i'll just start by saying i know absolutely nothing about this guy. i know he's famous and he's blind but that's about it. i also don't have very much interest which is why i put this album off until the end of the day but here we are. let's see if my views are changed TRACK BY TRACK 1 LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. honestly ahead of its time for 1959 but to me it's still generic big band/soul, albeit like 5 years before its time. i probably wouldn't return to it but it's feelgood big band, nothing bad. 7/10 2 IT HAD TO BE YOU. pretty much the exact same as the first song. this kind of album is my total weakness to writing because it sparks absolutely nothing interesting for me to say. not the music's fault, it's just that kind of music. 7/10, it's fine 3 ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND. it's alright. old-timey composition with slightly newer big band elements. the bad mix is making it slightly noisy in a olatunji kind of way, which makes it unintentionally a bit more enjoyable. still 6/10. 4 TWO YEARS OF TORTURE. personally pretty boring. it's that 50s jazz pop sound. easy listening to my ears, which to my ears isn't easy listening. what? 5/10 5 WHEN YOUR LOVER HAS GONE. i like this one more than the last because instrumentally it sounds like a more restrained mingus, just with charles (different charles) over it. it's literally the same as every track. 5/10 6 DEED I DO. it's incredible how much more generic each song is getting. i understand this guy's impact, i really do, but not only is this incredible inoffensive, it's also the exact same song. 5/10 7 JUST FOR A THRILL. the backing vocals are pretty ethereal so there's that. bumps it up a bit i guess. this definitely helped develop soul but it's still in its primitive state. 5/10 8 YOU WON'T LET ME GO. so inoffensive. so bland. ethereal backing vocals should be at the forefront. 4/10 9 TELL ME YOU'LL WAIT FOR ME. i do see the appeal but this music just really isn't for me. it's loungy, it's soft, it's accessible. i don't know what else to say. 5/10 10 DON'T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYIN'. try developing industrial hip hop instead. 5/10 11 AM I BLUE. i genuinely cannot give these songs a lower score since there's nothing particularly wrong with them, but nothing pushes them in my favour either. i'm sure he's a genius he's just not my kind of genius. 5/10 12 COME RAIN OR COME SHINE. i like this one more because it gave me a picture of it playing during some scene of a movie where everyone dies with this playful soul ballad on top. i don't know 6/10. is he a genius? i don't know but judging by how much i wrote he didn't make me feel like one. it's inoffensive and it's light, i can see the appeal but it really isn't for me. i understand why it's in the list, i'm glad i listened to it. that's the point of the list after all isn't it? i've widened my horizons. 5/10