I bought this from Our Price ("CBS Nice Price": £2.99) on Bridge Street and played it first in your room in Benson Court. Must have been January or February 1984, I'd say.
Whatever else you say, you can't miss the incredible range, ambition and confidence. It starts with Silly Putty which sounds like the Huggy Bear caricature of Black American culture in the '70s (but will be forever associated with the Friday Rock Show for me, since Tommy Vance used it as his 'bed' in the show's intro). But then it reaches through John Coltrane's spirituality and the scale of Miles' orchestral recordings with Gil Evans, enlisting white guitar heroes Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin along the way, to arrive at the Concerto for Jazz/Rock Orchestra.
For some reason I found my way a year or two ago to Stanley Clarke's official site. It was evident then that Stanley is still not lacking self-belief. From his official biography:
Stanley Clarke became the first bassist in history to headline tours, selling out shows worldwide, and have his albums certified gold. The word "legend" was used to describe Stanley by the time he was 25 years old. In 1997 Epic/Sony released: [sic] By this tender young age, Stanley was already a celebrated pioneer in fusion jazz music. He was also the first bassist in history to double on acoustic and electric bass with equal virtuosity, power, and fire. He had also invented two new instruments: the piccolo bass and the tenor bass…On the back of the album, Stanley acknowledges the "never ending inspiration" of L. Ron Hubbard.
His artistry has spanned classical, jazz, R&B and pop idioms. He has already succeeded in a multitude of diverse careers, any one of which would be satisfactory to anyone else. Yet he still pushes on, as invigorated and as passionate about music as that teenage prodigy from Philadelphia with a dream.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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