| A Message from the People | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1972 | |||
| Genre | R&B, soul | |||
| Label | Tangerine/ABC [1] | |||
| Producer | Quincy Jones | |||
| Ray Charles chronology | ||||
| ||||
A Message from the People is a studio album by the American R&B musician Ray Charles, released in 1972. [2] [3] MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide called it "a protest album of sorts." [4]
The album peaked at No. 52 on the Billboard 200. [5]
The album was produced by Quincy Jones. [6] Sid Feller worked on some of the song arrangements. [3]
Charles opens "America the Beautiful" with the third verse of the song, and then returns to the first. [7]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [8] |
| Robert Christgau | B+ [9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide | [4] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [11] |
Robert Christgau thought that Charles "turns Melanie's 'What Have They Done to My Song, Ma' into the outcry of black musicians everywhere—which is probably why it rocks (and swings) like nothing he's done in years." [9] Ebony praised Charles's ability to give "wholly new dynamics to those patriotic vintages 'Lift Every Voice And Sing' and 'America The Beautiful'." [12] The New York Times deemed the album "not one of his more memorable outings," writing that "the miracle of Ray Charles’ music is his constant ability to survive his material." [13] The Detroit Free Press concluded that "this is one of the best albums he's ever made, because he gets so much of himself into [the] songs." [14]
AllMusic wrote that "a gospel feel mixed with R&B locomotion is the engine that drives things here, but [Charles] also uses it to transform Melanie's 'What Have They Done to My Song, Ma' into a syncopated strut, and bring a Sunday Baptist church feel to the Dion hit 'Abraham, Martin and John'." [8] Rolling Stone stated that the interpretation of "America the Beautiful" "added gospel overtones and soulful sway to its source material, pushing Charles’ audience to view the song in a new light." [6]
The recording of "Hey Mister", a song about government ignoring the needs of poor people, was played during a 1972 Joint Hearing Before the Special Subcommittee on Human Resources and the Subcommittee on Aging of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, where it was praised by Senator Alan Cranston. [15]
Although not licensed for political use until the 2020 United States presidential campaign—when the Lincoln Project placed it in a video that urged people to vote out Donald Trump—Charles performed his version of "American the Beautiful" at the 1984 Republican National Convention. [16] [17]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lift Every Voice and Sing" | 3:05 |
| 2. | "Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong" | 4:10 |
| 3. | "Heaven Help Us All" | 4:05 |
| 4. | "There'll Be No Peace Without All Men as One" | 3:25 |
| 5. | "Hey Mister" | 3:54 |
| 6. | "What Have They Done to My Song, Ma" | 3:45 |
| 7. | "Abraham, Martin and John" | 4:49 |
| 8. | "Take Me Home, Country Roads" | 3:32 |
| 9. | "Every Saturday Night" | 3:22 |
| 10. | "America the Beautiful" | 3:38 |
Super Fly is the third studio album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released on July 11, 1972, by Curtom Records. It was released as the soundtrack for the Blaxploitation film of the same name. Widely considered a classic of 1970s soul and funk music, Super Fly was a nearly immediate hit. Its sales were bolstered by two million-selling singles, "Freddie's Dead" and the title track. Super Fly is one of the few soundtracks to out-gross the film it accompanied.
Nashville Skyline is the ninth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records as LP record, reel-to-reel tape and audio cassette.
Talking Book is the fifteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder, released on October 27, 1972, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. This album and Music of My Mind, released earlier the same year, are generally considered to mark the start of Wonder's "classic period". The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder's use of keyboards and synthesizers.
The Rolling Stones, Now! is the third American studio album by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in March 1965 by their initial American distributor, London Records. Although it contains two previously unissued songs and an alternative version, the album mostly consists of songs released earlier in the United Kingdom, as well as the group's recent single in the United States, "Heart of Stone" backed with "What a Shame". Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote four of the songs on the album, with the balance composed by American rhythm and blues and rock and roll artists.
Music of My Mind is the fourteenth studio album by American singer, songwriter, and musician Stevie Wonder. It was released on March 3, 1972, by Tamla Records, and was Wonder's first to be recorded under a new contract with Motown that allowed him full artistic control over his music. For the album, Wonder recruited electronic music pioneers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff as associate producers, employing their custom TONTO synthesizer on several tracks. The album hit No. 21 in the Billboard LP charts, and critics found it representative of Wonder's artistic growth, and it is generally considered by modern critics to be the first album of Wonder's "classic period".
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American singer and pianist Ray Charles. It was recorded in February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and United Western Recorders in Hollywood, and released in April of that year by ABC-Paramount Records.
Get Up with It is an album by American jazz musician Miles Davis. Released by Columbia Records on November 22, 1974, it collected previously unreleased material that Davis had recorded between 1970 and 1974, some of which dated from the sessions for his studio albums Jack Johnson (1971) and On the Corner (1972).
The Genius of Ray Charles is a 1959 Ray Charles album, released in October by Atlantic Records, the seventh album since the debut Ray Charles in 1957. The album consists of swinging pop with big band arrangements. It comprises a first half of big band songs and a second half of string-backed ballads. The Genius of Ray Charles sold fewer than 500,000 copies and charted at number 17 on the Billboard 200. "Let the Good Times Roll" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'" were released as singles in 1959.
Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) is the nineteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin.
Ragin', Full-On is the first album by American alternative rock band fIREHOSE. It was released after the breakup of the influential punk rock band Minutemen due to the death of the guitarist D. Boon. Like all fIREHOSE albums, Ragin', Full-On is dedicated to Boon.
True to Life is a 1977 studio album by American musician Ray Charles. It marked Charles's return to Atlantic Records. The album contains cover versions of popular songs, including Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now", Bobby Charles' "The Jealous Kind", George and Ira Gershwin's "How Long Has This Been Going On?", and the Beatles' "Let It Be". The album was arranged by Larry Muhoberac, Roger Newman, Sid Feller and Ray Charles.
Washington County is a 1970 album by the American folk singer Arlo Guthrie. It peaked at #33 on the Billboard charts on December 4, 1970, and number 28 in Australia.
Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock is a compilation album by the American indie rock band Sebadoh. It was released in 1992, and marked the band's debut on Sub Pop.
Still Bill is the second studio album by American soul singer-songwriter and producer Bill Withers, released in 1972 by Sussex Records. The album was recorded and produced by Withers with musicians from the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. The rhythmic music produced for the record features soul, funk, and blues sounds, backing lyrics that explore themes of human nature, emotion, and sex from a middle-class male perspective. It also features some of Withers' most popular songs, including the hit singles "Lean on Me" and "Use Me". A commercial and critical success at the time of its release, Still Bill has since been regarded by music journalists as a highlight of the singer's recording career and a classic of 1970s R&B.
Buscando América is the first album by the Rubén Blades and Seis del Solar band released and distributed on April 3, 1984. The production, under the Elektra label, fuses different musical rhythms such as salsa, reggae, rock, and jazz Latin. The album was recorded at Eurosound Studios in New York between May and August 1983.
Envy is the debut album by Ambitious Lovers. It was released in 1984 through E.G. Records. The album marked the first entry in what, at one point, was supposed to be a seven-album series on the seven deadly sins.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two is a 1962 album by Ray Charles. It is the second volume of country and western recordings by Charles following his landmark debut on ABC Records. Following the surprising success of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, an album of country music covers, which sold over a million copies, Charles and producer Sid Feller decided to do a follow-up. Unlike the previous album, where slow and fast tracks more or less alternated, this one features one side performed by the Ray Charles Big Band with the Raelettes, while the other side features a string section and the Jack Halloran Singers.
Keep On Moving is the fifth album by the American blues rock band Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Released in 1969, it continues in the same R&B/soul-influenced horn-driven direction as the band's 1968 album In My Own Dream.
My World is an album by the American musician Ray Charles, released in 1993. Charles incorporated elements of gospel, funk, and New jack swing.
Bogalusa Boogie is a studio album by the American zydeco musician Clifton Chenier. It was released in 1975 via Arhoolie Records. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2016, the album was inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Posthumous studio creations | |
| Live albums | |
| Notable compilations | |
| Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles | |
| Other Billboard Charts #1 singles | |
| Grammy Awarded Works (not included above) | |
| See also | |
