Jean Carn - Trust Me (1982/2019)

Jean Carn's lone Motown effort reunites the singer with producer Norman Connors, whose mid-'70s dates for Buddah effectively launched her solo career. Trust Me proves some distance removed from the jazz-funk context of their previous collaborations, however, instead couching Carn's potent vocals in a slickly commercial, radio-friendly setting that casts neither artist nor producer in a positive light. The album's biggest chart hit, a cover of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes classic "If You Don't Know Me by Now" that features the Temptations on backing vocals, exemplifies all of Trust Me's flaws: Carn and Connors rely on safe, conventional material and saleable gimmicks that render the music absolutely faceless. The album's title is sadly accurate. Rather than going for broke, Trust Me plays it far too close to the vest.