Search - Carla Thomas :: Comfort Me

Another solid album

someone else | cleveland, ohio, usa | 04/13/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Comfort Me" is, I believe, Carla Thomas' third full-length album, and it is a solid one through and through. In contrast to her later album "The Queen Alone," this album shines most when the songs are written by the members of the Stax team. It's not always Hayes and Porter, but the original works are more interesting than the covers on this album, even if the covers are so readily recognizable that they are the ones that most tend to get stuck in your head when the album is over. Songs like "Yes, I'm Ready," "Lover's Concerto," "What the World Needs Now" "Let It Be Me," and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" are clearly tried and true songs that at first make the album seem almost a touch uninspired--as if they were just trying to find the next big hit. After several listens, though, the mega-hit covers seems to stand out less and less and fit in more and more with the album as a cohesive whole. The only legitimate complaint then is that this hasn't been domestically reissued in so long. It's absurd to think that this album and the preceeding one, "Carla," are out of print domestically. Stax (or really the label that currently owns the Stax catalog) should be ashamed for letting "The Queen of Memphis Soul" go unheard for so long."