'Til Morning/A Sinner I Am

This Columbia compilation paired 1958's 'Til Morning with the following year's A Sinner I Am, two Johnnie Ray LPs recorded just after he began slipping from the charts. Attempting to reset himself as a vocal pop singer, Ray did as well as anyone in the rock crossover crowd, ranked only by Bobby Darin. The first album is the better date, with the late-night calm of the Billy Taylor Quartet overseeing things while Ray croons a solid, well-chosen set of material ("It All Depends on You," "I'm Confessin'," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," "Day by Day"). The second set has a full orchestra, material at a level slightly below the first, and a more tentative Ray singing "A Hundred Years From Today," "September Song," and "All the Way." Ray never succeeded as an adult-pop singer; as intriguing as his one-of-a-kind voice sounds in this context, it's not surprising.