Best. Reagan. Song. Ever.:

"Hey Judas" by Carmaig De Forest

I have a music question...

I've been asked to find Hugh McCracken's best four or five recordings. Any thoughts? His not being a headliner guy makes it a tough Google.

Don't know what to tell you, Trudy. I checked his All Music Guide listing, but while he's on a lot of recordings I know quite well his playing doesn't stick out in my mind at all. I'm looking at the track listings for Donald Fagen's The Nightfly, one of my favorite albums, and of the many many instrumental bits that I love (pick hit: Greg Phillinganes' piano intro on "Maxine") and that stick out in my mind on it I can't swear that any are his. Sorry.

I've been asked to find Hugh McCracken's best four or five recordings. Any thoughts? His not being a headliner guy makes it a tough Google.

Heh. He actually was one of the many first call R&B sessionmen who played on the Archies recordings. He's on Aretha's Young Gifted and Black, Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years, Hall and Oates' Abandoned Luncheonette ("She's Gone" & "Sara Smile"), Laura Nyro's Smile, Van Morrison's T.B. Sheets, (though Eric Gale's guitar is the dominant on that record) Paul McCartney's Ram and Billy Joel's The Stranger and 52nd Street.

I think he's better on uptempo and salty numbers than he is on crying ballads.... I just think he's a little too vital, a little too freakin' ALIVE to ever sound completely desolate.

I disagree. (I know Hec is just stunned by that...) If you want Hank Williams or George Jones-level desolation Ray comes up a little short, but those guys are the gold-standard for bottoming out songs and they had the "advantage" of being incredibly fucked up people. Not to take anything away from his artistry, but part of the reason Jones is so convincing on "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" is because he knows firsthand what it's like to pass out face first on his car's horn and have "the whole neighborhood know I'm home drunk again". Argue artistic distance if you want but you won't convince me that's not true. Anyway... back to RC. Listen to "Just for a Thrill" or the live versions of "Drown in My Own Tears" and "A Fool for You" and its gutwrenching penultimate scream and tell me he can't sound desolate. "Crying Time" is great, but it's a Buck Owens song and Buck is a fundamentally happy guy so I don't think it's the best place to look for torn up Ray. Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul has a number of haunted vocals, too. It isn't always easy to ignore the godawful back up singing on "Ol' Man River" and "Over the Rainbow" but do it and you'll find two of his great performances. And "That Lucky Old Sun" is pretty much perfect, even with the JAck Halloran singers.

Today's Do-You-Know-This-Band-That-I-Know?

Artificial Joy Club.

I disagree. (I know Hec is just stunned by that...)

Naw, I know I'm taking the heretical stance. I just never go to Ray for down and out stuff, except maybe "Hard Times."

If you want Hank Williams or George Jones-level desolation Ray comes up a little short, but those guys are the gold-standard for bottoming out songs and they had the "advantage" of being incredibly fucked up people.

I'd agree with you there. I do think Ray's relative mental health keeps him from getting all the way to the severely cracked bottom.

Anyway... back to RC. Listen to "Just for a Thrill" or the live versions of "Drown in My Own Tears" and "A Fool for You" and its gutwrenching penultimate scream and tell me he can't sound desolate. "Crying Time" is great, but it's a Buck Owens song and Buck is a fundamentally happy guy so I don't think it's the best place to look for torn up Ray.

I did mean the whole Crying Time album and not just the Buck song, but I'll take your recs to heart. This is really more a matter of personal taste than me charting any deficiency in Mr. Charles blues balladeering. Personally though, I'm still more likely to listen to Bobby Bland or Sam Cooke's Night Beat or Charles Brown if I'm in the mood for a man alone with the blues. With Ray I'm more likely to listen to something like "Greenbacks."

Ha! I played "Greenbacks" this AM!

Ha! I played "Greenbacks" this AM!

If Lincoln don't get it, Jackson surely will!

"Hey Judas" by Carmaig De Forest

Damn.

WBUR (the Boston NPR affiliate) is replaying a 1998 Fresh Air interview with Ray Charles right now. Streaming audio is available, natch.