Platinum Collection, The

Of the soul stars who emerged from the Atlantic Records roster in the '60s, Clarence Carter was the one with the closest stylistic ties to the gritty, emotionally raw sounds of Chicago blues; Carter was not afraid to plead for love on tunes like "Slip Away" and "Too Weak to Fight" while sounding just short of lascivious on "Tell Daddy" and "Back Door Santa," and his gruff but expressive voice matched the material on both ends of the scale. Carter was also one of the last of Atlantic's stars to rise to fame -- his biggest hit "Patches" didn't make the charts until 1969 -- and in 1971 he left for the seemingly greener pastures of ABC Records, and as a consequence his installment in Warner Platinum's Platinum Collection series draws from a smaller body of work than most of the others. But what's here ranks with Carter's best and most lasting work; most of these sides were cut with producer Rick Hall and boasted either his Fame Studios crew or the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section backing Carter, and the tight, forceful funk that was second nature to them was the ideal match for Carter's potent vocals, matching him for emotional force at every turn. And these 20 tunes are solid stuff, featuring Carter's best known Atlantic sides (including "Patches," "Snatchin' It Back" and "Slip Away") along with some impressive B-sides and album tracks such as "I Smell a Rat," "It's All in Your Mind" and his long, mostly spoken take on "The Dark End of the Street." The Platinum Collection contains 20 of the 21 songs that appeared on Rhino Records' superb 1992 overview of Carter's Atlantic years, Snatching It Back, and the detailed liner notes make the Rhino set the one to get, but in lieu of that The Platinum Collection is great listening and a fine introduction to one of the great voices of Southern soul. ~ Mark Deming|