Genius Loves Company is the final studio album by rhythm and blues and soul musician Ray Charles, posthumously released August 31, 2004 on Concord Records. Recording sessions for the album took place between June 2003 and March 2004. The album consists of rhythm and blues, soul, country, blues, jazz and pop standards performed by Charles and several guest musicians, such as Natalie Cole, Elton John, James Taylor, Norah Jones, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt. Genius Loves Company was the last album recorded and completed by Charles before his death in June 2004.
The album was produced by Concord A&R man, John Burk, who approached Charles with the concept of a duets album for a collaboration of Concord Records and Hear Music, the record label owned by the coffee chain Starbucks. It served as the first original non-compilation release by Hear Music, as well as one of Ray Charles' most commercially successful albums. On February 2, 2005, Genius Loves Company was certified triple-platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America following sales of over three million copies in the United States. On February 13, 2005, the album was awarded eight Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. The cover featured an iconic image by photographer Norman Seeff. The Album of the Year award was presented to coproducer John Burk, who accepted on behalf of himself and coproducer Phil Ramone. (Ramone could not make the trip to Los Angeles for the Grammy ceremony.)
Video Genius Loves Company
Reception
Commercial performance
The release of Genius Loves Company was preceded by a period of mostly mediocre LP releases by Charles and critical slide after the massive success of his 1962 crossover opus Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Genius Loves Company proved to be a comeback success, in terms of sales and critical response, quickly becoming Charles' first top-10 album in forty years and the best-selling record of his career. The release of Genius Loves Company served as Charles' two-hundred fiftieth of his recording career, as well as his last recorded effort before his death on June 10, 2004.
Within its first week of release, the album sold over 200,000 copies in the United States alone, while it debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually ascending to #1 on March 5, 2005, becoming Charles' first #1 album since Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music in 1962. Genius Loves Company also received a significant amount of airplay on jazz, blues, R&B, urban contemporary and country radio stations, as well as critical praise from well-known publications and music outlets. By the first month of its release, the album had shipped over two million copies in the United States and shipped more than three million worldwide, receiving gold, silver and platinum certifications across North America, Europe and several other regions. The massive commercial success of the album (over 5.5 million copies were sold worldwide up to 2007) was attributed in part to it being distributed and promoted via Starbucks coffeehouses, as well as the distribution and marketing relationship between Concord Records and the Starbucks Hear Music label. The Starbucks Coffee Company proved to be singularly responsible for nearly thirty-percent of the total domestic sales of the album. Following several certifications of gold, platinum and multi-platinum in the United States during the fall of 2004, Genius Loves Company earned a triple-platinum sales certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 2, 2005.
For the week ending September 18, 2004, Genius Loves Company sold 202,000 copies, ranking second on the Billboard 200. This was Charles' highest charting album in over 40 years and represented an opening week record for a duets album (since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking such statistics in 1991). Frank Sinatra's 1993 Duets sold 339,000 during the Christmas week, eight weeks after its 173,500-unit opening. The initial shipment of 733,000 units was an all-time record for the 31-year history of Concord Records and the sales represented a Soundscan record for the company. In addition, the album placed at number five on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for Charles' highest placement since A Portrait of Ray peaked at fifth in 1968. These albums sales occurred despite digital singles sales that saw 12 of the 13 tracks on the album make the Hot Digital Tracks Top 50 chart. The previous record for most tracks from the same album was 9 by Neil Young & Crazy Horse with their 2003 Greendale album. "Here We Go Again" was the download sales leader among the album's tracks, but the 12 tracks totaled 52,000 digital downloads.
Grammy Awards
In December 2004, announcements were made that the album had earned ten Grammy Award nominations. At the 47th Grammy Awards on February 13, 2005, Genius Loves Company led the annual ceremony with a total of eight awards, including Album of the Year, while its hit single "Here We Go Again" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Awards won are as listed below:
- Grammy Award for Album of the Year: John Burk, Phil Ramone, Herbert Waltl, Don Mizell (producers), Terry Howard (producer & engineer/mixer), Robert Fernandez, John Harris, Pete Karam, Joel Moss, Seth Presant, Al Schmitt, Ed Thacker (engineers/mixers), Robert Hadley, Doug Sax (mastering engineers)
- Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album: Ray Charles and various artists
- Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: Robert Fernandez, John Harris, Terry Howard, Pete Karam, Joel Moss, Seth Presant, Al Schmitt & Ed Thacker (engineers)
- Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album: John Burk (Producer), Al Schmitt (surround mix engineer), Robert Hadley & Doug Sax (surround mastering)
- Grammy Award for Record of the Year: John Burk (producer), Terry Howard, Al Schmitt (engineers/mixers), Ray Charles & Norah Jones for "Here We Go Again"
- Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Ray Charles and Norah Jones for "Here We Go Again"
- Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Ray Charles and Elton John for "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" (nominated)
- Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance: Ray Charles & Gladys Knight for "Heaven Help Us All"
- Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): Victor Vanacore (arranger) for "Over the Rainbow" performed by Ray Charles & Johnny Mathis
Maps Genius Loves Company
Track listing
In UK, this album was also published as LP record, where track 1 to 7 were on side A and the rest of tracks were on side B .
Chart history
Album
Singles
Certifications
Personnel
Notes
References
- Nathan Brackett; Christian David Hoard; Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. excerpt by Douglas Wolk. Simon and Schuster, USA. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
External links
- Song by song analysis by Ray Charles - CD notes at Discogs.com
- Genius Loves Company : Ray Charles : Concord Music Group
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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