Customer Reviews

Let Me Be Your Woman / Here's My Love

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was 18, strolling through Music Plus (remember them), when i happened to look up to see this stunning poster of a woman in red, with that plunging neckline - That Scavullo photograph of Ms Clifford makes Jennifer Lopez look like a boy.

I was familiar with her work from Runaway Love (still a fave), so this was a great opportunity to hear her at her fun-kiest. "One of those Songs" jams like nothing else still. Part disco-ish for sure, but listen to her adlibs - Attitude to burn. You know this woman wouldnt have to lyp synch at the AMA's

Even the second cd included (from a less popular album) has tracks that scream "Linda is Woman, Hear her roar." In fact, that's one thing i miss about the late 70's to 80's music. The voices were of grown women, Linda, Angela Bofill, Phyllis Hyman, Stephanie Mills, Angela Winbush,Teena Marie. They brought somethin' to the plate. Even their "not released as singles" jammed!

Chante Moore has it, Toni Braxton, yes, and of course Mary J, when given good songs to sing. But lets have more! I say allow singers more than one or 2 albums, give 'm a chance to grow up and give us a chance to watch em fly (remember D'Atra Hicks, Joyce Kennedy, Shannon, Jenny Burton?).

After « If my friends could see me now » in 1978 (10 minutes of highly campy-stylized pleasure unfortunately not available on any cd in its 12" version), Clifford released those two lps in 1979. The album « Let me be your woman » features four extended tracks : the classic « Don't give up », the disco version of « Bridge over troubled water », the discofied showtune « One of those songs » -my favourite- and « Sweet melodies ». Listen too to « Hold me close » written by Curtis Mayfield and featuring an awesome bassline. Besides the orchestrated disco that defines Linda Clifford's songs, she has an expressive voice, rich and soulful. You can forget all the others so-called disco divas : she is THE only real one.

Probably only die-hard disco fans would want to purchase this set, and that's too bad. In addition to the disco ditties, there are several nice ballads here as well as some mid-tempo tunes. My favorite track has to be the major Attitude-fest "Don't Give It Up", a rap on the mercenary aspects of love and a great drag queen number. If you want to stump your friends in a game of Name That Tune, put on Linda's discofied "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; unless someone knows this version, it is doubtful that anyone will recognize the song for the first few minutes! But don't worry -- at over 10 minutes long, who cares how long the intro is?

The down side of this reissue is that disc one seems to have an indexing error (at least on my copy). To hear the entire disc, one needs to scan back from the beginning of track 1 and then listen all the way through because the track markers result in the songs starting about 1 second late if you play the disc track by track. Disc 2 plays fine, though.

After "If my friends could see me now" in 1978 (10 minutes of highly campy-stylized pleasure unfortunately not available on any cd in its 12" version), Clifford released those two lps in 1979. The album "Let me be your woman" features four extended tracks: the classic "Don't give it up" [9:20], the disco version of "Bridge over troubled water" [10 min.], the discofied showtune "One of those songs" [11:40] -my favourite- and "Sweet melodies" [7:55]. All songs are in their lp version so "Don't give it up" and "King for a night" are unfortunately not in their 12" version. Listen too to "Hold me close" written by Curtis Mayfield and featuring an awesome bassline. Besides the orchestrated disco that defines Linda Clifford's songs, she has an expressive voice, rich and soulful. You can forget all the others so-called disco divas: she is THE only real one.

Talk about the effectiveness of advertising. I bought this album as a teenager because of the incredible cover photo. I thought with packaging this slick, the double album must hold some interesting songs. The CD release contains two lp's, and like most of Linda's albums, the results are mixed. There are some very good tracks, especially "I Can't Let This Good Thing Get Away" and "Sweet Melodies," which are not available on her greatest hits collection. There are also some very weak tracks that one suspects were foisted on her by a record company looking to recreate the sales of "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "Runaway Love." The knock-off's are not pleasant, more grating and irritating. However, a good sales gimmick is enduring; I saw that sultry cover photo and bought the CD years after I had sold the vinyl record at a yard sale.

Excellent price for 2-cd set of two long anticipated albums being released on cd. Great music...great songtress.. great dance cd(s) of the disco era... buy this while you have a chance!

Miss Linda Clifford has one of the best voices around! I knew it when these albums came out, And i was only 15yrs old at the time. Her music is still great, Even with the disco beats! I can't wait to pick up the rest of her collection. Thank you Linda for all the great music and for giving us that voice!!