CARLA THOMAS: MEMPHIS QUEEN (1969)
1) I Like What You're Doing
(To Me); 2) I Play For Keeps; 3) Don't Say No More; 4) More Man Than I Ever
Had; 5) I've Fallen In Love With You; 6) He's Beating Your Time; 7) Unyielding;
8) Strung Out; 9) How Can You Throw My Love Away; 10) Guide Me Well; 11)
Precious Memories; 12) Where Do I Go.
The difference between Queen Alone and Memphis
Queen, other than the switch from «alone» (as in «I don't need Otis Redding
by my side to prove that royal status... or do I?») to «Memphis» (as in
«assertion of Southern identity couldn't hurt those sales... or could it?»), is
that this 1969 record is a little less poppy and generally goes for denser and
harsher arrangements, funkier grooves, and, overall, more of that swampy
soulful black magic. Loud brass, thick syncopated bass, gospel backing vocals,
the works. Classy Stax sound and all — problem is, by 1969 we were already
living in the world of Aretha Franklin, and in this world, the need for Carla
Thomas is almost non-existent.
Unless she or her collaborators could
contribute some top-level songwriting, that is; but in this respect, Memphis Queen is no better or worse
than a thousand other deep (or not so deep) soul records released the same
year. Carla herself writes only two songs, the Motown-ish pop-rocker ʽDon't Say
No Moreʼ and the lush ballad ʽI've Fallen In Love With Youʼ, and both are
perfectly stereotypical. Even worse, the Hayes/Porter well of goodies has
clearly run dry as well — with Hayes now busy full time with his own solo
career, the only contribution is ʽGuide Me Wellʼ, a slow waltz whose first half
is merely recited rather than sung by the lady, and everything about which,
including the arrangement, could have been created in a matter of five minutes
by any seasoned professional.
Arguably the finest court songwriter of the
bunch here is Bettye Crutcher, who contributes ʽI Like What You're Doing (To
Me)ʼ, the poppiest and catchiest song of the whole bunch (sounds not unlike
early Christine McVie before she learned to properly sharpen those hooks), and
the funk-pop anthem ʽMore Man Than I've Ever Hadʼ, where the gentle and
romantic Carla Thomas is beginning to learn the basics of lusty, carnal music —
still not quite up to the standards of Bessie Smith, but she does make the
transition to a deeper, rougher range in order to explain how her man keeps her
satisfied. It's fun, but, unfortunately, not very believable from a performer
whose brightest moment still remains ʽGee Whizʼ, a starry-eyed and purely
innocent account of teenage love — the teenager may have grown up, but not into
a sex-crazed lady who'd be ready to eat you alive at a moment's notice. Nice
try, though.
The record remains a good example of classic
1969-era Stax: everybody is tight, brass and string parts gel perfectly, and
there is even some fine wah-wah funk playing on a few of the numbers
(ʽUnyieldingʼ), so there are no special reasons to put it down. But it did not
succeed in making Carla Thomas more relevant and star-powered in the new era of
black music, and the idea of putting out the slow, barely noticeable ʽGuide Me
Wellʼ as the lead single only meant that nobody really gave a damn any more.
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