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A Message from the People | 
| Artist: Ray Charles
Label: Concord Records
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $8.30
as of 2/10/2010 05:14 EST details
You Save: $3.68 (31%)
New (23) Used (4) from $2.56
Seller: -importcds
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 43943
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 31406
UPC: 888072314061
EAN: 0888072314061
ASIN: B001YXXS6U
Release Date: May 5, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Lift Every Voice and Sing | | • | Seems Like I Gotta Go Wrong | | • | Heaven Help Us All | | • | There'll Be No Peace Without All Men As One | | • | Hey Mister | | • | What Have They Done to My Song | | • | Abraham, Martin and John | | • | Take Me Home, Country Roads | | • | Every Saturday Night | | • | America the Beautiful |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
Available now for the first time ever on CD, this newly remastered version of Ray Charles' long-out-of-print 1972 concept album features his definitive version of "America the Beautiful."
Album Description
A Message from the People is more totally Ray Charles than any album he has ever recorded. The embryo of this album began to form in his mind more than 20 years ago. The flicker of an idea was nurtured. Soon it became a compulsion. But what record company would feel as deeply about this project as he? Only his own. This album is being re-released as part of the year long release program from Concord Music Group following their exclusive arrangement with the Ray Charles Foundation to develop the artists post 1960 catalogue.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Signature album FINALLY available on CD! December 28, 2009
Greg Frediani (San Mateo, CA)
This concept album was a signature work in 1972. From the album cover - conceived by Charles himself, to the review of contemporary social commentaries, to the timeless rendition of America The Beautiful. This is a great album, not only in execution and Charles' incredible musicianship, but also makes a great statement to, and for, all of us. The "Message From The People" is still applicable today, and it's exhilarating to hear a Master Artist speak so well on our behalf.
 +1/2 -- Brother Ray takes stock of America in 1972 June 20, 2009
hyperbolium (Earth, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Originally released in 1972, A Message from the People, was one of Charles' last albums for his own Tangerine imprint. The ten songs, arranged by Quincy Jones, Sid Feller and Mike Post, take stock of post-60s America, consolidating the progress of the civil rights movement, but not casting a blind eye to the continuing plight of a black man in America. The album opens with a rousing version of "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Based on a poem used to introduce Booker T. Washington at a celebration of Lincoln's birthday in 1900, the song version was adopted by the NAACP as the Negro National Anthem, and became a favorite at black churches. The celebratory mood fades with Charles' powerful cover of the Whisper's "Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong" and its contemplation of injustice and social invisibility.
Charles continues to alternate hope and concern as the gospel-soul "Heaven Help Us All" gives way to the questioning "There Will Be No Peace Without All Men as One." The album's second half finds Charles' stretching into pop material with covers of Melanie ("What Have They Done to My Song, Ma"), Dion ("Abraham, Martin and John"), and John Denver ("Take Me Home, Country Roads"). None are revelations, though Charles mines a deep vein of soulful sorrow with Dion's work. The album closes with a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that would eventually become one of Charles' signature performance pieces; at the time, however, it failed to attract much attention. This is a good album, but doesn't live up to the promise of its first three tracks. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]
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