Kim Carnes Albums (13)
'Chasin' Wild Trains'
Release Date 1/1/2004
Tracks 14
Label Sparky Dawg
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What The Critics Say
Time, dreams, and angels seem like Stevie Nicks territory and that's just some of the subject matter on Chasin' Wild Trains, which probably means Kim Carnes is getting introspective these days -- leaning more towards a folksy Patti Smith than the pal of Kenny Rogers we've known and loved. The woman who has somehow straddled the country and rock worlds better than most sounds like a female version of the Eagles going acoustic -- and that's a compliment. "Oh I'd go drivin' down a two lane highway/chasin' wild trains" she sings in "Runaway" while playing keyboards on this blend of piano/guitar/violin/viola and cello. It's one of the more intriguing tracks,l holding the title of the CD in its bosom. Where Jackie DeShannon's album from 2000, You Know Me, fired on all cylinders, Carnes takes a more subtle approach, though she opens "You Made My Skin Burn" with "You don't know me/I don't know you," almost in a reverse answer to her old friend DeShannon's album title. It's the creative Carnes weaving magic, even some fade-in and fade-out on the ending à la Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds." This particular track is included in the soundtrack of Jeff Bridges' film The Moguls (Carnes previously recorded with Bridges in a duet for The Contenders, his 2001 film) and it is one of the more rockin' -- and eerie -- numbers on this disc. What would have been a treat would be for Carnes to have modeled the new cover of her now classic hit after the original from Jackie DeShannon 1975 New Arrangement LP. "Still Warmed by the Thrill" brings more moodiness and depth to a project which features a truly eclectic cast from Craig Krampf , the drummer from Carnes' original band, showing up on the two of the more commercial tracks -- "Just to See You Smile" and "You Made My Skin Burn" -- to the great Al Anderson co-writing and lending guitars to the skiffle-ish "Stepped Right in It" along with hubby Dave Ellingson adding some percussion. Jeff Hanna from Nitty Gritty Dirt Band adds slide guitar to "If I Was an Angel," featuring the excellent line "There's no choosin' where you land/once you fall from grace" while "Too Far Gone" recalls this artist's "Gypsy Honeymoon" phase. Kim Carnes' album Chasin' Wild Trains could easily elude an audience because one needs to pay a lot of attention to it, the Scotty Bagget recording of Carnes' production is not as immediately pronounced but ready, willing, and able to grow on you when given the chance. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
'Checkin' Out the Ghosts'
Release Date 1/1/1991
Tracks 10
Label Teichiku
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What The Critics Say
A folk/country set. ~ Bil Carpenter, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The problem with success is following it, of course, and Kim Carnes had a very difficult time doing that after "Bette Davis Eyes" and its accompanying album, Mistaken Identity, rocketed to number one overnight in 1981. Voyeur, her follow-up, appeared that following September, and it was expected to be a blockbuster, not just by her label, EMI, but from many industry observers as well. How could it not? She had a huge hit underneath her belt and the new album followed the pattern of the hit -- sleek, stylish post-new wave pop/rock, heavy on drum machines, sequenced synths, and arena rock guitars, all married to anthemic pop tunes and ballads. It seemed tailor-made for hit status, but it stalled on the charts. This was a shocking performance for an artist that seemed poised for superstar status, and it's hard to say exactly why the record didn't do as well. Yes, Voyeur doesn't have anything as brilliant as "Bette Davis Eyes" on it, nor is it as even as Mistaken Identity, but it truly does follow the formula effectively, and there are moments, like "Merc Man," that seem ready for the radio. But it was not to be, probably because of the shifting tastes of the American public. The album itself got lost in the emergence of MTV and the accompanying surge of popularity of new wave. And so, the album didn't burn up the charts, but as a piece of music, it was certainly a worthy follow-up to Mistaken Identity. [The 2001 CD reissue contains three bonus tracks, including an extended mix of the title track and a live version of "Still Hold On." Interestingly, the third bonus track listed as Carnes' previously unreleased version of Dwight Twilley's "Little Bit of Love" is actually Twilley's demo of the song with vocals by the talented Susan Cowsill. While it is a fine recording, it was an incorrect inclusion; Carnes never recorded the song.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Mistaken Identity'
Release Date 1/1/1981
Tracks 10
Label EMI America
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What The Critics Say
Mistaken Identity should have established Kim Carnes as a huge international star. Her Rod Stewart rasp, affiliation with Kenny Rogers, management by Ken Kragen when he was arguably at his peak, makes one wonder why the across-the-board success of "Bette Davis Eyes" couldn't be duplicated. Three years after the success of this album, Tina Turner actually did conquer the world, the various producers on Private Dancer weaving enough different textures to make for a multi-dimensional masterpiece. Too many cooks made for wonderful stew. Val Garay certainly did a good job on Mistaken Identity, more defined than his work with Marty Balin on the Lucky album a year after this, an album which, for that great artist, wasn't very...lucky. It's not that the other Donna Weiss/Jackie DeShannon tune, "Hit and Run," which follows "Bette Davis Eyes," doesn't have a good performance; it does. The problem with the Mistaken Identity album is that everything on it stands in the shadows of a masterpiece. The country risqué of the Jackie