Surely as anticipated as 2015`s Gloria Ann Taylor retrospective, on Ubiquity, Kalita collect the complete recordings of Carrie Cleveland. Music only ever issued as limited promo, or never issued at all. The odd track comp`d by the likes of Gilles Peterson, only increasing its desirability. Aficionados biding on near invisible copies of Carrie`s sole 45, Make Love To Me.
The Kalita collection pulls together everything. So there are multiple takes of several songs. Proposed album versions, and singles, that vary in arrangement and tempo. Between broken-hearted ballads, tambourine-shaking, seductive slow dancers, and Proto-Disco beats. All built on the bass, drums, and keys of Carrie`s husband, Bill.
Girl group harmonies accompanied by Church-y organ, and funky Moog-y touches. The versions adding clipped rhythm guitar. The keys, at times, mimicking muted horns. But the basic productions, heavy on almost Dub B-lines, also recall Jamaica`s forays into R&B. Stuff like the recently reissued You’ll Never Need Somebody by Merlyn Brooks. The tunes` simple, stripped back nature sharing, again, something with the sides of Gloria Ann, and her husband Walter Whisenhunt. Plus, to my ears the Blues roots of Bobby “Story” Patterson. The raw, idiosyncratic, gems unearthed on Dave Godin`s Deep Soul Treasures.
You can order a copy of Carrie Cleveland`s Looking Up: The Complete Works directly from Kalita Records.
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