Wild Child (Valerie Carter album)

Wild Child is the second studio album by Valerie Carter. Some notable musicians on this album are Steve Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather of Toto, Mike Utley of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, Jay Graydon of Airplay, Davey Johnstone of the Elton John Band, Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire and Ray Parker Jr. The album was reissued in full as part of the 2019 compilation Ooh Child - The Columbia Years on Cherry Tree Records.

Critical reception
The Globe and Mail wrote that Carter "has a very nice voice and, in fact, her singing abilities probably outweigh her songwriting ones," but concluded that "her versatile voice is being over-processed into pop slickness too much of the time." Smash Hits called Wild Child "an accomplished American album of gentle, shuffling songs done Fleetwood Mac style. It's all a bit to effortless to be actually wild, but this album has a wistful, haunting beauty."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that Wild Child "never transcends its time, except for the most hardcore soft-rock collectors." Charles Donovan of PopMatters 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), 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."

Track listing
Track information verified from the LP's liner notes and Sessiondays.

Musicians
"Crazy"
 * Vocals – Valerie Carter
 * Bass – David Hungate
 * Drums – Jeff Porcaro
 * Guitar – Steve Lukather
 * Keyboards – James Newton Howard
 * Keyboards – Steve Porcaro
 * Percussion – Victor Feldman

"Da Doo Rendezvous"
 * Vocals – Valerie Carter
 * Bass – Chuck Rainey
 * Drums – Jeff Porcaro
 * Guitar (solo) – Ray Parker Jr.
 * Guitar – Steve Lukather
 * Acoustic Guitar – Fred Tackett
 * Keyboards – James Newton Howard
 * Keyboards – Steve Porcaro

"What’s Become Of Us"
 * Vocals – Valerie Carter
 * Bass – David Hungate
 * Drums – Jeff Porcaro
 * Guitar – Jay Graydon
 * Guitar – Fred Tackett
 * Keyboards – James Newton Howard
 * Percussion – Victor Feldman
 * Background Vocals – Vini Poncia
 * Background Vocals – Wendy Haas

"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
 * Background Vocals – David Lasley

"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 – Verdine White
 * 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 – Davey Johnstone
 * 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 – Mike Utley
 * 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
 * Horn – Steve Madaio
 * Sax – Don Myrick
 * Trumpet – Chuck Findley
 * 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
 * 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, Session Days and AllMusic.