Carlene Carter
03.25.2008 -- Review by: Don ZelaznyThe last five years have certainly been a roller-coaster ride for Carlene Carter, unfortunately with more steep downs. The ride has leveled out of late though and she now has a brand new release, Stronger, on Yep Roc Records. The ride started in 2003 with a year that would test anyone’s will. Howie Epstein, Carlene’s long-time partner (and former Tom Petty bassist) died in February. Three months later she lost her mother, June Carter Cash, followed by the loss of stepfather Johnny Cash in September. As if that weren’t enough, the following month she lost her little sister Rosie. All of this temporarily derailed hard won sobriety, but fate does strange things sometimes. During her recovery, she met new husband Joseph Breen which eventually lit the creative fire that lead to the new CD. “The whole new record was inspired, in a lot of ways, by Joe,” she has said. Although no one would fault her for putting out a CD riddled with sadness and despair, she choose strength and love as topics instead. She says: “My life is blessed with love and love is what this CD is about.” The albums closer, in fact, is called “Stronger” and deals with the love she has for her departed sister and says “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
My two favorite tunes on the disc are right out of the gate, the first two, “The Bitter End,” and “Why Be Blue.” Both are lively up-tempo tunes with jangly guitars and in the case of “Why Be Blue,” a catchy banjo-backed refrain. All the songs were written by Carlene. Two things that stood out to me on the disc were Carlene’s skill at songwriting and the beauty of her voice. Unfortunately, other than the first two cuts, I felt the remainder of the tunes were generally given the same disservice of overproduction. Many have unnecessary harmony vocals or string arrangements that unfortunately left the music sounding a bit more like muzak. “Spider Lace” is a showcase tune for Carlene’s voice, but is muddled with strange electronic noises and harmony vocals. The CDs first take was produced by John Carter Cash (her half-brother - sharing the same mother) and sold at live shows. After performing the songs live she apparently decided to step up the production and enlisted the help of John McFee, who produced the disc and plays most of the instruments. I haven’t heard the initial take, but my guess is I would much prefer it over the final product.
Artist Name: Carlene Carter
Album Name: Stronger
Website: http://www.carlenecarterfanclub.com/
Record Label: Yep Roc Records
Release Date:
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Comments
I produced this album, and put my heart and soul into it. As concerns your assessment of the music itself, I don’t want to insult you but I would like to explain a few things from the perspective of a musician, and in this case one who knows exactly what was involved in the making of this record. To be specific, I am puzzled by some of your comments. For one thing, on the song “Spider Lace”, there are no “electronic noises” involved. The entire arrangement consists of autoharp, acoustic guitars, Marxophone (a “parlor"instrument similar to a hammer dulcimer"), pedal steel, upright bass, and drums. The background vocals only appear in the choruses, so I don’t understand how the song (the arrangement of which Carlene loves) could be considered “muddled”. Also, there are only two songs which have string arrangements on them - “Stronger” and “Bitter End”, and since you couldn’t be bothered to listen to John Carter Cash’s arrangements of these songs before posting, I am not sure how you will feel when you find that his production has string arrangements on these two songs as well. I do agree with you that Carlene’s songwriting skills are what really do make this a great record, however. I simply did my best, at Carlene’s behest, to serve these great songs, and I’m sorry to see that you (albeit you are the only reviewer I have seen who feels this way) feel that I have done the music some degree of disservice. If I didn’t care so much about Carlene and her music I would never have bothered to comment - I’ve been involved with many great records that have gotten worse reviews - but I thought you should at least be acquainted with a few basic facts. After all, you claim to be a music lover…
I would suggest that writing opinions such as yours, where you hear “electronic noises” where there are none and presuppose a preference for another version of an entire album’s worth of music without ever having heard it is analogous to drilling away on a patient’s teeth without x-rays or prior dental records.
Nevertheless, if you are a music lover - and Carlene’s music deserves to be loved - please get, or give, a second opinion based upon further examination…
Respectfully,
John McFee
By John McFee on 2008 04 02Correction - I’m not sure how it occurred, but the two songs with string arrangements are “Stronger” and “Judgement Day” - sorry for the copy/paste or whatever error… Nevertheless, the following is true: these are the only songs with string arrangements and they also had string arrangements on the John Carter Cash produced versions -
John McFee
By John McFee on 2008 04 02Thanks for the response John. To my knowledge I do not have access to the earlier CD which is why I say I ‘guess’ I would like it better. I did also mention that CARLENE wanted to step up the production and believe you were doing what you were directed to do. Do you not feel a great deal of ‘overproduced’ music is released, whether intentional or not? It would be great if we could interview producers or even the artists as we do a review, but rarely have the opportunity to do so and get insights such as you give.
By Don Zelazny on 2008 04 03I will certainly continue to listen to the disc, as Carlene sings like an angel. If you can get me the earlier disc I would be glad to give it a listen as well. Again I thank you for your response.
Don
I submitted a new posting, with much information that I think you might actually like to see, and it seems to have disappeared. Please let me know if you have a problem with your system -
Thanks,
John McFee
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