Carla

Four CD set. SoulMusic Records is proud to present a first-of-it's-kind complete collection of all of the Atlantic and Stax recordings by Carla Thomas, released between 1960-1968. With a total of 94 tracks, Let Me Be Good To You celebrates 'The First Lady Of Stax Records' whose 1961 classic hit 'Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)' led to the Memphis-based label's distribution with Atlantic Records. Sequenced by session, the deluxe 4-CD set includes tracks from Carla's four solo albums, plus the famed 1967 King & Queen LP of duets with the late Otis Redding. The 'A' and 'B' sides of all of Carla's singles - including (28) non-album tracks - are featured including Carla's duets with her famous father, Rufus Thomas, along with five live recordings from Carla's 1967 performances in London and Paris with the famed Stax/Volt Revue. Produced by SoulMusic Records founder David Nathan, Let Me Be Good To You - The Atlantic & Stax Recordings (1960-1968) boasts a stellar 8,000-word extensive essay by renowned UK writer Charles Waring with 2020 quotes from Stax executive Al Bell, famed songwriter/producer David Porter, Carla's sister Vaneese (a recording artist in her own right) and former Stax publicist and songwriter Deanie Parker and others.

Gene Clark was one of the most gifted singers and songwriters of his generation, but bad luck and self-destructive habits followed him like a shadow, and it seemed sadly appropriate that he died in the spring of 1991 as he was working on a follow-up to the biggest success of his solo career, So Rebellious a Lover, his 1987 collaboration with Carla Olson of the Textones. Clark's poor health (aggravated by drinking) and fear of flying prevented a full-scale tour in support of So Rebellious a Lover, but he played scattered live dates after its release, and In Concert gathers recordings from shows Clark gave in late 1988 and early 1990.

Austin-to-L.A. transplants the Textones were one of the few post-new wave "roots rock" bands of the mid-'80s to deserve the appellation. (Unfortunately, they're mostly remembered, if at all, only as the band Kathy Valentine left to join the Go-Go's.) Unlike the terribly overrated Lone Justice or the beer salesmen in the Long Ryders or the Del Fuegos, Carla Olson and company came off like a punkier version of the Gram Parsons-era Byrds, with a poppy edge on unexpected covers like the Searchers' "Silver" and Neil Sedaka's "Keep a Walkin'."

In the annals of Memphis music history, there is little that comes close to the timeless music of the queen, to Otis Redding’s King of Soul™, Carla Thomas. Stax Records’ first star, paired with her father Rufus Thomas on the classic “Cause I Love You,” Carla would go on to hit the charts through both the Atlantic Records-era, and after Stax split off to become an independent powerhouse, with a series of soul-pop gems that are featured on this compilation, from “B-A-B-Y” and “I Like What You’re Doing (To Me)” to “Let Me Be Good To You,” and of course her scorching 1966 duet with The Big O, “Tramp.”