James Carr - The Best of

 I can only imagine that I learned of James Carr from the It Came From Memphis book as I was not familiar even with his hits, which mostly charted on the Soul charts rather than the Pop charts. But this collection shows a man with a powerful voice, full of soul'n'passion who breathed life into some pretty damn fine songs. "These Arms of Mine" is highly reminiscent of Otis Redding's version, and there was some competition and even some songwriting sharing between the two. It's possible that Otis' Stax hits overshadowed James' chances, since they do sound a bit alike, but most likely his lack of Pop chart hits was due to his label lacking the promotional funds. In any case, fans of Redding-styled soul with certainly appreciate this fine selection of tunes, as well!

(Thank you, Milena, for the Xmas gift!)