*** Johnnie Ray, “High Drama: The Real...

*** Johnnie Ray, “High Drama: The Real Johnnie Ray,” Sony Legacy. Like Vanguard Records, Ray provided another important but often overlooked chapter in American pop culture. This disc attempts to correct that situation by focusing on some of the late singer’s most dynamic ‘50s recordings. As such, it is a supplement to a previously released “best of” package.

In his liner notes, Jonny Whiteside, who has written a valuable biography of Ray, makes a provocative claim when he declares that Ray was the “missing link between Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.”

Though Ray was not nearly as compelling or as original a vocal stylist as Sinatra or Presley, there was a revolutionary aura to him that gave him some ties to the emerging rock generation.

Ray, who died of liver failure in 1990 at age 63, was a white singer who bridged the gap between mainstream pop and R&B; long before Elvis and the rest of the rock contingent surfaced, and he brought an ultra-dramatic approach to his singing that was often electrifying amid the tameness of AM radio.

On “High Drama,” we hear the 1951 recording of “Cry” that spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts and made a star out of the then 21-year-old. Rather than his other hits, including “The Little White Cloud That Cried” and “Just Walking in the Rain,” the anthology focuses on other material, including five tracks previously unavailable in the United States.

Where some of the early selections do convey an intensity and desire that was trailblazing for their time, Ray sounds less convincing on songs that are from the rock ‘n’ roll period. His 1954 live treatment of “Such a Night” isn’t nearly as fluid or seductive as the Drifters’.

Even if Ray wasn’t all that the album claims, he did play a role in the evolution of contemporary pop music and this record is a welcome reminder.

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