Would You Believe?

Would You Believe? from 1990 is Ray Charles’ first album after his 1980s Columbia contract was finished, and it was a surprising change of pace for Ray. There are virtually no traditional instruments; Would You Believe? is all breezy, computer-y synthesizers.

Although nominally a Ray Charles record, Would You Believe? is really a three-man collaboration between Ray, songwriter and producer Jimmy Lewis, and writer/instrumentalist Charles Richard Cason, who arranged the synthesizers.

Amid the contemporary sounds, and Cason’s sweeping, piercing synth notes that he enjoys spicing up nearly every track with, Ray Charles’ vocals sound great. He really enjoyed this new experiment in recording; at age 60 he still loved exploring new sounds and new settings for his art. The LP was not a large seller, as long-time Ray fans would have been turned off by its modern sheen, and younger R&B and pop fans had their own idols. But looking back on it now, there is a lot of good stuff on Would You Believe?, and it deserves to be closely reconsidered now.

Jimmy Lewis’ involvement in Would You Believe?

Long-time Ray collaborator Jimmy Lewis is all over Would You Believe?: he’s credited, with Ray, as the LP’s producer, and he wrote or co-wrote (with Cason) six of its ten songs. He also arranged several of the tracks, and it was his demos that led to Ray’s being inspired to record the album in the first place.

Lewis’ usual mix of humor and emotion is intact: one minute, he is writing the tender, album-opening pledge “I’ll Take Care Of You”, the next he’s trapped in a woman’s house while her angry lover bangs on the door (“Where’re The Stairs?”) or raving about his ex-wife and her lawyer (“Child Support, Alimony”). You can see why Ray Charles liked working with Jimmy Lewis so much; the demeanor of his various characters always reflected something Ray could relate to closely.

Jimmy Lewis also recommended Rich Cason to provide the music for the album, by far its most distinctive aspect.

Charles Richard Cason’s involvement in Would You Believe?

The sound on Would You Believe? is nearly entirely indebted not to Ray Charles but to Charles Richard Cason. Cason programmed the synthesizers, and he explored the two basic possibilities that synths offer: (1) emulate traditional instruments, and (2) create new washes and digitized blips to give a new non-traditional feel.

Generally, the music on Would You Believe? tends towards the latter: Cason likes sudden orchestral splashes with little decay, and fuzzy tones whose pitch bends sharply up and down. “Leave Him!”, “Child Support, Alimony” and “Living Without You” are good examples of this unapologetic sound-sampler approach.

On “Ellie, My Love”, which was a number 1 hit in Japan for Ray in 1989, Cason’s synths are much more traditional sounding, as they are on Ray’s duet with Peggy Scott, “Let’s Get Back To Where We Left Off”. They’re not fooling anyone, but the instrumentation on these songs isn’t showy and busy like the others.

Cason co-wrote “Let’s Get Back To Where We Left Off” with Jimmy Lewis.

Ray Charles’ contributions to Would You Believe?

This is a Ray Charles album, and of course he is the star here. His singing is excellent throughout; the melodies on Would You Believe? are, generally speaking, not particularly complicated, so he gets down to infusing his singing with the requisite emotion. That may change from song to song, or even line to line, and Ray as always put a lot of thought into exactly how each part of a song would be recorded. His meaty growl and plaintive cooing somehow fit pretty snugly with the airy synths all around him, and give Would You Believe? its human touch.

On several songs, Ray doesn’t even play keyboards, as that’s Charles Richard Cason’s job. When he does take a solo, Ray gives himself a credit for it on the album.

Ray Charles also overdubbed a backing chorus of himself on songs like “I’ll Take Care Of You”, “I Can’t Get Enough”, and Billy Preston’s “Your Love Keeps Me Satisfied”. It’s pretty cool to hear so many Rays on a song, doing the main vocal plus the backing chorus, and it fits smoothly without being weird or distracting.

Ray is credited as the producer, along with Jimmy Lewis. In fact, on the record label itself, the producers get a bigger mention – ALL CAPS! – than even the songs’ authors.

Ray did not write any of the music on Would You Believe?, which had generally been the case since 1960.

Minutiae for Ray Charles nerds

Would You Believe? has a curious and short-lived preoccupation with English punctuation, starting with the question mark in the title. There is another question mark in “Where’re The Stairs?” and an exclamation mark in “Leave Him!” Furthermore, two songs have commas: “Ellie, My Love” and “Child Support, Alimony”.

Record covers

The jacket of the vinyl LP of Would You Believe? tries to emulate the modernity of the sounds inside through an adventurous use of computer fonts. Clearly done on a Macintosh, which opened up desktop layout and publishing to everyone, the front cover has RAY CHARLES written vertically twice, in black and in white but at angles to each other (how hip and edgy!). The title WOULD YOU BELIEVE? is written in a semi-circle in the lower right; both appear to be the Macintosh system font circa 1990.

The black version fits in with the dark color scheme of the photo in general, while the white is on top and out of place, on an angle. It reflects the “breaking out of a mold” feel of Ray’s music within: it heralds the new, unexpected Mr. Charles in the grooves.

The back cover of the LP features a terribly ugly mishmash of Mac fonts for the song titles and the credits beneath them: words and even individual letters change fonts from their neighbors. Hey, it seemed cool then!

The front cover photograph, by contrast, is one of Ray’s better ones: tinged brown and tan, it shows a closeup of Ray with his sunglasses on, singing and/or playing, apparently, in emotive concentration.

There was no special inner sleeve, and thus no lyrics, included with the LP.

Record labels

Singles with songs from Would You Believe?

There were no vinyl singles in the United States directly from Would You Believe?, but “Ellie, My Love” was a hit in Japan in 1989 as a mini-CD single, released as a tie-in to Ray’s television commercials for Suntory White whiskey. There were vocal and instrumental versions on that CD. “I’ll Take Care Of You” b/w “Child Support, Alimony” was also released in Japan as a mini-CD. Another track from the album was eventually used in 1993 as a vinyl B-side.

Track listing

Side A
1. “I’ll Take Care Of You”
2. “Your Love Keeps Me Satisfied”
3. “Ellie, My Love”
4. “I Can’t Get Enough”
5. “Let’s Get Back Where We Left Off”

Side B
1. “Child Support, Alimony”
2. “Fresh Out Of Tears”
3. “Living Without You”
4. “Where’re The Stairs?”
5. “Leave Him!”

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