoying that fiddling and a backing band known as The Cherokee Cowboys; or you aren’t vibing with songs like Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women then I don’t even want to know you.
I didn’t find any favorites here, but a very classic country sound with lots of steel and slide guitar. Cool find, should know the artist at least.
A focused set of country takes, but in the honky-tonk style which has never completely won me over. Comparisons to Sinatra are ubiquitous; For my part I'll say that Price doesn't have the affect problem I mentioned. There's solid fiddling on several tunes as well, elevating the music above the level of the rest of the playing.
Very odd framing in he album’s intro bit, leading into a straight forward but very good honky tonk record.
I loved this. Pipe smoking rocking chair evening scotch music. Gonna explore this guy's catalog
Sorta country, sorta lounge and kinda frank sinatra. Pretty darn good!
Like the old country. Almost has an Elvis feel to it. Would definitely try some of his other music.
I am constantly impressed with early country songwriting. Ray really nails it here. At this rate, I may have to start saying I like country.
10/10 - woeful as fuck makes we wanna get a trad wife and be emotionally absent to her
I absolutely love the mood and atmosphere of this album. I often think of music in terms of "day music" and "night music" and this is pretty much THE epitome of night music. Bittersweet and seductive. Romantic but honest. I feel like almost any professional musician would have to identify with that title track. I remember hearing Willie Nelson's version of it first when I was a kid, and I love that version too, but there is something about this version that is so much more haunting. The rest of the album doesn't quite have the same magic as that opening track, but it's still top notch crying-in-your-beer country. The playing, production, and arrangements are all spot on. I especially love that splash of reverb on the vocals. The fact that the songs all adhere to that theme of the trials and tribulations of life in the bar scene is what makes it so great (and believable). A perfectly executed concept album before concept albums were a thing. The intro is a bit goofy, but quaint in an old fashioned way. And goddamn that cover is so cinematic.
Honky Tonk goes Music Row. A slick slice of the seedier life by a master of singing.
Oikein mukavaa countryrallattelua. Ei tätä genreä mielestäni oikein paremmin voi toteuttaa. Laulajan ääni oli miellyttävä, ja vaikka biiseissä ei suurempia erikoisuuksia ollutkaan, toimi kokonaisuus erittäin hienosti. Yleisenä musiikkinautintona antaisin tästä kolmosen, mutta nyt pitää kyllä antaa genressään lähes virheettömästä suorituksesta pieni boonus.
I'm really digging this classic country. I'm so glad records like this are included in this list. It's a refreshing break from the constant onslaught of 60's-era rock this list is littered with.
Cool sounds, familiar from samples, sent me down some fun rabbit holes
Nunca había escuchado antes a este hombre y me ha alegrado la mañana. Disco de country americano y género muy poco tocado por mí, pero gran descubrimiento.
Elvis Costello introduced me to the Nashville sound (Almost Blue) and both cover the dark “sitting and thinking”. Cloying sentimentality of early 60s USA. Magnificent.
I was fixing a greasy mower while this was on. Could not find a filthier panegyric for this album, I really liked it. Felt like I was transported to the era
Good classic hony-tonkish country. I've heard the name Ray Price before, but don't really recall ever hearing any of his music. I threw the album on and started doing some minor research on its history and saw that Willie Nelson is credited on a couple tracks. Then notice that one of them was "Are You Sure", which is a song that I first heard on Lost (yeah, yeah...) and I immediately fell in love with it. It's probably the moment I started really taking a lot of the classic, outlaw type country more seriously and I'd just never realized it had an earlier incarnation. This is just great news! Oh, and the album here is solid. Not much to complain about. 4 stars!
Kind of a concept album. A little bluesy, deep and lonesome songs drenched in barlight, spilled whisky and regret. The tunes still hold up today.
Feeling ill, so I'm listening to this and reading Dickens. Somehow they go together!
I thought that I was not a big country fan but it might be more that I’m not a big modern country fan. Ray Price was great and what I would think of as old school country.
Enjoyable. Classic honky tonk music with a bit of a sleepy, sometimes torchy vibe. It takes a few songs to settle into it, then it's pretty great. The only drag on the whole thing honestly is that weird intro, which was really unnecessary. Fave Songs: Pride, If She Could See Me Now, Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women, Sittin' and Thinkin', The Twenty-Fourth Hour, Night Life
Good stuff. I'ma sound old here, but I love the old country and can't stomach new country. It reminds me of 80's hair rock. Only diff is that the lyrics aren't about partying. They're about drinking alone, sitting on tractors they've probably never driven, and supporting white supremacy. The lyrics haven't changed much, but the music has.
This is a lot of fun. Would make a great movie soundtrack, too, which is my bias reflecting how this style of music is sometimes used in movies I've liked. I so rarely listen consciously to country & western like this, and it's nice to hear that swing beat. Could waltz to a lot of this. He croons perfectly for this style. Nice album.
I really the fact that the album has an intro to put the listener in the mood. It was the best beginning of an album of this genre I've ever heard. I'm a fan of this era and this kind of country/crooner singers. They give a strong impression of their time. It's weird to say, but their music is timelessly outdated and that's the best part of it.
Just good classic country. A simple beat and melody that just make you happy. Another of what my grandpa would call "attitude adjustment music" type of album. And Willie Nelson played bass and sang on this album too which makes it even cooler.
