The Way It Is

Artist: Valerie Carter
Label: Ulg Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 608631773722
EAN: 0608631773722
ASIN: B000005QZD

Release Date: 1996-07-02

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Tracks:

The Way It Is
Love Needs A Heart
Sea Of Stars
Into The Mystic
Birds
Who Is She (And What Is She To You)
I Say Amen
When The Blues Come To Call
I Wonder Why
Whistle Down The Wind

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Customer Reviews:

she's still the most underrated singer around.......2004-05-26

Valerie Carter is an amazing, innovative and interpretive singer. If you love powerful singing, this CD should join your collection because she is a classic. Sometimes her material is uneven but she makes anything sound soulful and stirring. If you don't have the older "Just a Stone's Throw Away," order that first. It is a gorgeous piece of work that has stood the test of time. I just wish she did more solo work.

Valerie's Back!.......2001-06-12

I was SHOCKED a few years back when I noticed this CD at Tower. It received no publicity (it's on an independent label) and was the only CD Valerie Carter had released since 1978! I thought she'd long ago given up on the biz. It's definitely more laid-back than her 70s records, with one smoker, "Who is He (and what is he to you)," sung with a soulful Lyle Lovett. Interestingly, the same song was covered by Maverick's Michelle Ngocello the same year. Valerie's is by far more rockin' in my opinion. Another classic cut is the gorgeous Tom Snow-penned, "When the Blues Come to Call," which just melts in your ears. A few of the covers are a little too folky for my taste and I wish Val would go back to her R&B roots more. The bonus surprise track at the end is a good, live-sounding jam version of Earth, Wind & Fire's "That's the Way of the World" sung with an ecstatic Phoebe Snow. Can't wait for the follow-up - which according to Valerie's website, should be out this fall or winter after her summer tour with James Taylor. Supposedly she has more stellar support guys on this one.

A GREAT RECORD.......1999-05-18

an absolutely WONDERFUL album. screw the concepts about what the variant recordings could have/should have been, her voice is amazing (as always), her interpretations perfect. her version of 'love needs a heart' makes jackson's rather moot. i simply love her tune 'amen' and think her 'interpretations' of the tunes she didn't write (or co-write) to be outstanding. so, valerie, run away with me? i deserve it. . .

One of the finest voices in today's music scene.......1998-07-30

With her beautiful and soulful voice, Valerie Carter has produced another fine record. Only her third album since she emerged as one of Rolling Stone's best new artists of 1977, "The Way It Is" possesses some truly shining moments. The title track demonstrates clearly the wonderful vocal instrument she possesses. She tears up "Who Is She?" and shows her range on "Sea Of Stars". Despite the lack of a big production she might have received at a major label, Valerie makes the most of it with her unique and emotive delivery. A hidden track at the end, a cover of EWF's "Hearts On Fire", easily demonstrates the masterpiece of Carter's fine voice pairing her against an all-star ensemble and dueling vocals with Phoebe Snow. Major labels would be wise to sign the lady and give her the production and promotion she clearly deserves.

Glad she's back, now where's the beef?.......1998-06-19

Valerie Carter's gorgeous soprano has been missing from the recording scene for almost twenty years, so the release of her new CD "The Way It Is" is cause for celebration. However, it is a little disappointing to hear a singular voice like hers couched in some rather pedestrian arrangements of a few classic tunes that should have been a grand showcase for her gifts. Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" would seem to be a perfect song for Carter's plaintive style, but the surrounding accompaniment sounds as if the musicians were a little awed by the material and resort to playing a kind of wedding band arrangement that drains the life out of the song and the singer. Ditto Neil Young's "Birds" and Bill Withers' fabulous "Who is She and What Is She To You?" although everyone is redeemed by Carter's take on Tom Waits' "Whistle Down the Wind." The newer tunes by Carter, Tom Snow, and Jackson Browne, to name a few, are fine pieces but seem distinctly out of place against the aforementioned classics. Oddly, the album only works up a real sweat on the hidden track at the end, an all-star jam of Earth, Wind, and Fire's "That's the Way Of The World." To hear Valerie Carter stand toe to toe with Phoebe Snow, among others, gives a glimpse of what might have been. This is a fine collection, but fine is just not good enough when dealing with a class act like Valerie Carter.

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