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Carl Carlton is a quintessential cult artist, a musician whose history exists almost entirely on the fringes, offering a parallel history of his times. Carlton wound up sneaking into the charts a few times -- his disco revamp of Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love" climbed to number six on the Billboard pop charts in 1975, his hot funky 1981 single "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)" reached number two on the black charts and was heavily sampled for years afterward -- but he was never quite a star; he was always on the outside, riding and anticipating trends from Northern soul and smooth uptown soul through sleazy funk-rock and '80s electro, creating classics at almost every stop along the way. Everlasting: The Best of Carl Carlton, the first-ever career-spanning Carlton comp and pretty close to the first retrospective ever assembled on the singer (Charly had a collection in 1988 that was never wildly circulated, nor did it cover as much ground), spans a generous 22 tracks released at four different labels, running from 1969's "Look at Mary Wonder (How I Got Over)" to 1985's "Slipped, Tripped (Fooled Around and Fell in Love)." There's a tremendous amount of variety between these two cuts, with the first third of the collection devoted to his bouncy, Motown-inspired sides for Don Robey's BackBeat before things start getting sexier as the '60s give way to the '70s, first with the thick funk of "Wild Child" and then settling into a slow, smooth groove before ending with the pulsating Rick James beats of "She's a Bad Mama Jama" and "Private Property." Few of Carlton's peers had this range, nor were they as convincing in every style as he is here. That range may not have resulted in many hits, but it does make for a phenomenally strong body of work, presented here in this superb compilation whose only fault is that it has no liner notes explaining Carlton's history. It would have been nice to have that be part of the compilation, but don't let that be a deterrent to picking Everlasting up: this long-overdue compilation is good enough to earn Carlton's place in the pantheon of cult soul greats.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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J. Armstead, ComposerLyricist - A. Terry, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1969 UMG Recordings, Inc.
D. Malone, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist - B. Lamp, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1968 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Louise Hiram, ComposerLyricist - William Webb, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1968 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - R. Washington, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Jo Armstead, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Jo Armstead, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
D. Malone, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
D. Malone, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bunny Sigler, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Ugene Dozier, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
D. Malone, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1972 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Webb, ComposerLyricist - Hiram, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1972 UMG Recordings, Inc.
P. KELLY, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1975 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - George Soule, ComposerLyricist - Terry Woodford, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1973 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Buzz Cason, ComposerLyricist - Mac Gayden, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Don Schroeder, Producer - Tommy Cogbill, Producer
℗ 1975 UMG Recordings, Inc.
D. BELFIELD, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1976 UMG Recordings, Inc.
D. Monda, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist - G. Sciarrotta, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1975 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Bunny Sigler, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1976 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Leon Haywood, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1980 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Leon Haywood, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Carl Carlton, MainArtist
℗ 1980 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Leon Haywood, Producer - Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Michael McGioiry, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1981 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Allen A. Jones, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1985 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Carl Carlton, MainArtist - Allen A. Jones, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1985 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Album review
Carl Carlton is a quintessential cult artist, a musician whose history exists almost entirely on the fringes, offering a parallel history of his times. Carlton wound up sneaking into the charts a few times -- his disco revamp of Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love" climbed to number six on the Billboard pop charts in 1975, his hot funky 1981 single "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)" reached number two on the black charts and was heavily sampled for years afterward -- but he was never quite a star; he was always on the outside, riding and anticipating trends from Northern soul and smooth uptown soul through sleazy funk-rock and '80s electro, creating classics at almost every stop along the way. Everlasting: The Best of Carl Carlton, the first-ever career-spanning Carlton comp and pretty close to the first retrospective ever assembled on the singer (Charly had a collection in 1988 that was never wildly circulated, nor did it cover as much ground), spans a generous 22 tracks released at four different labels, running from 1969's "Look at Mary Wonder (How I Got Over)" to 1985's "Slipped, Tripped (Fooled Around and Fell in Love)." There's a tremendous amount of variety between these two cuts, with the first third of the collection devoted to his bouncy, Motown-inspired sides for Don Robey's BackBeat before things start getting sexier as the '60s give way to the '70s, first with the thick funk of "Wild Child" and then settling into a slow, smooth groove before ending with the pulsating Rick James beats of "She's a Bad Mama Jama" and "Private Property." Few of Carlton's peers had this range, nor were they as convincing in every style as he is here. That range may not have resulted in many hits, but it does make for a phenomenally strong body of work, presented here in this superb compilation whose only fault is that it has no liner notes explaining Carlton's history. It would have been nice to have that be part of the compilation, but don't let that be a deterrent to picking Everlasting up: this long-overdue compilation is good enough to earn Carlton's place in the pantheon of cult soul greats.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 22 track(s)
- Total length: 01:12:02
- Main artists: Carl Carlton
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Hip-O Select
- Genre: Soul/Funk/R&B R&B
© 2009 Universal Music Enterprises, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. ℗ 2009 Universal Music Enterprises, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
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