James Carr

James Carr's best-known single, "The Dark End of the Street," written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman, was covered by Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, among others. Carr's version, released in 1967, peaked at #10 on the R&B charts and stalled at #77 on the pop charts. Which is to say, Carr's influence has been more keenly felt among the players and the cognoscenti than among the record-buying public (remember them?). To be sure, James Carr never found the audience that Otis Redding and Percy Sledge did. But as a soul singer, Carr delivered some of the finest gospel-inflected music of his era. On that haunting song "The Dark End of the Street," Carr rendered his material sublime, making the song a kind of companion piece to the folk standard "Long Black Veil." It is a measure of James Carr's undeserved obscurity that various U.S.-released compilations have gone out of print. Most recently, Razor & Tie's fine 1995 collection, The Essential James Carr, has been cut from their catalogue. Yes, the revived Goldwax label issued The Complete James Carr, Volumes One and Two; but these remain intermittently available and not as consistent as Razor & Tie's release. The 2001 Soultrax project, 24 Karat Soul, thick with unflattering rerecordings of '60s material, is finally the U.S. release that, even if inadvertently, leads the listener to an important point: perhaps it's time to consider imports. The U.K.'s reliable Kent Soul imprint offers very fine Carr albums. Most notably, The Complete Goldwax Singles brings together 28 sides from between 1964 and 1970, including the aforementioned classic and a number of other exceptional examples of what has come to be called "deep soul." Harlan Howard's "Life Turned Her That Way" is a natural for Carr, rightly suggesting that the singer is in his element with material like "The Dark End of the Street" that deals with fate's bitter theater. Indeed, lighter lyrics don't work as well with Carr's church-born singing style. Even on "A Man Needs a Woman," which features a beautifully urgent vocal performance, the credibility of the song almost collapses when Carr hits the unfortunate line, "Just like a hamburger needs a bun." By contrast, the unlikely Barry and Robin Gibb song "To Love Somebody" lands right in Carr territory, likewise the classic "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man." Do yourself a favor: pay the extra shipping and hear one of the unsung heroes of deep soul. (WARREN ZANES)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide