Sorti en 1968, "This Is Clarence Carter" est le premier album studio de Clarence Carter, une figure emblématique de la soul sudiste. Porté par la chaleur brute de sa voix et une sincérité désarmante, cet album incarne à la perfection l’esprit de la musique soul de la fin des années 60.

On y retrouve un savant mélange de blues, de rhythm & blues et de soul profonde, avec des arrangements sobres mais efficaces qui mettent en avant l’émotion pure. L’album contient notamment le titre culte “Slip Away”, qui deviendra un classique instantané et propulsera Carter sur le devant de la scène. Chaque morceau raconte une histoire, oscillant entre amour, désir, vulnérabilité et intensité émotionnelle.

This Is Clarence Carter n’est pas seulement un premier album, c’est une déclaration d’identité artistique, brute et authentique, qui pose les bases d’une carrière marquante dans la soul américaine.

Musicians :
Clarence Carter (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Hinton (guitar), Linden Oldham (piano), Aaron Varnell, Charles Chalmers (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Gene Miller (trumpet), Barry Beckett (piano, electric piano, Hammond organ), David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums).

Clarence Carter, blind from birth, was a blues singer with lascivious wit, a talented guitarist, a songwriter with a twinkle in his eye, and a champion of down-to-earth soul grooves who taught himself to play the guitar. He sang in a gospel choir, completed a degree in music, and grounded the duo Clarence & Calvin but was not however very successful. After a car crash involving Calvin Scott, Carter started on a solo career and signed a contract with Rick Hall and the Fame label as a soloist. Among the earliest singles recorded at the Muscle Shoals studio were a few hits. After leaving Fame for Atlantic, he managed to enter the Top 20 of the R & B charts with "Looking For A Fox". His breakthrough came with "Slip Away", which sold a million copies and was awarded a Gold Record.

The legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals remained the home basis, as it were, for Carter during his career with Atlantic. "This Is…" begins with a contemplative, soft sound. "Do What You Gotta Do", written by Jim Webb, is a lovely, melancholic mid-tempo ballad, saturated with Barry Beckett’s keyboard and smothered by lush, plaintive winds. But the man is primarily funky here… as three danceable, finger-snapping tracks prove; "Wind It Up", with further witty improvisations and a fervid organ solo, the highly syncopated, playful "Thread The Needle", and the smoky, irresistible "Funky Fever" all written by Carter himself. Dan Penn’s and Spooner Oldham’s "Slippin’ Around" has an unorthodox bossa nova-like beat that is reminiscent of Ray Charles’s "What’d I Say", while Carter’s unmistakable chuckle is to be heard for the first time on the riotous funk-rock number "I’m Qualified", which has the very same unique, infectious groove as was to be heard on Wilson Pickett’s "In The Midnight Hour". "She Ain’t Gonna Do Right", composed by the same man, brings more Alabama Country to the mix, whereby Beckett contributes a catchy, persistent organ riff in the refrain. Soul, blues, funk, R & B a gigantic album from a giant of the genre.

Recording: 1968 at Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals, AL, by Rick Hall
Production: Rick Hall