Search - Ray Stevens :: Cornball

Al V. (Al) from HOOVER, AL
Reviewed on 2/28/2007...

Some of his funniest

Simply for MOR fans

Jerry McDaniel | 01/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Warner Brothers has been very limited in it's release of Ray Stevens product. i know that Ray had a falling out with the label over their inability to market his music and from 1976-1979 he was at the mercy of the Warner publicity machine that did hardly anything to promote him. one of their smartest moves, in a situation plagued by a string of bad moves, was to get Ray out of pop music for good because the format was too darn disco oriented and Bee Gees/Barry Manilow crazy to give anyone with opposing music styles a chance to compete. Ray recorded MOR, which stands for Middle-Of-the-Road, during his stint with the label and he also tried his hand at disco, the results are surprising despite the nightmares some of you may get thinking about Ray Stevens doing a litte bit of jive talkin'. well, he didn't take it that far. on this CD we hear some disco/techno grooves on the songs "Money Honey" and "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash", two songs off his 1978 album 'THERE IS SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND', an homage to R&B songs of the 1950s and 1960s. the novelty department brings us "In The Mood" and "Classical Cluck", two chicken clucking songs from 1976 in which he was billed as the Hen House Five Plus Too. "In the Mood" would make #39 country and #40 pop. "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" was a major hit in 1979-reaching #49 pop and #11 Adult-Contemporary. by the way, "In The Mood" and "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" were Ray's last songs to appear on the Hot 100 pop chart. his biggest single for the label as far as country is concerned is the #16 bluegrass version of "You Are So Beautiful". another music form, gospel, is highlighted on "Save Me From Myself" from 1977. this CD goes a long way to show how eclectic his Warner Brothers era was. you have disco, easy-listening, country, novelty, gospel, R&B...but such eclecticism wasn't appreciated by some people and by 1980 he was charting only country and by 1984 he was being marketed as a country comedian....Ray Stevens' career has had lots of unique twists and turns since 1961. this CD is just a glimpse of the King of Country Comedy."

Quality Stevens, But Lose the Chickens!!

Robert L. Henry Jr. | Paden City, WV United States | 03/21/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album containg material from Ray's forgotten Warner Brothers tenure contains many highlights such as Ray's cover of
Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" done in the spirit of Ray's
big hit "Misty". If you liked Misty you will like this cover of
"You are So Beautiful" Also included on this collection is Ray's
big hit "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow" a under-rated classic in Ray's catalogue. Also there is a quality cover of "Your Cash Ain't Nothin But Trash, a song that Steve Miller recorded, that has been unreleased till now, along with "Money Honey" and "One Mint Julep" The 3 unreleased tracks, just mentioned, and the Hit, "I Need Your Help....." and the cover of "You are so Beautiful" make this album enjoyable and worth having. The 2 worthless tracks "Classical Cluck" and "In The Mood" should have been left off...Most of Ray's serious side catalogue has been buried for years. Warner Brothers should release the old albums on CD instead of taking songs off albums and putting them into collections like these. Ray has recorded for Mercury, Monument, Barnaby, Warner Bros., RCA and MCA and, with the exception of theMCA material , the biggest chunk of material has never been released on CD,and most of it has not been released on any form since its orginal release, and Ray has been recording music over 40 years!! IT IS TIME TO GET THIS OLD STUFF OUT ON CD!!"