Carl Carlton, Everlasting Love | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 57^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Everlasting Love” by Carl Carlton. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 57^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Everlasting Love”, performed by 🎙 Carl Carlton. 

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Long before 🎵 “She’s A Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked)”, 🎙 Carl Carlton was renowned for his 1974 R&B/disco gem, 🎵 “Everlasting Love”.  “Everlasting Love” was certainly a more refined number than “She’s A Bad Mama Jama” (that goes without saying).  A huge pop hit, “Everlasting Love,” which appeared on his album of the same name, peaked at no. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, his sole top 10 single.  This lushly arranged (Dennis Belfield, Jimmy Haskell, and Tish Coulter) and produced (🎛 Tommy Cogbill and  Papa Don Schroeder) record was written by 🎼 ✍ Mac Cayden and Buzz Cason.  Among the instrumentation are strings and horns, in addition to the rhythm section. Of course, it is the strong vocals of Carlton brought this standout to life.

Matters of the heart drive “Everlasting Love” – duh.  “I went away just when you needed me so,” Carlton asserts in the verse, adding, “Filled with regret, I come back begging you / Forgive, forget, where’s the love we once knew?” Oh my! Of course, it is the chorus where Carl fully professes his love, asking her to open up her eyes, “Then you’ll realize / Here I stand with my” – wait for it – “EVERLASTING LOVE.” Even though he’s messed up, he swears he’s the one to serve up a love where “Endlessly it shines / You always will be mine / It’s eternal love…” Give how invested Carlton sounds, it’s hard to knock his degree of authenticity despite screwing up in the past. 🎵 “Everlasting Love” is a soul masterpiece that is an everlasting mainstay in our playlists.

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🎙 Carl Carlton • 💿 Everlasting: The Best of Carl Carlton • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 🗓 2009

Carl Carlton, “Everlasting Love”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 57 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]