Album of the Day

As the daughter of music great Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas was destined for the charts - and reached them in 1960 with Top Ten hit “Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes).” Penned by the singer herself at age 15, she described it as “young-sounding, romantic and it expressed what a lot of people wanted to say at that age” and it became the title track of the performer’s debut album for Atlantic Records. Alongside standards and covers of recent releases by The Drifters and The Five Satins, the 1961 collection included follow-up single “A Love Of My Own” and a couple more Carla originals (plus one by her dad). Cut in Memphis and Nashville with producer Chips Moman at the helm for five tracks, GEE WHIZ is a delectable pop prelude to the Southern soul for which Thomas would later be known.