In the liner notes to Columbia/Legacy's 2005 reissue of
Ray Charles' 1984 album
Friendship Gregg Geller calls the record "the crowning achievement" of the phase of
Ray's career where he "would cater to current tastes and draw from contemporary sources." That's an accurate assessment of the LP in two ways: first of all,
Friendship was a big hit, really the last genuine hit when
Charles was alive, reaching number one on the country charts, where it stayed for 70 weeks; second, it is the pinnacle of his '80s country-pop records, the one where
Ray truly captured the sound of the era (as evidenced by its chart success), thanks in no small part to producer
Billy Sherrill, who gave this the same clean, slick, punchy sound that he brought to many of the Columbia/Epic records he produced in the early '80s. Of course, that doesn't necessarily make
Friendship a great record, or even a good one. The very things that made it a hit in 1984 make it very dated -- apart from a cut or two, such as the good-humored opener, "Two Old Cats Like Us," the songs are as generic as Nashville product comes, and the overly bright sound of the album may have made it slip easily onto the charts in 1984, but has lost whatever charm it had over the years. Nevertheless, this is a record made by old pros, so it's never bad. At its best -- meaning when there is some real interaction between
Ray and his guests, as there is with
Hank Williams, Jr. (the aforementioned "Two Old Cats Like Us"),
the Oak Ridge Boys ("This Old Heart [Is Gonna Rise Again]"), and
George Jones ("We Didn't See a Thing") -- it's merely pleasant; at it's worst, it's simply dull, and duets between
Ray and such greats as
Merle Haggard,
Johnny Cash, and
Willie Nelson simply should not be dull, yet they are here and sound even duller with decades of hindsight. While
Friendship is by no means embarrassing, it's also not particularly interesting, and it's more of a testament to the power of
Sherrill's Music City machine than it is to
Charles' greatness. [The 2005 reissue includes two bonus tracks, neither of which fit the musical template of the album: a duet with
Tony Bennett on
James Taylor's "Everybody Has the Blues" and a duet with
Billy Joel on
Billy's "Baby Grand." Neither fit musically with the rest of the album, but they're both better cuts than anything on
Friendship proper.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine