Search - Stanley Clarke :: Let Me Know You

Stanley Clarke's Finest Pop Album

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 01/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Right after the release of the first Clarke/Duke Project LP Stanley Clarke and George Duke both decided to take a musical break from each other and do a pair of solo albums without the participation of the other.Duke produced 'Dream On' while Clarke produced this album 'Let Me Know You',both in 1982.Both albums are very much funky pop/R&B vocal albums with some curious differences.'Let Me Know You' is the slightly more jazz oriented of the two and as always,Clarke is not quite as experienced (or communicative) as Duke.The songwriting is extremely strong and three "Straight From The Heart","I Just Want To Be Your Brother","The Force Of Love" and the pounding "New York City" find Clarke moving away from hardcore jazz-rock fusion and into the world of tighter,more carefully crafted and arranged R&B,funk and pop.The sexy title song is actually the only instrumental on the album and is the only representation of the 'old' Stanley Clarke.My favorite cut is the LINN drum/Leslie Amp powered "Play The Bas" the more or less trails off before it get's a chance to get going-it's funny how many R&B and funk artists elect to showcase some of their most creative music as brief interludes (read:Earth Wind & Fire).Nevertheless 'Let Me Know You' is a wonderful pop/funk album and actually one of Clarke's most consistantly enjoyable of the early 80's.Trouble is it's also his only record never to have been released on CD up until now.And while I am sure that many like myself who have enjoyed listening to the vinyl record of this album the new CD is a treat.But I really hope fans of Clarke or the Clarke/Duke Project will revisit this if they've never heard it-fans of both artist's music from the 1980's will feel right at home."

BASSIC WASTE OF TALENT

Crilen | SHAKER HEIGHTS, OHIO United States | 03/07/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I love Stanley Clarke and have witnessed and proclaimed Stanley the greatest electric bassist in history for over 30 years. But this album was far and away the biggest waste of talent imaginable and Stanley's WORST ALBUM EVER.



As was my custom, I snatched up this album 25 years ago sight unheard. It was Stanley. I didn't need any reviews. How bad could it be? Stanley appearing on the cover in his white "puffy shirt" trying to look like a sexy lover should have been my first warning. This was his first solo effort after the huge pop success of the original Clarke-Duke Project. Stanley was now ready for MTV (or actually BET in those days) so he thought. Unfortunately, the barrage of howling Stanley vocals and unimaginative pop singles left me sad more than mad. And I still played it over and over again trying to glean something from the short finger popping bass solos that kept melting back into shallow meaningless lyrics.



The biggest disappointment of all was that no less than the great Carlos Santana appears on two tracks. Carlos and Stanley in the same studio! Yet the best they could come up with was "whoa, whoa, whoa, I just wanna be your bruh-tha". Sorry, no awesome stunning instrumental duets, kids. We're singing for teenie boppers this time around. An absolutely heart wrenching waste of musical immortals. There is one slow sleepy instrumental on the album. But surrounded by the rest of the junk on this record even that song with its over-orchestrated background accompaniment is a snoozer.



Fortunately Stanley bounced back with his next solo album "Time Exposure" which syphoned energy from Herbie Hancock's "Rock-It" success, but also gave us some wonderful extended solo work and duets with the likes of Jeff Beck, Louis Johnson and Howard Hewitt rescuing the vocals. Even Stanley's final foray into the solo pop scene, 1985's "Find Out" was better than "Let Me Know You".



If you really love Stanley Clarke, better you don't remember him this way. However, if you're a fan who just has to know how bad a record your favorite bass player could put out...you have been warned."