Customer Reviews

Rendezvous

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Most of this album consists of the same general early 1980's
dancable R&B funk fare and pop balladry that marked the rest
of his catalog around this time,most of it on the smoother side.
But on "Better Ways" George Duke throws down some truely NAS-TAY
funk-rock with a scathing message and "Ipenema Lady" heads back
to sunny Rio.Then again "Got To Get Back To Love","Take It All"
and the synth-spiked "Secret Rendevous" arn't bad period funk
either,if a little commercial.Warning:NOT FOR JAZZ LISTENERS!But
everyone else (especially fans of 80's funk) enjoy!

After unleashing the phenomonal 'Dream On' and 'Guardian Of The Light' albums down in 1982 and 1983 George Duke seems to have
run out of steam.Alot of the songs (noteably the title song and
"Got To Get Back To Love") sound too much like the songs he
was producing for artists like Phillip Baily,Jeffry Osborne and
Denise Williams.It's not helped that overwrung pop ballads such as "Stay Awile" and "She Can't Wait Forever" sound unoriginal and
a little stagnant.Things get a little buisier later with the
quirky "Take It All",the playful "Ipenema Lady" and the scorching
funk-rocker "Better Ways"-easily the best song on the album.This
is Duke's final album for Epic records from 1984 and remains on
my very small list of minor George Duke albums.So this is
pretty much for either fans of Duke's mid 80's pop productions
or for completists-'Rendevous'is not exactly essencial.

Though he slew with the Mothers of Invention, Duke's solo project needs a bit of help. He leaves no questions as to where he's been, but also hints at confusion of where he's going.

This "CAT" never lets ya' down ! More of that, "Soft ~ Groovy" stuff from "Mr. Duke" !

This "CAT" never lets ya' down ! More "COOL" 'n' Groovy" sounds from "Mr. Duke" !