Search - Valerie Carter :: Wild Child

Thank God for the Japanese...

Sabrina | Los Angeles, CA | 01/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...who seem to treasure our artists far more than we do. This is one of the great "chick albums" of the late '70s, but it is singular because instead of being a country/folk/rock excercise, it is a *soul* album. Carter may have looked like a beautiful air-headed model, but her songwriting and singing are solid and superb. To this day, I don't think I've heard a better blue-eyed soul performance than those on "Crazy" and "Story of Love." The woman had a spectacular voice, and I've always been at a loss as to why she wasn't a monster star. I've heard that the death of her mentor Lowell George sent her into seclusion, but still... She should have been huge. Oh well. We have this CD, which is wonderful."

Overlooked, underpraised from '78

L. S. Slaughter | Chapel Hill, NC | 08/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How stupid and overpaid are record executives? Well, this has been allowed to be out-of-print for years and years, for beginners. No, it's not a perfect album, and people like below who make critiques such as "overwrought vocals," well go record your own darn album, jack. The excesses of an artist sometimes define them. I'm looking for essence and soul, not perfection, and Valerie supplies it here. Lots of solid tracks, and, yes, it's a bit blue at turns, but Wild Child and The Blue Side, well, gotta find 'em again. This LP and Lonette McKee were the overlooked gems of the year. I suppose everyone was busy with the Bee Gees and such and the only dull stretch of the Eagles."