"When I first heard that Jackie DeShannon was coming out with a new album I was unbelievably excited. I had seen Jackie perform on numerous television shows in the 60's and she was always one of my few favorite female rock artists. This new album "You Know Me" is a true masterpiece. It has incredible emotion, incredible passion, and immense artistry woven into its grooves. My favorite tracks are: "Just how right you are" (a true rocker), "There goes the one" (a classic DeShannon pop tune that would fit right in as soundtrack music on Ally McBeal), and Jackie's opus to heartland America, "Vanished in time" prove that Jackie's back with a stronger musical vision and lyrical perspective than ever. I highly recommend this album that proves one fact more than any other...Jackie DeShannon's talent as a singer/songwriter is timeless."
A Veteran's Classic
Randall E. Adams | Los Angeles, CA United States | 06/26/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Jackie Deshannon's records have been among my music collection for nearly as long as I've had records (since about 1965). While her versatility (and the pressures of the "shut up and sing" environment for female artists in the 1960s) led her to try many different styles, for me Jackie Deshannon was in the top tier of folk rockers. It's her material in this genre that is usually my favorite.When I put "You Know Me" on the sound system, I hadn't heard anything new from her since "You're the Only Dancer" in the late 1970s. I was immediately reminded of the inimitable mixture of coolness and vulnerability that her voice conveys. And I got just what I want. This album is a GREAT folk rock offering. The arrangements are heavily based upon guitar, using classic Deshannon chord progressions. This is in no way dated; loads of artists still mine the musical seam originally established by Jackie Deshannon and a few of her contemporaries. Topically, the songs tend to be reflective in the manner that seems appropriate for someone of Jackie's experience and background. I'll put it very simply: for a person to whom classics like "When You Walk In the Room," "Don't Turn Your Back on Me" and her version of "The Weight" represent peak experiences, hearing this album is like opening up a vein and letting Jackie Deshannon pour right in."
Garbo of Rock Emerges
Susan Cameron | Los Angeles, Ca United States | 04/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Jackie De Shannon has been at the forefront of the music business paving the way for women before it was "cool." I'm told it was she who told an unknown folksinger named Bob Dylan to "plug in" his guitar. This album is Jackie at her best, using all she has learned through the absent years of reflection, and bursting forth again to simply dazzle us. There's a reason why Sonny Bono, Jack Nitzsche, Jorma & Jack, Marianne Faithful, teh Searchers, the Hollies, and the Beatles all thought/think she's a legend."
Female Springsteen
Arden Giotto | los angeles, ca USA | 05/05/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
""You Know Me" is a sensational album, but what's so amazing is that the music and lyrics are genderless. A great song is a great song and Jackie is finally having her say here. This isn't a "women's" CD or a "men's." It's just flat out killer songs by Jackie, proving that gender has nothing to do with talent. Artists shouldn't be pigeonhold."
DeShannon 4 President
Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 01/22/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great CD. I put it on my "Class of 2000 Best CDs" list on Amazon as the most welcome comeback of the year. Jackie sings about love, about America & the environment. She's got such a great platform that she ought to run for president! The opener is an infectious midtempo tune, "Steal the Thunder," "want to give you all his love..." It's the kind you keep humming after the CD ends. "The sky's on fire; I can feel my desire," Jackie sings in "Wind Rider" with a hot electric lead guitar. "Somewhere In America" is Jackie's platform speech that deals with wild life and the rainforest and has a red hot sax part. On "Any Heart" Jackie's voice alternately hints fragility and strength with what could be a ballad on a U2 CD, "Any heart can break." In "Song for Sandra Jeanne (Rites of Passage)" I get a sense of journey in the music like a boat bobbing on the ocean, "Truth's precision bows to none." The title track has a beautiful melody, "Something must be proven, following a shooting star, someone with a restless heart, you know me." "Just How Right You Are" is midtempo pop with prominent piano, ending with searing electric guitar on a Spector-like wall-of-sound arrangement as Jackie sings about "falling into ecstacy." Pop perfection doesn't get any better than "There Goes the One." This song was stuck on my favorite tracks rotation in the changer for over a year with that great jammin' sax. "Vanished in Time" is a great road song that laments the loss of our heartlands and references Jackson Pollock, the artist, "the staggering movement of grace." Nice percussion and a stately melody highlight "Keeper of the Dream." The hot electric guitar makes you get the feeling with "voices of outrage" on "Raze." "Red Montana Sky" is a good midtempo tune with a nice piano part about a Big Sky romance. "Set your mind to be strong from 'Here On'," Jackie sings on this reggae-tinged instant classic! Buy the CD for this track! The CD ends with Carl Wilson's "Trader." I fell in love with this song on the Beach Boys' "Holland" album; and with its pulsing rhythm, beautiful melody and environmental message, it is the perfect close to Jackie's CD. "Nourishment fills the prairies & the hillsides..." This is a marvelous CD I heartily recommend. If we can't elect Jackie president, we can listen to this gorgeous muse."