''Wild Child'' is the second studio album by

Valerie Carter Valerie Gail Zakian Carter (February 5, 1953 – March 4, 2017) was an American singer. Biography Carter began her career singing in coffeehouses as a teenager, and eventually became one-third of the country-folk band Howdy Moon. Though they de ...

. Some notable musicians on this album are

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...

David Hungate William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his T ...

and

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

of Toto,

Mike Utley Michael Gerard Utley (born December 20, 1965) is a former American football player. He played for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League from 1989 through 1991, when he was paralyzed during a game. Early life and college career A gra ...

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

Coral Reefer Band The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The band's name alludes to both coral reefs (in line with Buffett's tropical-themed music) and "reefer" (slang for marijuana). Origins Current ...

Jay Graydon Jay Joseph Graydon (born October 8, 1949, Burbank, California) is an American songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards (in the R&B category) wi ...

Airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

Davey Johnstone David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in 1 ...

of the

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Band,

Verdine White Verdine Adams White (born July 25, 1951) is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. White was placed at No. 19 on Rolling Stone's list of The 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time. Early lif ...

Earth Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...

and

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...

The album was finally reissued in full as part of the 2019 compilation ''Ooh Child - The Columbia Years'' on Cherry Tree Records.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

writes that ''Wild Child'' "never transcends its time, except for the most hardcore soft-rock collectors." Charles Donovan of ''Pop Matters'' wrote of ''Wild Child'' in his tribute article to Valerie Carter that, "Her name appeared in the songwriting credits of roughly half the tracks. To some, it's the poor relation, with its disco-pop compromises, its studio wizards (

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

), its ultra-slick session players and commercial sheen. I've always liked it." Joe Marchese of ''The Second Disc'' writes of ''Wild Child'', "The versatile singer-songwriter had a hand in five of its nine songs compared to just three on the previous LP, making ''Wild Child'' arguably a more personal album despite the sleek production. The lyrics to the ironically upbeat opening track, "Crazy," may have cut too close to the bone for an artist who battled her share of personal demons over the years: "I'm always gonna be this way/Reckless and crazy/That's probably true…" An authenticity, not to mention confidence, surges though the album." ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' called it, "An accomplished American album of gentle, shuffling songs done

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

style. It's all a bit to effortless to be actually wild, but this album has a wistful, haunting beauty."

Track listing

Track information verified from the LP's liner notes and ''Session Days''.

Musicians

"Crazy" *Vocals –

*Bass –

*Drums –

*Guitar –

*Keyboards –

*Percussion –

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

"Da Doo Rendezvous" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass –

Chuck Rainey Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,00 ...

*Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar (solo) –

*Guitar – Steve Lukather *Acoustic Guitar –

Fred Tackett Fred Tackett (born August 30, 1945) is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known as a member of the band Little Feat. In addition to his work with Little F ...

*Keyboards – James Newton Howard *Keyboards – Steve Porcaro "What’s Become Of Us" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – David Hungate *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar –

*Guitar – Fred Tackett *Keyboards – James Newton Howard *Percussion – Victor Feldman *Background Vocals –

Vini Poncia Vincent "Vini" Poncia Jr. (born April 29, 1942) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Life and career The 1960s In the 1960s, Poncia formed a songwriting team with Peter Anders (née Peter Andreoli). An album of songs co-writt ...

*Background Vocals –

Wendy Haas Wendy Haas-Mull (born c. 1949) is an American vocalist and keyboardist best known for her work with the bands Santana and Azteca. Biography Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Wendy Haas began her musical career in her mid-teens, playing ...

"Taking The Long Way Home" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – Chuck Rainey *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar – Steve Lukather *Acoustic Guitar – Fred Tackett *Keyboards – James Newton Howard *Sax –

Don Myrick Donald Myrick (April 6, 1940 – July 30, 1993) was an American saxophonist. A member of The Phenix Horns, he is best known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire and Phil Collins. He played alto, tenor, and soprano sax as a member of Earth, Wind ...

*Background Vocals –

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

"Lady In The Dark" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – David Hungate *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar (solo) – Steve Lukather *Piano – James Newton Howard "The Story Of Love" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass –

*Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar – Steve Lukather *Piano – James Newton Howard *Sax – Tom Saviano "The Blue Side" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – David Hungate *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar – Jay Graydon *Guitar –

*Piano – James Newton Howard *Percussion – Lenny Castro *Background Vocals – David Lasley "Change In Luck" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – Chuck Rainey *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar – Steve Lukather *Organ –

*Piano – Victor Feldman *Piano – James Newton Howard *Percussion – Lenny Castro "Trying To Get To You" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – Verdine White *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar – Steve Lukather *Piano – James Newton Howard *Horn –

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

*Horn – Steve Madaio *Sax – Don Myrick *Trumpet –

Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities ...

*Background Vocals – David Lasley "Wild Child" *Vocals – Valerie Carter *Bass – David Hungate *Drums – Jeff Porcaro *Guitar – Steve Lukather *Acoustic Guitar – Fred Tackett *Piano – Victor Feldman *Percussion – Victor Feldman

Production

*Producer – James Newton Howard *Arranged By, Horns – Thomas Washington *Arranged By, Strings – James Newton Howard *Arranged By, Strings, Conductor – Jimmy Haskell *Concertmaster – Jimmy Getzoff, Sid Sharp *Design – Nancy Donald, Tony Lane *Engineer – Tom Knox *Assistant Engineers – Bob Schaper, Dana Latham, Howard Steele, Jim Isaacson, Kevin Meyers, Rick Ruggiere, Ron Hitchcock *Management – Cavallo-Ruffalo Management *Mastered By – Doug Sax, Mike Reese *Photography By – Sam Emerson *Photography By, Cover – Bob Seidemann *Production Manager – Robin Rinehart *Remix, Engineer – Bill Schnee Personnel information retrieved from

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

, Session Days and

References

External links

Valerie Carter Official SiteColumbia Records Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Child 1978 albums Columbia Records albums