Search - Ray Stevens :: Greatest Hits

Ray Stevens 50th Anniversary Collection

J. W. Reynolds, Jr. | Palatka, FL, USA | 06/02/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This CD of Ray Stevens hits consists of new recordings of Ray's biggest hits. They are very close to the originals; however, there are some extra lyrics in some of the songs. The song, "It's Me Again, Margaret" has some additional words along with a comment from Margaret to the jailer at the end! "Jeremiah Peabody's Pills" is all right but you can tell it is a new version if you are familiar with the original hit that Ray had when he began his career. All in all, if you are a real Ray Stevens fan, you will probably like this release."

Re-recordings...but okay...

Jerry McDaniel | 05/16/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This collection from CURB Records is basically a 10 song collection culled from their BOX SET on Ray from 2005. It is sub-titled 50th Anniversary Collection because 2007 marked Ray's 50th year as a recording artist and this collection from CURB was released back in the summer of 2008 before the 50th year mark had ended. He is currently in his 52nd year of recording.



Anyway, this collection features ten songs. Nine of them are re-recordings of his older hit songs that can be found on the 2005 BOX SET, released by CURB. The only song that isn't a re-recording is "Osama Yo' Mama" from 2002, it's hard to believe 7 years has went by since that single from Ray came out.



It should be noted, though, that although these songs are all re-recordings from a few years ago, each of them are still listenable and enjoyable because he puts so much into them, unlike a lot of artist's who re-record their original hits and just record them without much life put into them.



A few of them like "It's Me Again, Margaret", "Misty", "Gitarzan", "Ahab the Arab", and "Shriner's Convention"...those in particular stand out because of what he puts into them...they don't end up sounding like "re-recordings" in the typical sense of the word. "The Streak" needs an audience behind it...it doesn't sound quite the same without the giggles and laughter even though it's the same song and delivered high-octane as it should be. On the other end of the equation, a totally nutty song like his re-recording of "It's Me Again, Margaret" succeeds because of the dirty laughs and the timing. The audio of this song is lifted from his music video of the song from 1992 where Margaret shows up at the police station asking for Willard McBain. As far as "Ahab the Arab", this re-recording is from 1995 when he made the music video for his movie GET SERIOUS...which incorporates the last verse of the song rarely heard. Listening to him sing, he jumps from the way he sung it in the early '60s to the way he currently performs it.



It has been awhile since the original Ray Stevens songs have been in print...you used to be able to see them year after year in some new "greatest hits" or "best of" collection but since around, I guess 1999 or maybe 2000, usually what pops up anymore are mid 1990's re-recordings of his past hits or the re-recordings he did in 2005 for the BOX SET, which appear in this 10 song collection. I give this collection 4 stars because it's an okay collection...it's just nothing one would expect given such a title as "50th Anniversary Collection", which would indicate some vintage recordings and other rare or obscure goodies...but not on this collection."