Ahab, Jeremiah, Sgt. Preston And More - The Early Ray Stevens ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED

I finally got around to ordering this CD a couple of days ago and now I finally have it in my possession and I'm glad I do because a lot of those early Ray Stevens songs are so obscure. Through my contact with other fans of Ray Stevens I have heard these early recordings before...and I couldn't wait to get this CD once I became aware of it's existence back in the spring. Does this collection have anything that I hadn't heard? Technically, no! However, since this CD is an import from the United Kingdom I discovered that "Ahab the Arab" must have had an alternate lyric for radio stations in Europe. I knew of the song having a radio edit and knew of the longer version, too. I have the radio edit and the longer version...each appear on various compilation CD's issued by Mercury and their subsidiaries but was I surprised at what I heard during Track 19 of this CD, the radio edit of "Ahab the Arab". Gone is the reference to R.O.C cola and MAD magazine and in their place is a reference to a pistachio milkshake and Fatima's reading a nameless magazine. The Arabic chant is a lot more exaggerated than before, too. Hearing this slightly altered lyric caught me by surprise, as I mentioned. I could have heard this before, though, but you'd think I'd remember hearing it!? One of the unique things about the CD is that it features the radio edit as Track 19 and the full length version as Track 25.The back of the CD features a track list, credits, and an image of Ray that appeared on his 1962 single, "Santa Claus is Watching You". That song appears on this CD, too, as track 23. Much like the previous commentary, this song also had a radio edit. The CD features the unedited copy, clocking in at 3 minutes, 15 seconds. The edited copy is a little more than 2 minutes in length (its not on the CD). The first 15 songs on this 31 track collection come from the years, 1957-1960.Since several of those songs were originally released as A-side/B-side vinyl singles, the 15 tracks that lead off the collection are in actuality only a handful of single releases. 6 vinyl singles (1 song per side) adds up to 12 songs...and so doing the math the first 15 tracks works out to something like 7 vinyl singles total and one additional song added in.If you're a casual fan of Ray's then this collection is a revelation for you. If you are only aware of his latter-day comical songs or his political music videos then this collection is a revelation for you. These recordings come from a time when Ray Stevens was heavily into pop music and R and B. His pop crooning and rocking R and B delivery (on songs like "Tingle", "Chickie-Chickie-Wah-Wah", "School", "Cat Pants", "That's What She Means to Me", and others) reveal the teenage idol material that he could convincingly sing...during the time the first 15 tracks of this CD were recorded Ray indeed was a teenager...he turned 20 in January 1959 (meaning that he was all of 18 and 19 during the first 8 recordings on this collection).When you hear Ray, in interviews, say that music is his whole life and that it's all he's ever done...he isn't joking around.Most of the remaining 16 tracks (11 of them, at least) come from his debut album for Mercury. The album, titled 1837 Seconds of Humor, features the Top-40 recordings "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills" and "Ahab the Arab", plus the Hot 100 entry, "Furthermore". A fourth single release, "Scratch My Back", didn't reach the charts but it's nonetheless entertaining...as is this entire 31 track collection. There are three songs from his 1963 album, This is Ray Stevens, sprinkled throughout.Even though this CD covers some obscure and wonderful recordings from Ray Stevens there are still several more songs reaching for rescue from the dungeons of obscurity (those include songs such as "It's Party Time", "Laughing Over My Grave", "Melt", and his version of "When You wish Upon a Star" just to name a couple.

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While I was familiar with Ray's "Sgt. Preston/Who Do You Love" single on NRC, that was all I knew about him for years until he started charting on Monument Records in the late '60s. This CD gathers his pre-Monument material through his time at Mercury Records, and is well worth the listen.

Many rare Mercury Records singles on here that have never been on CD. Cholly Wolly Chang,Chang" "Chickie,Chickie Wah,Wah" "Sgt.Preston of the Yukon.Lots of early songs where Ray's voice sounds very different. I like it.

Great but doesn't include enough material. There is still a lot of his Mercury recordings not covered. Like "Harry the Hairy Ape" , "The Old English Surfer" among others.

Just got to listen to it Saturday. It's a great story of how Ray started. My husband remembered a lot of them. Thanks for another cd we love.

Lots of songs from his early works, but only a few were hits.

Been a fan since his first album.

This cool release includes all the early, "out-of-copyright" (i.e., up until 1962, inclusive) recordings of Ray Stevens, who had his biggest hit in 1962 with AHAB, THE ARAB, a record which today would be "politically incorrect" - anything remotely offensive to the Arabs, the Muslims or terrorism is today unacceptable; he is from Georgia, the heart of the Deep South, where even today, many people have the courage to say the right thing, without worrying that maybe the liberals won't like it! The music is more pop than country, although undeniably influenced by country; most of it is very listenable, and some songs are out-and-out rock'n'roll. Unlike the earlier releases of Jasmine Records, the tracks are given in chronological order; years of release, cat. numbers, and chart positions where applicable, are given. But it must receive from this reviewer only four stars, as apposed to a full five, due to the lack of session details (these are, however, available on the lnternet by Googling "ray stevens praguefrank").

Some excellent 50's rock'n'roll and some great fun novelties just avoid any of his tacky ballads and dig it cats.

funny