Carmen Meets EW&F & the Coop

by Joe Schwab

I love Carmen McRae. So first and foremost, nothing in this post should be construed as making fun of her. We clear?

Okay, for those of you that have not been initiated, Carmen’s career really took flight in the 50s when she recorded for the Decca label. Though most of these albums were mostly in the ballad and pop song interpretation category, her bluesy feel and daring manner clued you in to what this woman was capable of. Carmen was a musician first and a song interpreter second. Along with Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Cassandra Wilson, Nina Simone, and Anita O’Day, she was a musician’s musician. All these women were piano players (even if they rarely performed it on stage), and they really understood song structure. They could hear beyond the sound of an arrangement, and really know the true power of a song. Some, like Betty Carter, might stretch a standard, but others like Carmen were able to find the beauty in pop songs, some that dominated the charts, and others that were merely album tracks.

This brings us to our feature. Despite my love of all things Carmen, I’ve avoided this record over the years. My reasoning was two-fold. First, it was on the 70s Blue Note label, a time when much of its output was not of great interest to me (though in retrospect, Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey had some good moments). Second, the songs were made up of commercial hits from the likes of Gilbert O’Sullivan et al. But when I finally listened, I found many of these tracks have a certain soul that goes way beyond interpretation. Carmen really made them her own.

The title track, “Can’t Hide Love,” is originally an Earth, Wind and Fire song. Carmen’s bluesy, talking, bitchy-type singing works beautifully with her natural feel.




Then there’s Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed,” a song about the power and heartache of a woman scorned. People used to wonder what the wall was Carmen up to singing a song by Alice Cooper. But after hearing her version, I can only ask, what the hell was Alice Cooper singing this song for?




While researching allmusic.com for dates and song titles on this LP, I read the short, seething review of the album by Scott Yanow who picks out these two songs in particular to say they don’t fit Ms. McRae’s style at all. Well, I respectfully disagree. Mr. Yanow, you may go on to the next blog, but everyone else should give these a listen and let us know what you think.