"Unfortunately, James Carr was his own worst enemy, suffering from bipolar disorder his whole life. Ultimately, its the only refuge we can give ourselves in trying to figure out just why this man wasn’t as equally lauded as Otis Redding. While popular consensus might have slipped from his legacy, he was critically lauded, especially for his 1967 album You Got My Mind Messed Up. Many point to his version of “The Dark End of the Street” as being the definitive version and the best on the album, but my favurite is “Forgetting You” a half midnight oil burner/barnstormer that finds Carr in peak form, putting on a vocal performance that even Otis Redding himself might be hard pressed to match."
Forgetting You - James Carr
The Dark End of the Street- James Carr
Regulars may recall that I collect covers of James Carr’s classic r’n’b’ number Dark End of The Street whose titular album this is and largely thanks to Ry Cooder’s version of the song recorded with Bobby King and Terry Evans when I first heard it (it possesses one of the finest guitar solos I have ever heard him play IMHO) I am of course saddened to hear Carr suffered poor mental health and what we would have then called manic depression especially
