Wild Child (Valerie Carter album) explained

Wild Child
Type:Studio
Artist:Valerie Carter
Cover:File:Valerie_Carter_-_Wild_Child_Cover.jpg
Studio:Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA.
Genre:Rock
Length:42:21
Label:Columbia
Producer:James Newton Howard
Prev Title:Just a Stone's Throw Away
Prev Year:1977
Next Title:The Way It Is
Next Year:1996

Wild Child is the second studio album by Valerie Carter. Some notable musicians on this album are Steve Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather of Toto, Mike Utley of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, Jay Graydon of Airplay, Davey Johnstone of the Elton John Band, Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire and Ray Parker Jr. The album was reissued in full as part of the 2019 compilation Ooh Child - The Columbia Years on Cherry Tree Records.

Critical reception

The Globe and Mail wrote that Carter "has a very nice voice and, in fact, her singing abilities probably outweigh her songwriting ones," but concluded that "her versatile voice is being over-processed into pop slickness too much of the time."[1] Smash Hits called Wild Child "an accomplished American album of gentle, shuffling songs done Fleetwood Mac style. It's all a bit to effortless to be actually wild, but this album has a wistful, haunting beauty."[2]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that Wild Child "never transcends its time, except for the most hardcore soft-rock collectors." Charles Donovan of PopMatters wrote of Wild Child in his tribute article to Valerie Carter that, "Her name appeared in the songwriting credits of roughly half the tracks. To some, it's the poor relation, with its disco-pop compromises, its studio wizards (James Newton Howard), its ultra-slick session players and commercial sheen. I've always liked it."[3]

Joe Marchese of The Second Disc writes of Wild Child, "The versatile singer-songwriter had a hand in five of its nine songs compared to just three on the previous LP, making Wild Child arguably a more personal album despite the sleek production. The lyrics to the ironically upbeat opening track, "Crazy," may have cut too close to the bone for an artist who battled her share of personal demons over the years: "I'm always gonna be this way/Reckless and crazy/That's probably true…" An authenticity, not to mention confidence, surges though the album."[4]

Track listing

Track information verified from the LP's liner notes[5] and Sessiondays.

Musicians

"Crazy"

"Da Doo Rendezvous"

"What’s Become Of Us"

"Taking The Long Way Home"

"Lady In The Dark"

"The Story Of Love"

"The Blue Side"

"Change In Luck"

"Trying To Get To You"

"Wild Child"

Production

Personnel information retrieved from Discogs, Session Days and AllMusic.[6] [7]

References

  1. News: Gilday . Katherine . Wild Child . The Globe and Mail . 13 Dec 1978 . F9.
  2. Smash Hits . Albums. Red Starr. 9. 5 April 1979.
  3. Web site: The Voice of an Angel: A Tribute to Valerie Carter . Donovan . Charles . 11 February 2019 . popmatters.com . Pop Matters . 31 December 2019 .
  4. Web site: Da Doo Rendezvous: Cherry Red Collects Valerie Carter's Columbia Albums . Marchese . Joe . 4 July 2019 . theseconddisc.com2 . The Second Disc . 31 December 2019 .
  5. Wild Child . Valerie Carter . liner notes . 1978 . Columbia.
  6. Valerie Carter - Wild Child . Valerie Carter . liner notes . 1978 . Columbia.
  7. Web site: 1978 Valerie Carter – Wild Child . sessiondays.com . Session Days . 31 December 2019 .

External links