Wild Child (Valerie Carter album)

Last updated
Wild Child
Valerie Carter - Wild Child Cover.jpg
Studio album by
Valerie Carter
ReleasedJuly 1, 1978 (1978-07-01)
Studio Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA.
Genre Rock
Length42:21
Label Columbia
Producer James Newton Howard
Valerie Carter chronology
Just a Stone's Throw Away
(1977)		Wild Child
(1978)		 The Way It Is
(1996)

Wild Child is the second studio album by Valerie Carter. Some notable musicians on this album are Steve Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather of Toto, Mike Utley of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, Jay Graydon of Airplay, Davey Johnstone of the Elton John Band, Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire and Ray Parker Jr. The album was reissued in full as part of the 2019 compilation Ooh Child - The Columbia Years on Cherry Tree Records.

Contents

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

The Globe and Mail wrote that Carter "has a very nice voice and, in fact, her singing abilities probably outweigh her songwriting ones," but concluded that "her versatile voice is being over-processed into pop slickness too much of the time." [2] Smash Hits called Wild Child "an accomplished American album of gentle, shuffling songs done Fleetwood Mac style. It's all a bit to effortless to be actually wild, but this album has a wistful, haunting beauty." [3]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that Wild Child "never transcends its time, except for the most hardcore soft-rock collectors." [1] Charles Donovan of PopMatters wrote of Wild Child in his tribute article to Valerie Carter that, "Her name appeared in the songwriting credits of roughly half the tracks. To some, it's the poor relation, with its disco-pop compromises, its studio wizards (James Newton Howard), its ultra-slick session players and commercial sheen. I've always liked it." [4]

Joe Marchese of The Second Disc writes of Wild Child, "The versatile singer-songwriter had a hand in five of its nine songs compared to just three on the previous LP, making Wild Child arguably a more personal album despite the sleek production. The lyrics to the ironically upbeat opening track, "Crazy," may have cut too close to the bone for an artist who battled her share of personal demons over the years: "I'm always gonna be this way/Reckless and crazy/That's probably true…" An authenticity, not to mention confidence, surges though the album." [5]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Crazy"
4:30
2."Da Doo Rendezvous" Andy Fairweather Low 4:37
3."What's Become of Us"
  • Carter
  • Bell
3:37
4."Taking the Long Way Home"
  • Carter
  • Howard
3:32
5."Lady in the Dark"
4:42
Total length:42:21
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."The Story of Love"
  • Carter
  • Bell
4:09
7."The Blue Side"
3:28
8."Change in Luck" Tom Snow 4:49
9."Trying to Get to You" Eugene Record 4:10
10."Wild Child" David Batteau 4:47

Track information verified from the LP's liner notes [6] and Sessiondays. [7]

Musicians

"Crazy"

"Da Doo Rendezvous"

"What’s Become Of Us"

"Taking The Long Way Home"

"Lady In The Dark"

"The Story Of Love"

"The Blue Side"

"Change In Luck"

"Trying To Get To You"

"Wild Child"

Production

Personnel information retrieved from Discogs, Session Days and AllMusic. [8] [1] [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Wild Child at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Gilday, Katherine (13 Dec 1978). "Wild Child". The Globe and Mail. p. F9.
  3. ↑ Red Starr (5 April 1979). "Albums". Smash Hits. No. 9.
  4. ↑ Donovan, Charles (11 February 2019). "The Voice of an Angel: A Tribute to Valerie Carter". popmatters.com. Pop Matters. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  5. ↑ Marchese, Joe (4 July 2019). "Da Doo Rendezvous: Cherry Red Collects Valerie Carter's Columbia Albums". theseconddisc.com2. The Second Disc. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  6. ↑ Wild Child (liner notes). Valerie Carter. Columbia. 1978.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. 1 2 "1978 Valerie Carter – Wild Child". sessiondays.com. Session Days. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  8. ↑ Valerie Carter - Wild Child (liner notes). Valerie Carter. Columbia. 1978.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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