Search - Ray Parker Jr. :: I'm Free

Tropical Raydio!

andy8047 | Nokomis,Florida | 03/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Detroit native Ray Parker Jr. seldom charted since 1985 and now with this album,he performs in a whole new tropical-themed style. I recently heard one of the tracks [...] and it was awesome! Parker put out this album in 2006,a quarter-century after he disbanded Raydio(he later continued his career as a solo artist). However,he reunites,musically,with his longtime buddy Ollie Brown,who was one of Parker's Raydio fellow members. Parker and Brown have been friends since grade school and they're both also reunited with some other childhood friends on this project. Parker,who has written almost every song he recorded,with or without Raydio,does a wonderful cover of David Gates' GUITAR MAN,which was a hit in 1972 for Gates' now-extinct band Bread. I guess we can say that,with the exception of Brown,he and Parker have a new "Raydio". The other songs are fantastic! I would love to sit by my pool while listening to this CD!"

Ray Parker Jr. beyond "Ghostbusters"

T. Ziebarth | 04/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most people know Ray Parker Jr as the guy who did the theme from the fright comedy "Ghostbusters", but this album puts him in a much different light. First off, his instrumental "Mismaloya Beach" is a breezy jazz guitar tune that suits him well in the smooth jazz realm. His vocalized tunes put his views on life and love in a more realistic vibe. It is different from anything Ray ever did before. Parker is in the smooth jazz realm to stay, so don't expect him to be chasing anymore ghosts."

An acoustic Ray of sunshine!!

Nse Ette | Lagos, Nigeria | 06/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ray Parker Jr. was my favourite male vocalist in the early eighties, and I loved his funky R&B grooves like "It's your night", "Still in the groove", "Bad boy", "Two places at the same time", and even his forays into Rock ("The other woman", "Woman out of control"), and Pop ("Ghostbusters"). However, I must admit that I lost touch with his music after his 1987 "After dark" album that had the UK hit "I don't think that man should sleep alone".



That was until earlier this week when I saw a very colourful digipak (I'm a sucker for lovely album art) with pictures taken at some lovely beach home. I must admit I was a bit taken aback when I realised that the rather chunky dreadlocked chappie on the cover was my one time youthful idol whom I so wanted to be like when I grew up. :-) It appears he took some time off to care of his ailing parents.



After reading the liner notes (the Amazon CD descriptions are taken from the CD) and reading that he'd always wanted to be free to release this music (it was released on his own label), I decided to take the plunge.



And what do we get? Well, first banish those afore mentioned funky songs from your mind. Opening is the Latin-tinged acoustic/Jazzy "Mexico" with lyrics remeniscing on his marriage, with his trademark smooth vocals untouched by time. Also laden with Spanish guitars is the beautiful "Middle age crisis" (about a chance meeting at the car wash with a woman half his age which led to an affair). The honesty of his lyrics is incredibly moving (he wonders if he's an old fool and his friends accuse him of suffering from middle age crisis). Still, he declares "I believe she loves me".



Ray has always included one or two instrumentals on his albums. Here, we get a trio; the smooth Jazz guitar driven "Mismaloya beach", "Sunset Ray", and closing cut "Gibson's theme".



"The guitar man", and the driving "The book" are Rockers, while my favourite cut is the title track. "I'm free" is guitar Blues, very catchy with lyrics declaring emancipation from a relationship, and back to being his own man. "I used to have a Porsche/lost it in the divorce" he sings, also wondering if he should thank her for leaving him and putting him out of his misery. The lyrics are achingly open and honest.



"Glass of wine" (peppered with flute playing) is a lilting ballad (with him mentioning visits to AA), while "Rum punch" (as its title infers) is a horn peppered Reggae-ish song with nice steel drums. "Forgive me" has a groovy bass line and finds him opening up to God and seeking forgiveness for sinning (fornication) and falling short of God's glory, and he says "What's even worse is I'll probably do it again".



You can see that he really had a great time playing and recording this CD. I'm sure this album sold fewer than a hundred copies but I absolutely love it, and I hope (like my favourite singer of all time; Donna Summer) he doesn't take forever to come out with another album. Fabulous!"