Search - Clarence Carter :: Best of

Fairly good songs, sad production . . .

aliled | Shawnee, Kansas United States | 07/23/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Clarence Carter has a wonderful voice that really oozes soul of the Southern variety, and he's in not really in bad form here. The songs (for the most part) are solidly written and veer from heartfelt ballads of love ("I Was In The Neighborhood") to his infamous lustful tales ("Strokin'") - not all are great, but there are several good ones. Many of these songs were big hits, particularly with older fans of R&B. Unfortunately, they were recorded in the 80's and suffer greatly from the production sins of that decade. Linn drums, drum machines in general, synth basses, MOR synth strings, you name it, it's here. Perhaps the most offensive aspect of it is that his vocals are buried in the mix, below layers of drums, and even the backing vocalists have more oomph behind them than Carter's voice. While this is truer with some songs than others ("Dr CC" is one of the more flawed tunes, for example), none of the songs are entirely free from it.Given that Carter's brand of soul is so innately organic, the heavily-dated machine-oriented production style found throughout is much more offensive than similarly produced records from the 80's. I suppose Men Without Hats or the Fixx or Kajagoogoo used these same production techniques to their advantage, it's just not what I want to hear on a Clarence Carter record. You can't fault most of the songs here, but fans of southern soul are better directed to "Snatchin' It Back", a compilation of Carter's material for Atlantic, recorded in they heyday of southern soul and with an appropriate sound for the music.Koch deserve demerits for including nothing in the way of liner notes or release date information for these songs. It's almost as if they knew people would stay away if they knew. I would have!"

Party Blues CD...

yygsgsdrassil | Crossroads America | 02/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"....if you have just one Clarence Carter CD in your collection, it's gotta be this. These are great, great tunes from his 80's and 90's Big C/Ichiban records days that are bluesy and funky and fun. From the street risque numbers "Strokin'", "Grandpa Can't Fly his Kite", "Love Me With A Feelin" (all of which has benefitted from a word of mouth hyping--you probably won't ever hear these on radio) to the Dr's jams "Dr. CC" and "I'm Not Just Good" to "Slip Away" (Redux)...in a phrase, they are near masterpieces. Mark my words, people are gonna catch on and catch up with these jams and make them their greatest medicine for whatever ails them. They are just that good."