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T O P I C R E V I E W
lemonade kid
Posted - 28/05/2011 : 19:03:37 This from RW....
The passing of a guy who, for the most part, will only be known by music industry people, or those of us who have been aware of him for various more unusual reasons. For myself, it was as a high school kid, listening to radio KBLA in Los Angeles, circa 1966-67, an incredibly hip, pre-FM rock station; an AM station that played more Love than any other station, anywhere in the world. Anyway, at the time, KBLA locked into an album by the Rainy Daze, best known for their novelty chart hit, "Acapulco Gold." Novelty tune aside, the album had some excellent tracks, three or four of which found their way to the KBLA airwaves. Well worth seeking out and hearing, all penned by the writing team of Carter-Gilbert. Carter by then (summer of '67) was already known as the guy who'd written the lyrics of "Incense and Peppermints," while a college student in Colorado. So the Rainy Daze begat Horses (White Whale, 1968), which in turn begat Kingfish, and all the while, the Carter-Gilbert writing team continued to make quality music. Carter produced what I still believe is Sammy Hagar's best post-Montrose work, the album "Red" (listen again to "Fillmore Shuffle"from that one), on to monster success with Tina Turner, but also early important involvement with the eels and Paula Cole, among many others. It was a nice surprise to get a phone call from Carter early this decade, while I was on the air at very cool central coastal California radio station. He just liked the station, and what he was hearing, and had no idea that I had any clue who he was, or that I'd been a fan of his for over thirty years. A really cool guy, he politely tolerated my gushing praise about how much his Rainy Daze and Horses work had meant to me as a kid. He'd had so vastly much greater success with any number of music projects since then, and just kind of went, "Well that was a long time ago, and I had no idea what I was doing, but it was a foot in the door of the music biz, and I like to think I've learned a little since then." At the time he was either living in the area (Cambria, up Highway One, north of San Luis Obispo and south of Big Sur) or at least visiting the area to have been listening at the time. The comments in the following piece come from both musicians and from music industry vets, but they paint a pretty good picture of who Carter was, and why he will be missed.
_____________________________________________ So forget this cruel world and whatever’s going on I'll accept my fate while I sing this song. But if one day you should see me from your cloud lend a hand and lift me Away from the crowd.
