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Tuesday 12 May 2009

“The Platinum Collection” by CLARENCE CARTER (March 2007 UK Warner Brothers Platinum/Rhino CD Compilation Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry...



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"…I Make All The Little Girls Happy…While The Boys Are Out To Play…Ho! Ho! Ho!"


Europe’s "The Platinum Collection" by CLARENCE CARTER is essentially Rhino's USA 21-track 1992 compilation "Snatching It Back: The Best Of..." minus one song ("Slipped, Tripped And Fell In Love").

The new UK-released March 2007 CD on Warner Brothers Platinum/Rhino 8122-79994-2 (081227999445) has also had its 20-track running order rearranged, there's cheaper artwork and it's now at a budget price (still also has that great Rhino remastered sound). It's reissued as part of the labels 60th Anniversary celebrations (55:24 minutes). .

Carter made 4 albums for Atlantic and a slew of 7" singles came off them, but his career stretched back to 1965 when he was a duet act with Calvin Scott on the Fame label credited as CLARENCE and CALVIN (some of those rarities are on here).

1. Slip Away 
2. Back Door Santa
3. Snatching It Back
4. Tell Daddy
5. Too Weak To Fight 
6. Looking For A Fox 
7. Road Of Love
8. Soul Deep
9. I Smell A Rat
10. I Can't Leave Your Love Alone 
11. Doin' Our Thing
12. Feeling Is Right 
13. Old Time Feeling
14. I Stayed Away Too Long
15. Making Love (At The Dark End Of The Street)
16. It's All In Your Mind
17. I Can't See Myself
18. Step By Step
19. I'd Rather Go Blind
20. Patches

The detailed booklet of the original CD has been reduced to a fairly slight inlay, so here's a track-by-track breakdown of what song came from what:

"This Is Clarence Carter"
1968 USA STEREO LP on Atlantic SD-8192, Atlantic 588 152 in the UK
(CD Tracks 1, 5, 6, 7 and 17)
"The Dynamic Clarence Carter"
1969 USA STEREO LP on Atlantic SD-8199, Atlantic 588 172 in the UK
(CD Tracks 13 and 19)
"Testifyin'"
1969 USA STEREO LP on Atlantic SD-8238, UK on Atlantic 588 191
(CD Tracks 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 15)
"Patches"
1970 USA STEREO LP on Atlantic SD-8267, UK on Atlantic 2400 027
(CD Tracks 10, 16 and 20)

Tracks 4 and 14 are "Tell Daddy" and "I Stayed Away Too Long", the non-album 7" single A and B-side of Fame 1010 from 1967
Track 18 is "Step By Step", the non-album 7" single A-side on Atco 6362 from 1965

There are so many highlights on here - "Looking For A Fox" (a huge 60ts club classic these last few years), the deliciously naughty "Back Door Santa" with his trademark chuckling after ever saucy lyric (quoted above), the fantastic "I want to tell you about it..." soul of "That Old Time Feeling" with its keyboard and brass build up - irresistible. The only real dog is the awful cheese of "Patches" (his biggest chart hit ironically), but it's a tiny glitch in a sea of great Atlantic Sixties soul.

If you want to go deeper, his 4 albums for the label are available elsewhere as twofers on the USA's Collectables label, but in the meantime this little gem sells for four pounds retail and even less online - and it's a solid gold foxy purchase at ten times that price.

Recommended - big time...

PS: the other Atlantic artists in "The Platinum Collection" series are: LaVern Baker (see REVIEW), Archie Bell & The Drells (see REVIEW), Brook Benton (see REVIEW), Booker T & The M.G.'s, Ruth Brown, Solomon Burke, The Clovers, Arthur Conley (see REVIEW), Don Covay, The Detroit Spinners, Eddie Floyd, King Curtis, Barbara Lewis (see REVIEW), The Mar-Keys, The Persuasions, Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge (see REVIEW), Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, (Big) Joe Turner and Betty Wright

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