1001 Albums Summary

i live this shit

i live for this shit

i live for this shit.

Wonderful bittersweet breakup album. Whiskey music. Ray's voice is clear and confident in tone as it is weary and sorrowful in texture. Brassy standards are accented with furtive chorus and string. Lyrical content is fairly consistent through the runtime, melancholy, dismal. Variety comes in performance and composition. Drifts between end of night ballad and start of night party. For traditional pop and classic R&B the question is posed if it's ever more refined than what's accomplished here. Soul's a soft spot of mine so it's no wonder I loved this as much as I did. It says something about Ray's power as an artist that the song he's credited with writing is very, very easily the best here. Sing the song, children. Volume 2's fine.

let's go dolly