Carla Thomas

★★★★

Let Me Be Good To You

SOULMUSIC. CD

1960 to ’68’s solo albums, 45s, live performance and duets with Rufus and Otis.

Carla Thomas was the first lady of Stax and her impeccable outlay for the label tracks both her artistic maturity and the label’s rise and decline. This 4-CD box, subtitled The Atlantic And Stax

Recordings, spans 1960 to ’68 when the two labels parted company, from the giddy self-penned teen ballad Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes), a Chips Moman production, to the tougher stomp of A Dime A Dozen, produced by Hayes & Porter. They also provided her signatures, the sensuous B-A-B-Y and the seductive title track, and there is further chemistry on display in covers of Tramp and Knock On Wood with Otis Redding. Throughout, though, whether leaning towards the blues or country, Thomas’s soulfulness radiates warmth, bringing comfort in sweet melodies.

Lois Wilson