By Marcel Visser (62.194.44.181) on Sunday, May 18, 2003 - 06:25 pm:

This is probally the only album by Ray Charles that is still unreleased. The album release was in 1972 for Probe records. It is still one of my all time favorites incl. What have they done to my song, Abraham Martin and John, America the beautiful a.o. Some of the tracks appeared on various R.C compilations but why didn't they release the complete album??????????

Marcel

By Mark Speck (199.183.76.223) on Sunday, May 18, 2003 - 10:35 pm:

Marcel,

My suspicion is that it was just overlooked. Ray probably owns the rights to it so he would be the most likely one to reissue it (he has reactivated the CrossOver label), but I'm surprised that Dunhill Compact Classics or Rhino hasn't touched this one!

Best,

Mark

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, May 19, 2003 - 02:54 pm:

Gang:
Six of the tracks from Ray's "A Message For The People" album were reissued last year on the Rhino CD "Ray Charles Sings For America" in the wake of the 9-11 Tragedy.

The Allmusic Guide has more info:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS805121827&sql=A6tkcu3uaan1k

Kevin Goins - KevGo