| The Birth of Soul | |
| Type: | box |
| Artist: | Ray Charles |
| Cover: | Ray Charles - The Birth of Soul.jpg |
| Recorded: | 1952–1959 |
| Genre: | Rhythm and blues[1] |
| Length: | 148:48 |
| Label: | Atlantic |
| Producer: | Herb Abramson, Ahmet Ertegün, and Jerry Wexler |
| Prev Title: | Rhythm & Blues: Ray Charles1954–1966 |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | His Greatest Hits |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings is a 3-CD box set compilation by Ray Charles, released in 1991.
In a contemporary review, Peter Watrous of The New York Times said that the box set "tracks the progress of a figure who profoundly changed what was possible in American music."[2] He ranked it as the twelfth best album of 1991.[3] The Birth of Soul was voted the third best reissue of the year in The Village Voices annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1991.[4]
In 2003, the album was ranked number 54 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[5] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list,[6] then dropping to number 210 in a 2020 reboot of the list.[7] In a retrospective article for the magazine, Robert Christgau wrote that, despite "caveats" such as material repeated on more "economic" releases, The Birth of Soul is "the rockingest Charles long-form you can buy" and remarked on the legacy of its recordings:
Christgau recommended Rhino Entertainment's 1994 compilation album The Best of Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years as a cheaper alternative to the box set.[1]