Clyde McPhatter

AMG Review of Clyde McPhatter

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

McPhatter's final original album for Atlantic is a must-hear release, some of the sweetest and brightest R&B of its period, a little more balanced and unified in its sound than its predecessor with more emphasis on beat. "Lovey Dovey," "A Lover's Question," "Hot Ziggity," "Try Try Baby," and "Since You've Been Gone" (which features future superstar producer Richard Perry on trombone and Gee/End/Gone Records mainstay Bert Keyes at the piano) are catchy, jaunty rockers, while "Let Me Know" and "My Island of Dreams" are ballads in the more sweepingly romantic style that McPhatter aimed for in these years. Somewhere midway between them are "Gone" and "Everyone's Laughing," stripped-down R&B ballads with a beat, and "I Can't Stand Up Alone" is a glorious flashback to McPhatter's roots as a gospel singer.