DeShannon original from New Arrangement has as extraordinary a re-working as Lou Reed's "Rock & Roll" got from Bob Ezrin when Mitch Ryder got to make it his underground anthem. Carnes is just brilliant on her solo composition, "Mistaken Identity, and it is subtle and smart enough to have crossed over to adult contemporary and jazz formats. Frankie Miller's "When I'm Away From You" sounds like Rod Stewart doing "True Blue" -- those upfront snare drums and a hook as strong as an undertow. Perhaps this should have been the follow-up to "Bette Davis Eyes" rather than "Draw of the Cards," which followed and lingered around the Top 30. Not a place to be for the follow-up to a monster smash. This is an evolution from her work on A&M, and certainly far removed from the New Christy Minstrels. The album comes with photographs galore on the innersleeve, all the lyrics, and tons of credits. Her first hit on EMI about ten months earlier was the fantastic reworking of "More Love," and that elegant pop gem was the type of thing needed to propel this to the status Private Dancer attained for Turner, that Physical garnered for Olivia Newton-John. "Draw of the Cards" plays like a mellow dance number, aimed at a new wave audience when -- well, face it, her biggest smash before "Bette Davis Eyes" was the mellow "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer." There is absolutely no pun intended to say this album is more of an identity crisis than a mistaken identity. Wendy Waldman, Carnes, and her husband, Dave Ellingson, craft "Break the Rules Tonite (Out of School)," but it is just too much of a diversion on an album that tests the waters of different rock genres. Flirting with Leslie West-style hard rock is not as appealing to her audience as the beautifully crafted Tom Snow/Dean Pitchford tune "Don't Call It Love." Her other solo composition, "Miss You Tonite," is more the style we expect, and Carnes' beautiful piano work on Richard Stekol's "My Old Pals" brings the album to a proper conclusion. If only this big and talented team could have come up with another couple of brilliant new arrangements as they did with "Bette Davis Eyes." The name Kim should be up there with Olivia, Tina, and Grace, and it wasn't for lack of talent that superstardom didn't occur. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Two months after Kim Carnes notched a number four hit by teaming up with Kenny Rogers for "Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer," she managed to take a rendition of Smokey Robinson's "More Love" to the number ten spot. Unfortunately, the song's parent album, Romance Dance, turned out to be a rather bland effort as a whole. While her temperate but marbly voice gives Robinson's tune some added attraction, the other tracks seem to fall off into the listlessness of plain, adult contemporary fare. Her version of the Boxtops' "Cry Like a Baby" is almost as good, but wispy cuts like "Tear Me Apart" and "Will You Remember Me" are too typical to be memorable. Carnes' favorable radio ease is indeed present, but her material just doesn't lift it high enough to make a difference. "More Love" was her first Top 40 hit without a partner singing beside her, but was immensely overshadowed and soon forgotten, as was Romance Dance, after the release of 1981's Mistaken Identity, which harbored the Grammy-winning "Bette Davis Eyes," reaching number one in April of that same year. Carnes put another six songs into the Top 40 after the success of "Bette Davis Eyes," including 1984's "What About Me," hooking up once again with Kenny Rogers and joined by James Ingram. ~ Mike DeGagne, All Music Guide
'St. Vincent's Court'
Release Date 1/1/1979
Tracks 11
Label EMI America
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What The Critics Say
Kim Carnes' 1975 self-titled A&M album resulted in her first hit, "You're a Part of Me," which went Top 40 in 1976 on the adult contemporary charts (a different version of her original tune, a duet with Gene Cotton on Ariola Records, went Top 40 two years later). The strongest track, though, is her raspy reading of "Somewhere in the Night," an eventual hit for both Barry Manilow and Helen Reddy. She had competition in this race, however, as Steve Cropper's 1975 production of Yvonne Elliman, the Rising Sun album, contained the same tune that Kim Carnes and her producer, Mentor Williams, had crafted for this outing. Carnes and her husband, Dave Ellingson (both alum of manager George Greif's New Christy Minstrels), use this vehicle to showcase their co-writes and Kim Carnes solo originals. "It Could Have Been Better" and "Nothing Makes Me Feel As Good As a Love Song" are fine tunes on their own, but Kim Carnes' artistic (and commercial) success is at its best as an interpreter of other people's music. She does a terrific job on Dorff & Brown's "Waiting for the Pain to Go Away" and the aforementioned Kerr/Jennings tune "Somewhere in the Night." That her biggest hits were covers of Smokey Robinson and Jackie DeShannon tunes validates the opinion that Carnes could work magic with other people's music. That's not to take away from her strong originals like "What Good Is Love" or the co-write with her husband, "Good Old Days." The latter could be the sequel to Elton John's "Country Comforts," and either he or Rod Stewart should give the title a shot. With mega musicians backing her, including Steve Forman, David Foster, Jim Keltner, and Leland Sklar (who also shows up on Yvonne Elliman's Night Flight, if you're wondering the connection between these artists and how they might hear the same tunes to record), among others. Like Elliman, Kim Carnes enjoyed a huge worldwide smash sometime after her 1975 work; both women's albums went pretty much unnoticed, and they both deserved more chart activity. Having producer David Briggs doing string arrangements on the Kim Carnes album is a plus, and shows the quality surrounding this project. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
