Platinum Collection, The

STAX/VOLT プラチナム・コレクション！

ライノUK発、スタックス/ヴォルトが輩出したアーティストのリマスター・ニューベスト盤！ルーファス・トーマスの娘。17歳のときに父親とのデュエット曲でデビュー。61年「Gee Whiz(Look At His Eyes)」がR&Bチャートで5 位、ポップでも10 位まで上昇して一躍スターの仲間入りを果たす。その後も「B-A-B-Y」「I’ll Bring It Home To You（サム・クックのヒット曲のアンサー・ソング）」などヒットが続き,さらにはレーベル・メイトのオーティス・レディングとのデュオで「Tramp」を大ヒットさせるなど器用なところを見せた。

While being Rufus Thomas' daughter certainly helped Carla Thomas get her foot in the door at Stax Records, she became the Queen of Memphis Soul at a time when that title truly meant something because she had a superb voice, and could do a little bit of everything with it. Carla's first major hit, "Gee Whiz! (Look at His Eyes)," is a flawless re-creation of dreamlike adolescent infatuation, but she could also sound powerfully sexy on numbers like "B-A-B-Y" and "Let Me Be Good to You" or mature and lovelorn on "A Love of My Own," and she gave no less than Otis Redding as good as he ever got on "Lovey Dovey" and "Tramp" (the latter is still one of the funniest records in the history of Southern soul, as Carla repeatedly scolds Otis for hailing "straight from the Georgia woods" while he insists "Oooh, I'm a lover!"). This installment in Warner Platinum's series of compilations from the Atlantic Records back catalog features 20 songs from Carla Thomas' glory days at Stax, and like most in the series it doesn't significantly improve on the Rhino Records "best-of" from the artist, in this case the definitive Gee Whiz: The Best of Carla Thomas, which had two more songs than this collection and markedly superior liner notes. But The Platinum Collection does feature nearly every major hit Thomas had, and the remastered audio does wonders for her clear, expressive voice and the tight, funky backings from the Stax studio band. In short, this isn't the best Carla Thomas collection your money can buy, but it's close enough that most fans of the Queen of Memphis Soul will be more than happy with it. ~ Mark Deming|