SACD Ray Charles – What’d I Say (Mono)

What’d I Say as a hybrid mono SACD from the Atlantic 75 Series: from the famous Wurlitzer figure of the title song to “Rockhouse” and “My Bonnie”, the ten tracks play as one continuous programme – the album around “What’d I Say”, Ray Charles’ first Top 10 hit.

One title, several years of recordings

What’d I Say came out in 1959, but its recordings reach back as far as 1952. Next to the new title performance stand earlier selections such as “Roll with My Baby” and “Jumpin’ in the Mornin’”. The album therefore offers a view across several stages of Ray Charles’ work for Atlantic rather than the document of one concentrated studio session.

Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler are the producers associated with the material. Songs that had first appeared as singles find a shared setting on the album. Their different recording dates open another way into the programme: listen for what connects the earlier performances with the 1959 title track, and let each recording keep its own place in that story.

A song born from spare stage time

Charles remembered that “What’d I Say” came about on stage in December 1958, when the prepared programme had run out before the engagement was over. He started a figure and had the band follow him. Developed further on tour, the piece reached Atlantic’s New York studio in February 1959, where Tom Dowd handled the recording.

The opening figure is played on a Wurlitzer electric piano. Charles took the instrument on the road partly so that he would not depend on the varying condition of the pianos at each venue. A practical touring decision became part of the identity of one of his best-known recordings – which gives the keyboard a role in the story that goes beyond an unusual instrumental colour.

Call and response

The Raelettes are essential to “What’d I Say”. Lead voice, backing singers and instruments take part in a chain of calls and responses. Try following the replies while Charles prepares his next entrance: the structure of the piece becomes clearer through that collaboration than through its famous opening figure alone.

The album also includes “Rockhouse”, “My Bonnie”, “You Be My Baby” and “Tell All the World About You”. The span of recording dates makes these neighbours worth exploring. The title song may be the first attraction, but the other performances show several of the forms in which Charles and his musicians were working during his Atlantic years.

The Atlantic 75 hybrid mono SACD

CAPA 048 SA is a hybrid mono SACD from the Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the ten tracks of the original album.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series

Also in another edition: What’d I Say

More SACDs by Ray Charles: Ray Charles · The Genius Of Ray Charles

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.