Some great downtrodden, melancholy country songs. Lapsteel guitar features prominently and when Ray Price really breaks out his majestic voice it’s sure to impress
A very enjoyable experience and nice classic swing and vocals. Certainly you need to be in a specific mood to enjoy though.
Lush and rich and shadowy, despite the countrypolitan sheen. VIntage in the best sense and Americana-ish (weird, old division) plus Lynchian and this is how cool country could/can be.
Well hi neighbors. I’m so glad to be introduced to this. Started and listened, because the famous name, then hung around for that unbelievable voice, steel guitar, fiddle, piano, strings, bass. Every line perfectly enunciated. (Perfect in its own way). Yessiree all of it right thar.
4.1 - Being a total sucker for lap steel guitar, I loved this record! I also love the songs themed around (not surprisingly) the perils of night life. Ray Price sings with a baritone twang about pursuing “honky-tonk angels” and about keeping company with barflies.
Some more country greats. I really enjoyed "Are You Sure?", though I think I still prefer the Willie Nelson version. I also liked how the album kind of opens with an ad for the album itself. "Hope you like this one! If you like it, buy it and we'll make more like it!" BOLD
Really lovely lounge country songs, sung beautifully with Willie Nelson involved. U great deal to enjoy. Best song is the title track.
Really solid country, I love the low-down bar stories, and the lonely guitars. I'm glad the "introduction" trend did not catch on, it feels like a weird commercial where he's required to rep the label and promise the fans that he'll promise cranking out hits. Though there is something funny and charming about it. Favorites are "Night LIfe" and "Sittin' and Thinkin'". Some of these songs are just ridiculously similar to each other, which makes the album wear out prematurely.
Deftly blends darkness with some countrypolitan-ish sheen and upbeat bounce in the playing. "Honky Tonk Angel" is aces. Title cut is classic, though with many other excellent versions.
Not a country music expert by any means and the album won’t make me start listening to it more, but I appreciate how polished this album is. Clear dreamy vocals, reverb laden lead guitars, plodding bass. This is what I imagine a barn slow dance would sound like. Also appreciate that this is trying to be a concept album at an era where this wasn’t the done thing.
Probably enjoyable after a few listens. Will that ever happen thought?
Not very interesting. Sinatra meets county. It’s just nothing inspiring, and every song is more or less the exact same.
A pleasant listen, but not the kind of genre i'm particularly interested in. I don't have any real complaints though.
As stated in the 1001 albums book: "Night Life is Nashville's answer to Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours". Succinct and spot on description.
-Apparently this is like Honky Tonk Country -To me it just sounds like Christmas music that wasn't written about Christmas -Except it turns out that "Bright Lights and Blinds Haired Women" does talk about Christmas -Enjoyed while it was on, but no desire to listen again
Good, traditional country. I can see his influence on later artists like k.d. lang and Lucinda Williams. 3 stars.
This was a welcomed listen and I was into it until about the third song when I realized that they all sound roughly the same and rely heavily on his voice. However, this album opened up a door that I didn't know existed. RP is prolific and has recorded a TON and even had Willie Nelson in his band. Anyway, this may not have been the best album to start with, but he's been added to my list of musicians to explore a little further.
Could've done without the intro, but the rest of the album was decent. I guess they didn't know what people wanted back in the 60s, but the music is good.
So classic, but quite myogenetic. I had never heard Honky Tonk Angles in full, and it's a bit much. Different times and all that, but it's hard to fully enoy.
Found this strangely endearing and enjoyable over all ….. hard to dislike any of it. Lyrically it’s actually really good too - feels like a country Sinatra and I enjoyed the fact it had a theme running through it
would make for a nice listen with a cigar on my porch, sitting on a rocking chair. except I don't smoke, don't have a porch or a chair. 3/5
Pretty decent traditional country album. It seemed like ray price had the old traditional lyrics and songwriting but his guitar playing and melodies sounded a bit what the 70s and 80s turned into. I enjoyed it and didn’t find it too old and slow as some country albums are. 6.2/10
This really old country stuff is alright. It's dated as hell in 2021 but compared to what modern popular country sounds like.... it's definitely not a genre I give a shit about, but yeah this runs rings around whatever passes for cool these days in those circles. short and sweet, it's unpretentious, it just does its thing and does it well. didn't exactly knock me out of my chair but there's still nothing to really complain about. 3/5.
Well this is certainly outside of my wheelhouse :) I was completely amused by the "introduction" - how he welcomes the listeners to the Columbia product (RAY YOU CORPORATE SHILL). Yow - they loved to drench his voice in cavernous reverb. So I'm not a country fan but I didn't completely dislike it, it's more a slow american western blues. I was a bit tired of the pedal-steel (no slight to the playing whatsoever; I know how difficult it is) as it really defines the sound. I liked to think of it as a soundtrack to a slow-moving 60s movie . Probably won't listen again but it's good to get an education on this classic American musician (also: Willie Nelson plays bass!) 6/10 3 stars
Ray Price and Night Life are new to me, although there was at least one track ("The Wild Side of Life") that I have heard by other artists. Night Life is full of gentle, almost sleepy, country swing. The album seems to be presented as an invitation for people to go out and enjoy the night life, and dancing. The music is pretty good, but the lyics share prominently chauvanistic view of women as a temptation that men cannot resist. I can't seem to overlook the lyrics in favor of the underlying music from these talented musicians.