Love Or Money?

This lifelong New Orleanian has quite the extreme funk pedigree: former member of Cyril Neville & the Uptown Allstars and co-founder of Mem Shannon &the Membership. But despite that, and Carter's claim in "Funky Prophecy" that "funk will rule the world," what we mainly get on his debut CD is a light '80s-type pop-R&B record, tidal wave synths, drum machines and all.

Not that this is a bad thing, because Peter shows himself to be an interesting songwriter with a real ear for the slightly blue mood and the gently loping groove. The title track hits us first with the template, and the variations take off from there, sometimes almost funky (the aforementioned "Funky Prophecy" and the completely self-explanatory "You Get Me Hot") and often flirting with a beauty that's almost bucolic (the instrumental "My One And Only Love").

Unfortunately, the demo-quality sound of the CD, produced by Carter and Chris Severin, leaves us with a few troubling questions. Can Carter hold his own vocally under all that echo? And how would he sound with a moneyed production and full-blooded band interaction? Someone big sign him up, quick. If songs like "Last Night" are any indication, we, at the very least, have an exciting new R&B songwriter here.

You can find out more about Peter by visiting his website at http://www.petervcarter.com