POP MUSIC REVIEW : Charles Keeps on Swaying With Emotion-Packed Songs

Time unrelentingly, unforgivingly marches on, taking Ray Charles along with it.

A performance by Charles, now 63, can be viewed similarly to one by Frank Sinatra: Here’s a certified singing giant, one who has touched the hearts of millions, who no longer works with the zeal and power of his early, or even middle-career, classic recordings.

So what?

At the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, Charles revealed that though his falsetto wailing cries have lost some of their spine-straightening bite, and his guttural groans don’t always raise the hair on the back of your neck, he still can deliver--and how.

Charles offered his share of tunes with a medium tempo, such as “The Good Life” and “Let’s Get Away From It All,” and even a couple of blues. Still, slow and sensuous songs have long been the artist’s strong suit, and at the Bowl--wrapped in the lush support of a 40-piece orchestra smartly conducted by Victor Vanacore--Charles made those ballads bristle with emotion and feeling.

The dirge-like “If You Go Away,” sung as Charles, at the keyboard, rocked gently to one side, then the other, was done so matter-of-factly, and without fanfare, one felt the artist might stay in the lyrics’ melancholy mood forever. Also direct and taken at a crawl were “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green,” Joe Rapozo’s song about being comfortable with who you are, in which Charles climaxed with charged, open-throated tones, and Leon Russell’s “A Song for You,” in which the singer savored the words, making it seem as if he had written this romantic ballad.

If there was a highlight among all these passionate numbers, it had to be “America the Beautiful.” Charles’ piano accompaniment rumbled softly under his words and he sang with vehemence, making yet another case for this song, as sung by this artist, to be the national anthem.

Etta James opened the show with her trademark blues-pop-funk, and playing to a huge house--the Bowl packed in 17,979--drew away from the intimacy that a medium-size club affords her.