There is none so blind as he who will not see...

Before there was Cletus, before there was "Weird" Al, there was Ray. While the 50's and 60's offered a plethora of comedy acts on the charts from Allen Sherman to Stan Freberg to the Chipmunks, country music offered the one-two punch of Roger Miller and Ray Stevens, two artists that not only were comedians, but also competent singers and songwriters. And if Roger Miller was the cornpone cute of them, Stevens was the flat-out novelty stylist. Willing to go to great lows to deliver overblown cariacatures, his music also included some uplifting anthems. As the 70's FM advent dampered his pop career, country radio continued to embrace him. For the Australian import collection The Most Of Ray Stevens, his slight yet most popular fare is mixed in with a little of his more straightforward work.

The set starts out not with his earliest, but his biggest single, "The Streak", a semi-"break-in" type of novelty, where spoken dialogue (here, in the case of a television reporter) alternates with the silly chorus about the totally passe' fad of running around public naked. I can't picture this happening now, but the song hit the top here and in England. And some people say society's morally corrupt now! Oddly, Steven's first success, the trippy mod parody "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving, Fast Acting, Pleasant Tasting Green & Purple Pills" doesn't appear until the end of the CD. After the "Streak", two of Stevens' more baser stereotypical songs, "Ahab The Arab" and "Harry The Hairy Ape", begin the goofy mindless offerings like "Little Egypt", "Freddy Feelgood", "Gitarzan", and "Bridget The Midget". Most of these include the worst aspect of his recording - the overuse of canned laughter which drains the humor out of mostly everything, especially the cover of the Coasters' "Along Came Jones". However, even though this is terribly dated, it is his most remembered work.

His most enduring work, though, is his more serious songs. The epitome of that is the feel-good white-gospel of "Everything Is Beautiful", complete with children's choir and all. Winner of the Grammy for Male Vocalist of the Year, the song unbelievably isn't as corny as I remembered hearing at the time in my youth but rather naively optimistic. On the other side of the coin, "Mr. Businessman" is a mildly scathing "ode" to the newly-minted white-collar class that has now totally taken over American economic life. "Have A Little Talk With Myself" is a Grateful Dead-style self-help mantra, while "Turn Your Radio On" remakes a gospel song into country hoedown. Also, Errol Garner's "Misty", made famous by Johnny Mathis, is given a brighter, faster treatment, and has aged really well. As a fan bonus, Stevens' original version of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", which he actually turned down as a single, appears, as well as a toss-off cover of "Mr. Custer". "Indian Love Call" doesn't really do anything but reprise 50's style crooning, but the hidden gem of the collection is the maudlin "Funny Man", were the "sad clown" persona is played to the hilt. It would've probably worked much better as the closing number, though the compilers might not have wanted to end on a somber note.

There are only a couple of his minor hits missing, such as "Santa Claus Is Watching You", "America Communicate With Me", "In The Mood" (a remake of the Glenn Miller tune done as the Henhouse Five Plus Too), and the original single release of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down". They could've fit (yank the "Little Egypt" and "Mr. Custer") but aren't totally essential to "get" Stevens' music. In The Most Of Ray Stevens, You have a substantial retrospect on Ray's career - just be ready for some dated hick humor.

Grade: C
Best Cuts: "Everything Is Beautiful", "Misty", "Mr. Businessman"
Weakest Links: "Little Egypt", "Ahab The Arab", "Mr. Custer", "Harry The Harry Ape", "Along Came Jones"

"The Streak" hit #1 pop, #3 country and #1 in the UK.
"Ahab The Arab" hit #5 pop and #9 R&B.
"Harry The Hairy Ape" made #17 pop and #14 R&B.
"Turn Your Radio On" made #63 pop, #17 country, and #33 in the UK.
"Along Came Jones" hit #27 pop.
"Have A Little Talk With Myself" hit #63 country.
"Funny Man" made #81 pop.
"Freddie Feelgood" made #91 pop.
"Everything Is Beautiful" hit #1 pop, #39 country, #1 adult contemporary, and #6 in the UK.
"Misty" made #14 pop, #3 country, and #2 in the UK.
"Mr. Businessman" hit #28 pop.
"Gitarzan" hit #8 pop.
"Bridget The Midget" made #50 pop and #2 in the UK.
"Indian Love Call" made #68 pop, #38 country, and #34 in the UK.
"Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving..." hit #35 pop.

Buy: You can pick up a copy of The Most Of Ray Stevens at websites like here and here.
Here's "Everything Is Beautiful"....