Link: RATO RECORDS.
TITLE: INGREDIENTS IN A RECIPE FOR SOUL
ARTIST: RAY CHARLES
REF.: ABC-PARAMOUNT LP 465FIRST EDITION: USA 1963, August
When INGREDIENTS IN A RECIPE FOR SOUL was released by ABC-Paramount Records in August of 1963 it immediately burst up the charts. Ray Charles has wanted to do an album that was mainly jazz/blues-based in an effort to distance himself a little bit from the country and western songs he was singing throughout 1962.
The album jumped up the Billboard album chart in August of ’63, peaking at number 2. It stayed on the charts for 32 weeks. The two singles released from the album did extremely well. “Busted” hit number 4 in September of that year. “That Lucky Old Sun” peaked at number 20 in December, two weeks after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Although it had been released in the middle of November, “Sun” seemed to be played much more after Kennedy was killed. It seemed to be perfect for the mood of the country in that bleak December.
Even a cursory glance at the credits of INGREDIENTS IN A RECIPE FOR SOUL reveal an amazing fact: This album was recorded in just two days. Three songs were recorded live in four hours at United in Hollywood and the the others were laid down in an amazing six hour session at Capitol in N.Y.C. The fact is that Ray and Producer Sid Feller knew what they wanted from each other and what they expected from the musicians, arrangers and recording engineers – nothing less than perfection. As a listen to this disc will reveal, perfection was attained.