1980 · Album
Strikes Twice
Recorded 1980 · Warner Bros. · Produced by Larry Carlton, Bud Broth
Electric Grooves, Smooth Surfaces, Uneven Results
Carlton swings with precision, but the album drifts between genuine funk and lightweight session work.
Strikes Twice opens into a warm, grooved space — Larry Carlton's electric guitar sits bright and clean over Robert Popwell's locked-in bass lines, with John Ferraro keeping time tight on the drums. Greg Mathieson and Terry Trotter layer electric piano and clavinet into the mix, textures that feel sleek and produced, very much of 1980. There's funk here, real pocket-playing, but also a smoothness that can slide toward polished anonymity. Carlton's tone is sharp and articulate, never muddy, but the album often feels more concerned with groove architecture than with the kind of bite or surprise that makes jazz guitar compelling. This is Carlton's fourth studio album, arriving at a point when fusion had fractured into multiple directions — some artists were doubling down on experimentation, others retreating into radio-friendly session work. Strikes Twice lands somewhere in the middle, competent and professional but rarely inspired. The interplay between Carlton and the keyboard players holds your attention on repeated listens, and Paulinho da Costa's percussion work adds texture without overstepping. But the songwriting doesn't grab. Compare this to earlier fusion records that still crackle with invention, and Strikes Twice feels like a musician working within a formula rather than testing its boundaries. It's solid commercial jazz — good for background listening, easy on the ears. Not essential Carlton, and certainly not a record that changed anything.
Who's playing
Robert Popwellbass guitar
Greg Mathiesonelectric piano
Terry Trotterelectric piano
Larry Carltonelectric guitar
John Ferrarodrums
Paulinho da Costapercussion
Don Freemanclavinet
