Search - Stanley Clarke :: Hideaway

This one is the best!

duce | Atlanta, GA | 10/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I originally purchased this in an album format and later bought it again on CD. Stanley Clarke is pure genius in this compilation of exhibiting his true skill. Hideaway is awesome, Overjoyed...well, Stevie Wonder is great and all, but this instrumental is exceptional. What a treat it was to hear Angela Boffill on "Where Do We Go From Here". This entire CD is Stanley at his best. If you don't own any other this one is certainly worth purchasing...after all, I did it twice."

Some Really Bad Tracks

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 11/20/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"A CD OF THE TIMES, A LOT OF SOFT JAZZ.

YOU KNOW THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE PICTURE OF CLARKE ON THE BACK COVER. WITH HIS HAIRCUT AND SWEATER, HE LOOKS JUST LIKE LIONEL RICHIE.



Released in 1986, this is Stanley Clarke's eleventh solo album. It is just under 44 minutes long and the sound quality is very good.



Starting in the late seventies and going through the mid eighties, many artists at some point changed musical styles and tried to play in the sounds of the times. Clarke does that here on many tracks, and the result is not very good.



The CD starts out with the OK title track, which is along the lines of Clarke's classic fusion style, but softened up. But next track is a very soft cover of a Stevie Wonder tune. It is like all the spineless, Sunday Brunch jazz that was popular at the time.



The third track, My Love, My Inspiration, sounds like something Kenny G would do, only much worse. I don't mind Kenny G, and he is good at what he does (although it is not my favorite type of jazz). My Love, My Inspiration makes Kenny G look like a genius. It was excrutiating to just get through the track.



Where Do We Go is a soft jazz vocal. It is the type of jazz vocals that became very popular in the early eighties.



Tracks 5, 6 and 7 are fairly good. They are the bouncy funk of Clarke's fusion days. They aren't as good as anything on School Days, but they are enjoyable.



Listen To The Beat Of Your Heart sounds exactly like something Michael Jackson would do. The music and the female vocals sound like an imitation of Jackson. It is actually a fairly good song and very enjoyable.



Basketball is one of those annoying repetitive jazz instrumentals. It will start out with a riff that is repeated about 6 times, and then switch to another repeated riff. It is very predictable, and knew exactly what was going to come next, even though I hadn't heard the track before.



The last track, from vocalist Larry Graham, is one of the worst songs I have ever heard. It is a bunch of short and obvious rhymes. His affected vocals are just annoying.



With this CD, you get 4 tracks that are similar to Clarke's classic fusion style. None of them are stand outs but all are good enough. Then you get a very nice Michael Jackson type song. And then there are 5 very bad tracks with Clarke conforming to the music of the times.



I have nothing against artists trying new things. I applaud when they experiment and go outside of their element (like I enjoyed the Michael Jackson type tune). You can't just put out a new version of School Days every year. It is just Clarke does not do a very good job of trying to play to the musical styles of the day.



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