Sweet & Sour Tears


Sweet & Sour Tears is a 1964 album by Ray Charles. It is a concept album featuring songs with titles or lyrics referring to crying. In 1997, Rhino Records reissued the album on compact disc with seven bonus tracks from his early career that added to the "crying" theme.

Chart performance

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated March 21, 1964, peaking at No. 9 during a twenty-three-week run on the chart.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau hailed the Rhino reissue as the best of the label's reissue program for Charles' ABC albums, saying both producer Sid Feller and the bonus tracks were suited for the original album's crying theme.

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Cry" – 3:34
  2. "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" – 4:20
  3. "A Tear Fell" – 2:45
  4. "No One to Cry To" – 2:43
  5. "You've Got Me Crying Again" – 2:52
  6. "After My Laughter Came Tears" – 3:13

Side two

  1. "Teardrops from My Eyes" – 3:29
  2. "Don't Cry Baby" – 3:09
  3. "Cry Me a River" – 3:20
  4. "Baby, Don't You Cry" – 2:40
  5. "Willow, Weep for Me" – 4:37
  6. "I Cried for You" – 2:40

Bonus tracks (1997 CD release)

  1. "My Heart Cries for You" – 2:51
  2. "I Wake Up Crying" – 3:00
  3. "Drown in My Own Tears" – 3:21
  4. "Teardrops in My Heart" – 3:05
  5. "Crying Time" – 2:58
  6. "No Use Crying" – 3:19
  7. "Tired of My Tears" – 2:23

Personnel

;Technical