Search - Stanley Clarke :: The Bass-ic Collection

Jeffrey T. (BLUETRANE54) from MAPLEWOOD, MO
Reviewed on 3/17/2013...

A representative anthology of Stanley Clarke's early electric bass work. The musical qualities are dated, even faddish, to my ears. It sounds like he and George Duke (a frequent collaborator) were busy trying to manufacture a "hit" and mostly failing. What do I like? His sheer virtuosity and willingness to take the odd ingenious risk. This collection will do nicely for those with a gap in the Clarke career between RTF and his more successful recent projects such as "In The Garden" and "The Stanley Clarke Project"

From the Man who Put the Name "Alembic" on the Map

James Bonevich | Kalamazoo, MI | 04/01/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Some "Best Of" collections feature a degree of direct involvement by the artist (personal reflections on a career's worth of great music-making; hand-picked selections; perhaps a rarity or two as a reward for the legions of loyal fans who probably own most of the music already in less re-mastered form). This is not one of those. This release appears to have been put together by Epic in order to recognize just two of Stanley Clarke's many fan bases: the jazz-rock fusion camp, and the full-formula funk camp. Disclosure - I'm from the former. So about half of these songs have been putting a smile on my face and sometimes making me shake my head in happy disbelief for more than 30 years. The sound is *much improved* over the original cd issues, leading one to hope optimistically that the Bernie Grundman treatment for *all* of Stanley's mid-70's albums will be forthcoming. Wouldn't that be nice?



Probably not many but the jazzers out there will remember that Stanley was (and still is) an excellent acoustic bassist, with unforgettable arco technique. That's not represented here unfortunately. No straight-ahead or chamber jazz entries. And no movie score selections either. I agree with all of the reviewers here that as a sampler this collection leaves much to be desired, so it's nice that there are a couple of "new-at-the-time" tracks, circa 1995. They're not great, but they're OK. In particular, there's some very nice Randy Brecker-ish trumpet on "Lost In A Thought" that goes uncredited (anyone know?). It could be George Duke trying to fool us on his Synclavier(tm), but it sounds much too real to be sampled.



Some discographical notes: My disc, like everyone else's, shows track #14 to be 1974's "Life Suite, Parts I-IV", which would be great. But instead what's actually there is a nice re-mastered version of "Life Is Just A Game" from Stanley's all-time masterpiece album "School Days" (1976). I'm OK with that - just wondering if that's the way it is on anybody else's copy? Finally, I simply cannot allow people to think that the drummer on "Hello Jeff" is some guy named Kenny, when in fact it is none other than the great LENNY White. There. OK, I'm done. Oh, by the way, buy multiple copies of this title at the cheap prices shown and give them to your friends. Thanks. And good luck to the lady below from Australia who wants to have Stanley's babies!"

Good for beginners

Music Fanatic | Bettendorf, IA United States | 12/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There are more than enough excellent tracks on this disc to make it a good buy. There are many songs left off, though, that are much more enjoyable and impressive than half the songs included here. Danger Street, the best rock song he's ever done, is missing. Vulcan Princess and Lopsy Lu, the two best songs on his self-titled album, are also missing. Worse yet, however, is the omission of nearly all of his most stunning bass jams. It would be nice to have a compilation that really shows off the full limits of Stanley Clarke's incredible talent.



How about a second disc? Suggestions:

Life Is Just a Game and Desert Song from School Days;

Lords of the Low Frequencies, Illegal, and Funk Is Its Own Reward from East River Drive;

Play the Bass and Time Exposure from Time Exposure;

Basketball from Hideaway;

Bassically Taps from If This Bass Could Only Talk.



Until you've heard those songs, you really haven't heard Stanley Clarke."