Even Stevens (album)

Even Stevens was Ray Stevens' third studio album, released in 1968. It was also his first album for Monument Records as well as his first studio album in five years, though he previously released four singles for Monument, starting with "ABC" in 1965. Before the release of this album, Stevens concentrated on writing and producing songs for other artists.

Even Stevens
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 1968
GenrePop
LabelMonument
ProducerFred Foster and Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens chronology
The Best of Ray Stevens
(1968)
Even Stevens
(1968)
Gitarzan
(1969)

Despite the album's joking title, it is considered by all media as his first "serious" album, as there are no songs on the album that are in the genres of novelty or comedy. But Stevens never wholly strays away from humor on the album, as evidenced in the songs "The Minority," a re-recorded version of "Funny Man," "Say Cheese," "Mr. Businessman," "Unwind," and "The Great Escape" (the last two of which humorously describe the everyday routines of a working middle-class man). With the exception of the eighth track, "The Earl of Stilton Square," all the material was written by Stevens himself, though he shares credit with another songwriter for the fourth track, "Say Cheese." Stevens successfully proves his artistic versatility throughout the album, notably with touching performances of his self-penned ballads "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (which describes the celebration of an upcoming wedding between a man's best friend and his old flame), "Say Cheese" (which describes hiding emotional pain after a breakup), the haunting, mind-boggling "Isn't It Lonely Together," and "Face the Music." Despite not charting on the Billboard 200, the album received an overall of positive reviews from critics and fans alike.

On an interesting side note, Bobby Vinton recorded the song "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" for his album Bobby Vinton Sings the Newest Hits, which was released a year before this album; while "Isn't It Lonely Together" became a minor hit for former R&B singer Robert Knight during the same year of the release of this album.

The back of the album's cover contains an essay by songwriter Tupper Saussy that describes his experiences with working with Stevens and the making of the album (which was released a few months after the single "Unwind"). Saussy also mentions in the essay that he and Stevens worked on a song for the album entitled "Keep out of Reach of Children," which ended up unfinished and describes this particular song as "a song that would admonish adults to remove their sophisticated anxieties-over-nothing from their youngsters so as not to contaminate them with needless complexities."

Aside from the song "Unwind" (a Top 40 Canadian Pop hit that was issued on the album after its initial release), two singles were lifted from the album: "Mr. Businessman" (the only one to make the Top 40 on the American Pop charts) and "The Great Escape."

On October 8, 1996, Varèse Sarabande rereleased this album on CD and included four bonus tracks, the last of which was the single version of Stevens' hit "Mr. Businessman."

Track listing

Side One
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Minority"Ray Stevens3:42
2."Funny Man"Ray Stevens3:01
3."For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"Ray Stevens2:47
4."Say Cheese"Bob Tubert, Ray Stevens2:29
5."Mr. Businessman"Ray Stevens3:19
Side Two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Isn't It Lonely Together"Ray Stevens3:14
2."Face the Music"Ray Stevens2:25
3."The Earl of Stilton Square"Tupper Saussy3:57
4."Unwind"Ray Stevens3:10
5."The Great Escape"Ray Stevens3:03

CD bonus tracks

Album credits

  • Produced by: Fred Foster and Ray Stevens
  • Engineer: Charlie Tallent
  • Production and engineer assistance: Jim Malloy
  • Recorded at Bradley's Barn
  • Photography and art direction: Ken Kim
  • "The Earl of Stilton Square" was written, arranged and conducted by: Tupper Saussy
  • "Face the Music" was arranged and conducted by: Louis Nunley
  • All other songs were written, arranged and conducted by: Ray Stevens

Charts

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1968 "Unwind" Billboard Hot 100 52
1968 "Unwind" Canadian Singles Chart 29
1968 "Mr. Businessman" Billboard Hot 100 28
1968 "Mr. Businessman" Canadian Singles Chart 7
1968 "The Great Escape" Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles 114
1968 "The Great Escape" Canadian Singles Chart 43
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